Modern Huaibei Refugee Problems In The Study (1840-1937),

Refugee is one of the content of population historical geography. In modern times, natural disasters happened frequently in the northern Huaihe Area, and the social environment was rather bad, thus refugee problems became prominent. So far, specialized systematic research about refugee problems in the northern Huaihe Area is quite scare in academia. The research that has achieved are focus on the cause of the refugee, for the scale, flowing direction and impact are still relatively rare, what's more, few scholars do research by using historical geography methods. Therefore, the object of study in this paper is the refugee in the northern Huaihe Area. And this paper is based on the local natural environment and social environment, it systematically investigate the factors, scale, flow directions and social influences, finally form own understanding.This paper can be divided into five parts:1. The formative factors of the refugee in northern Huaihe Area. Combining the description about the physiographic condition in the northern Huaihe Area in the introduction part, author contends that the bad physiographic condition and the constant flood damage from the Huaihe River and the Yellow River generates the fragile ecological environment, frequent natural disasters, it becomes the main reason for the refugees in the northern Huaihe Area. And the even worse social environment such as the population pressure, severe banditry and nuisance tax contributes to the severe refugee phenomena.2. The regugee scale and characteristics of the sex and age structure in northern Huaihe Area. According to documents and materials and the analysis of statistical data about peasants living home in the period of the Republic of China, the author finds that the scale of refugee is large after natural disasters, and severity of natural disasters determines the scale of refugees. In sex and age structure, depending on their self-limited factors and the social needs, the northern Huaihe refugees are mainly male among young and middle-aged.3. The refugee's flow directions and features. Analysising this matter by means of newspaper and magazine in modern times, the author realize that in region aspect, the refugees of northern Huaihe Area embody intense selectivity. Jiangnan and surrounding provinces are the main flow region. In the profession aspect, the refugees mainly do manual work, beg for a living, become bandits or soldiers. Basing on this, author explains the flow features and formative factors in both time and space.4. Influences on regional social changes. Combining the sex and age structure of the refugees and its flow directions, the author investigates the influences of refugees on the economy, image, environment, population quality in the outflow place and also the commerce, agricultural development, public order, etc in the inflow place, and consider that point lies in the bad effect on the outflow place, but it also contributes to the modernization of the inflow place objectively.5. Epilogue. By investigating the northern Huaihe Area refugees in modern times, the author contends that close relation exist among environment, refugees and regional social development. It is a subsistence choice to leave the native place, but it goes against the regional social development. It is unfavorable to do so for long.