Fighting Famine in North China

by Li, Lillian M.

• ISBN13: 9780804753043
• ISBN10: 0804753040
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-03-12
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

This monumental work provides a new perspective on the historical significance of famines in China over the past three hundred years. It examines the relationship between the interventionist state policies of the eighteenth-century Qing emperors ("the golden age of famine relief"), the environmental and political crises of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (when China was called "the Land of Famine"), and the ambitions of the Mao era (which tragically led to the greatest famine in human history). In addition to a wide array of documentary sources, the book employs quantitative analysis to measure the economic impact of natural crises, state policies, and markets. In this way, the theories of Qing statesmen that have received much attention in recent scholarship are linked to actual practices and outcomes. Using the Zhili-Hebei region as its focus, the book also reveals the unusual role played by the institutions and policies designed to ensure food security for the capital, Beijing.

Author Biography

Lillian M. Li is Professor of History at Swarthmore College. She has previously published China's Silk Trade: Traditional Industry in the Modern World, 1842-1937 (1981) and coedited Chinese History in Economic Perspective (1992).

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. xi
List of Figures	p. xiii
List of Maps and Photographs	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 1
"Heaven, Earth, and Man" in North China	p. 13
History of the Hai River System	p. 15
The Hai River Basin of North China	p. 20
Climate of the Hai River Basin	p. 24
Historical Climate	p. 27
Floods, Droughts, and Disasters	p. 30
The Local Records and Social Consequences of Disasters	p. 34
Conclusion	p. 36
Managing the Rivers: Emperors as Engineers	p. 38
Kangxi and the Yongding River	p. 41
Yongzheng, Prince Yi, and a Comprehensive Plan	p. 44
Qianlong and Routinization	p. 50
Jiaqing: Heroic Hydraulics	p. 56
Daoguang: Earnest Efforts	p. 62
Fin-de-siecle Floods	p. 66
Local Initiatives	p. 68
Emperors, Bureaucrats, and Ecology	p. 71
Population, Agriculture, and Food	p. 74
Population and Land	p. 75
Land and Agriculture Under Manchu Rule	p. 87
Agriculture: Grains and Other Crops	p. 90
Cropping Patterns and Yields	p. 101
Diet and Standard of Living	p. 105
Not Quite a Malthusian Tale	p. 109
Food and Prices	p. 111
Long-Term Price Trends	p. 113
Multicropping and Seasonality	p. 120
Natural Crises and Harvests	p. 126
The Copper Coin-Silver Exchange Rate	p. 133
Conclusion	p. 142
Provisioning Beijing	p. 144
Beijing and Grain Tribute	p. 144
Grain Stipends: Distribution, Timing, and Sales	p. 150
Pingtiao and the Beijing Market	p. 155
Social Unrest, Pingtiao, and Soup Kitchens	p. 158
Markets, Merchants, and Gendarmerie	p. 161
Conclusion	p. 164
Storing Grain: Granaries as Solution and Problem	p. 166
Granaries in Chinese History	p. 167
Kangxi-Yongzheng Origins	p. 168
Ever-Normal Granaries in the Qianlong Period	p. 169
Ever-Normal Granaries in the Jiaqing and Daoguang Periods	p. 176
Community and Charity Granaries	p. 180
External Grain Supplies	p. 185
Conclusion	p. 190
Markets and Prices	p. 196
Market Integration Within Zhili	p. 198
Price Integration with Other Regions	p. 214
Conclusion	p. 217
Famine Relief: The High Qing Model	p. 221
Famine Investigation	p. 223
General Relief	p. 225
Grain Versus Cash/Millet Versus Sorghum	p. 226
Soup Kitchens	p. 228
Pingtiao	p. 229
Tax Remissions	p. 230
Shelters and Famine Refugees	p. 233
1743-1744: Famine Relief Model	p. 236
1759: Disaster Without Relief	p. 241
1761-1763 and Later: Relief with and Without Disaster	p. 244
Overall Evaluation	p. 246
Famine Relief: Nineteenth-Century Devolution	p. 250
The 1801 Flood	p. 250
The 1813-1814 Crisis	p. 255
Daoguang Crises and Corruption	p. 262
Midcentury Political Crisis	p. 266
The 1871-1872 Floods and the Li Hongzhang Era	p. 268
The 1876-1879 North China Famine	p. 272
The 1890-1895 Floods	p. 277
Conclusion	p. 281
The "Land of Famine," 1900-1949	p. 283
1917 and Later Floods	p. 285
The 1920-1921 Drought and International Aid	p. 295
The 1928-1930 North China Drought and National Crisis	p. 303
Conclusion	p. 307
Rural Crisis and Economic Change, 1900-1949	p. 310
Famine and Poverty	p. 313
Changes in the Economy	p. 316
Local Experiences	p. 321
Economic Trends	p. 331
Japanese Aggression, Communist Insurgency, and Rural Poverty	p. 335
Conclusion	p. 339
Food and Famine Under Socialist Rule, 1949-1990s	p. 341
Population, Agriculture, and Grain in Hebei	p. 345
Socialism and Subsistence in Hebei, 1949-1958 and Beyond	p. 352
The Great Leap Famine, 1959-1961	p. 357
Controlling Nature	p. 364
Unleashing the Market	p. 371
Regulating the Grain Market	p. 373
Conclusion	p. 375
Conclusion	p. 377
Reign Periods of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and Use of Dates	p. 389
Weights and Measures	p. 391
Glossary (Chinese Characters)	p. 393
Appendices
Prefectures and Counties in Zhili Province in Qing Period	p. 399
Data	p. 405
Quantitative Methods	p. 413
Abbreviations Used in Notes	p. 419
Notes	p. 421
Bibliography	p. 483
Gazetteers List	p. 507
Index	p. 509
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