Famine Victims Selling Their Children from The Famine in China, Illustrations by a Native Artist (1878)

This is a List of famines in China, part of the series of lists of disasters in China. Between 108 BC and 1911 AD, there were no fewer than 1,828 recorded

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accom ...

s in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, or once nearly every year in one

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...

or another. The famines varied in severity.

Famines in China

Responding to famines

In China famines have been an ongoing problem for thousands of years. From the Shang dynasty (16th-11th century BC) until the founding of modern China, chroniclers have regularly described recurring disasters. There have always been times and places where rains have failed, especially in the northwest of China, and this has led to famine. It was the task of the

Emperor of China ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heave ...

to provide assistance, as necessary, to famine areas and transport foods from other areas and to distribute them. The reputation of an emperor depended on how he succeeded. National famines occurred even when the drought areas were too large, especially when simultaneously larger areas of flooded rivers were over their banks and thus additionally

crop failures Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor- ...

occurred, or when the central government did not have sufficient reserves. If an emperor could not prevent a famine, he lost prestige and legitimacy. It was said that he had lost the

Mandate of Heaven The Mandate of Heaven () is a Chinese political philosophy that was used in ancient China, ancient and imperial China to legitimacy (political), legitimize the rule of the King of China, King or Emperor of China. According to this doctrine, h ...

. Qing China built an elaborate system designed to minimize famine deaths. The system was destroyed in the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It laste ...

of the 1850s. Kathryn Jean, Edgerton-Tarpley, "From 'Nourish the People' to 'Sacrifice for the Nation': Changing Responses to Disaster in Late Imperial and Modern China." ''Journal of Asian Studies'' (2014): 447-469
online

References

{{Reflist, 30em

* Bohr, Paul Richard. ''Famine in China and the missionary: Timothy Richard as relief administrator and advocate of national reform, 1876–1884'' (Brill, 2020). * Edgerton-Tarpley, Kathryn Jean. "From 'Nourish the People' to 'Sacrifice for the Nation': Changing Responses to Disaster in Late Imperial and Modern China." ''Journal of Asian Studies'' (2014): 447-469
online
* Edgerton-Tarpley, Kathryn, and Cormac O'gr. ''Tears from iron: cultural responses to famine in nineteenth-century China'' (U of California Press, 2008). * Li, Lillian M. ''Fighting famine in North China: state, market, and environmental decline, 1690s-1990s'' (Stanford UP, 2007). * Maohong, Bao. "Environmental history in China." ''Environment and History'' (2004): 475-499
online
* Shiue, Carol H. "The political economy of famine relief in China, 1740–1820." ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History'' 36.1 (2005): 33-55
online
* Shiue, Carol H. "Local granaries and central government disaster relief: moral hazard and intergovernmental finance in eighteenth-and nineteenth-century China." ''Journal of Economic History'' (2004): 100-124
online
* Will, Pierre-Etienne, and R. Bin Wong. ''Nourish the people: The state civilian granary system in China, 1650–1850'' (University of Michigan Press, 2020).

famines A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accom ...

Famines in China

Responding to famines

See also

References

Further reading