The Chinese famine of 1906–1907 struck the middle and lower course of

Huai River The Huai River, formerly romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in East China, about long with a drainage area of . It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze River, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins ...

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

from Autumn 1906 to Spring 1907, administratively in northern

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

and northern

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

provinces. This Chinese famine was directly caused by the 1906 China floods (April–October 1906), which hit the Huai River particularly hard and destroyed both the summer and autumn harvest. Between 20 and 25 million people died.

Affected area

Northern Anhui

On 21 December 1906, ''

Shen Bao ''Shen Bao'' (), officially transliterated as ''Shun Pao'' or ''Shen-pao'', known in English as ''Shanghai News'', was a newspaper published from 1872 to 1949 in Shanghai, China. The name is short for ''Shenjiang Xinbao'', Shenjiang being a sho ...

'' reported 16 counties in northern Anhui to have particular high mortalities. As cited in The

edict An edict is a decree or announcement of a law, often associated with monarchies, but it can be under any official authority. Synonyms include "dictum" and "pronouncement". ''Edict'' derives from the Latin edictum. Notable edicts * Telepinu ...

Emperor Guangxu The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from 18 ...

on 9 February 1907 waived agricultural taxes to 40 counties in northern

. The 40 counties were:

Northern Jiangsu

On 29 November 1906,

Duanfang Duanfang (; 20 April 1861 – 27 November 1911), courtesy name Wuqiao (), was a Manchu people, Manchu politician, educator and collector who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He was a member of the Tohoro () clan and the Plain White Banner of the ...

, the Viceroy of the Two Yangtze Provinces requested

to permit Jiangsu to redirect the imperial taxes to disaster relief. He cited 13 counties to be disaster-stricken.

Death toll

The primary sources only report fatalities in selected villages or counties. On 21 December 1906, ''

'', a leading Shanghai newspaper, reported "a precise death toll has become clear recently in 16 respective counties in Anhui" and amounted to 23,300. Another newspaper reported that victims amounted to 5,000 daily. Anhui and Jiangsu had a combined population of 42.1 million as of 1911. Two commentaries from the 2010s estimate the total famine deaths in the range of 20–25 million, implying that most of the population of northern Anhui and northern Jiangsu population were wiped out, but offering no explanation on how the calculation is made. As author Bas Dianda commented:

It is very difficult to distinguish fatalities due to the famine from deaths caused by the violence; however, some estimate placed the excess of lethality of the period at 20–25 million dead ..Such a figure, though including deaths from starvation as well as repression, are appalling."

Relief work

It is the first time in Qing dynasty history when the government formally acknowledged and collaborated with private organizations in disaster relief work ("官义合办"), which attracted a lot of academic interest. The relief campaign is coordinated by Sheng Xuanhuai and Lü Haihuan, two statesmen of Jiangsu origin. The lack of Anhui elites in Shanghai, however, led to a huge funding disparity to the much more stricken northern Anhui. Most of the foreign relief fund came from American missionaries. The

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

and the American newspaper '' Christian Herald'' furnished over two-thirds of foreign funds sent to China. The Central China Famine Relief Fund Committee was established to coordinate foreign efforts. On 26 June 1907, ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' reported that the crisis was at an end.

References

External links

*
CHINESE FAMINE A PERIL.; American Consul Predicts Dangerous Outcome of Terrible Conditions.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese famine of 1906-1907

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

1906 in China 1907 in China 20th-century famines Disasters in Henan Disasters in Anhui Disasters in Jiangsu Disasters in Qing dynasty 1906 disasters in China 1907 disasters in China