Frosty And Humanities

In 1925, a huge frost hazard hit north part of Yunnan Province, which affected 37 counties, causing more than 240,000 people dead,460,000 displaced, 620,000 sick, and 1.31 million acres of farmland destroyed. It was the most serious natural disaster since records in Yunnan. Being rapid, massive and destructive, the frost hazard had deep impacts on the society at that time. The academic circle has little concern to the issue, and thus no scholars have ever conducted systematic and in-depth researches on it.The topic functions as a strategic decision to the research of disaster history in Yunnan. The academic value is of a social significance to Yunnan where the disasters occur frequently.The thesis focuses mainly on the cause, the impact, social reactions and the emerging factors in the relief process in modern times. Besides the natural factors, the decisive causes of the frost hazard include:the pernicious influence of opium, inadequate storage, the brigands' frequent ravage, years of war and economic depression of the rural areas. The frost hazard had had a great impact on the population, trade, social development and social orders of Yunnan then. Yunnan provincial government, the affected local governments and nongovernmental charities had responded rapidly towards the hazard afterwards.Provincial government set up a special relief organization—Yunnan Provincial Relief Division to be in charge of the overall relief work; a wild range of social mobilization was carried out, various relief measures were taken into account, and relevant injunctions were issued to help with the relief work. The affected local governments took many relief measures by collaborating with gentry. At the same time, all the social forces, including charity organizations, countryman associations and individuals had raised money and supplies, have engaged passively in the frozen hazard relief work. Among them, Hunan International Relief Collection Commission Yunnan branch, an organization established duly for the relief work, had handled emergency relief, project relief and had played an important role in the work.As to the frost hazard of the year, because of the poverty, backwardness and disorder of the society, Yunnan provincial government and local government had no fund for the relief work, while the civilian were extremely poor to handle the situation. Although all parts tried efforts, the fund-raising and supplies were an utterly inadequate amount for the huge affected population and areas, so that the result of the relief was unsatisfactory. Even so, in the frost hazard relief work of Yunnan in 1925, the factors of the advanced ideas, professional relief agencies, speedy modern media, convenient railway transportation, a wild range of fund-raising channels and civilian charity organizations involved in the relief of the hazard reflected the direction of Yunnan anti-calamity in modern times.