Research On The Crops Planting Structure Of Henan In The Qing Dynasty

Since the Qing dynasty, the agriculture of Henan has basically remained stable. The research on the agricultural planting structure of Henan in the Qing dynasty has certain reference significance to the agricultural development in our country today.This thesis is divided into three parts, the first part introduces the landform, climate, soil, water and other natural environment of Hehan, then analyzes the advantages and disadvantages among these conditions. The transitional climate and landform, the vast plain and the geographical location made by topographical features provide the precondition of agricultural development in Henan, meanwhile, they are important reasons for the status of Henan as an national agricultural province. The second part divided territory of Henan in Qing dynasty into four agricultural regions—the north hills and piedmont alluvial plain, the eastern plain, the western hills, the nanyang basin and the southern region, which are abbreviated to "north area, eastern area, western area, nanyang area and southern area". Next, the thesis introduces the characteristics of natural environment and crop structure in the five areas respectively. Terrain of north area mainly consist of mountains and hills with small basins between them. So cultivated land usually concentrate in the small basins and gullies hilly region, which is grain as the major plant of the crop planting structure. Eastern area roughly cover the Yellow River alluvial plain,which is the largest plain and primary food producing area in Henan. Its crop structure is given priority to with grain, cotton and oil crops. The western area is hilly and the cultivated land is mainly distributed along the bank of Luo river and Ru River. In the Qing dynasty, planting of wheat expanded in this area while the paddy decreased. Focus on the southern area, we can find that the mountains and hills accounts for two-thirds of the whole terrain and lowland plains accounts for one-third, the major agricultural plantings are rice and tea. Nanyang basin is ranged on three sides by mountains and diluvial pluvial downland except south, which central is a flat and slightly sloping plain as the primary agricultural region. In Qing dynasty, the water conservancy facilities in this area was damaged relative seriously, so the ecological system lost its imbalance and agricultural development was restricted. The crop planting structure mainly includes grain and cotton. The third part analyses briefly of the characteristics of crop planting in Henan province in the Qing dynasty. During that time, the species of crops in Henan became diversity, the alien species such as sweet potatoes and corn popularized rapidly. The commodity-rate of crops greatly improved and much more crops were transported then sold in other provinces nearby. The planting scale of rice of Henan in the Qing dynasty gradually reduced, while the area of economic crops such as cotton and tobacco expanded.