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 famines in China, or once nearly every year in one province or another. The famines varied in severity.
Famines in China
NameTimeRegionContextEstimated number of deadMid-Tang Famine714-719Natural disasters, including a locust plague in 716. Tang Emperor Xuanzong subsequently instituted mandatory granary supplies and set fixed prices on grain.0.4 to 1 millionXìngzhēn Disaster784-785Northern ChinaDevastating locust plague. Millions dead or displaced. 873–884Drought, part of a broader climatic drying and cooling period, caused disastrous failures in crop harvest, leading to famine and a peasant rebellion; Huang Chao captured capitalTens of thousands face starvation.Chinese famine of 1333-13371333–13376 millionHongxi famine1425Jingtai Slough1440-1455Zhejiang, Shanxi, Shaanxi, northern Jiangsu, ShandongCold conditions1477-1487Flooding of the Yellow River.Hongzhi famine1494-1495Persistent drought, followed by flooding in northern China and the collapse of the Shandong dam. Worsened by climatic shifts in the Northern Hemisphere.1526Beijing1543-1544ZhejiangWanli Slough I1586-1589Flooding followed by drought. coinciding with La Niña climate disruptionMost lethal famine of the 1500'sWanli Slough II1615-1619Drought, flood and sandstorms from deforestation.Chongzhen drought1627–1644Beijing, southern Hebei, northern Henan, and western Shandong, along the Yellow, Wei, and Fen rivers in Shaanxi and the Yangtze River delta.One of the most severe droughts in Chinese history, leading to the collapse of the Ming dynasty in 16442 millionNorthern Chinese Famine of 1743–441743–1744Counties within 100 miles of Beijing (including Zhili)DroughtHaizi famine1755–1756Drought and flood70% of the poorer farmers of Rugao county1810– 1811HebeiFlood11 millionThe Great Jiaqing Famine in Yunnan1815– 1817Yunnan, with hunger in most of ChinaMicrothermal climate disaster tied to the eruption of the Tambora volcanoTens to hundreds of thousands1846–1851Hebei, Zhejiang and HubeiFlood15 million (45 million population decrease, with unknown proportion emigrating)1857Flooding in Hubei and Shandong, combined with instability due to the Taiping Rebellion and Nian Rebellion.8 million1851–1873First Opium War, Treaty of Nanjing,Vassilev, Rossen. "China’s opium wars: Britain as the world’s first Narco-state." New Politics 13.1 (2010): 75-80. Nian Rebellion, Taiping Rebellion, flooding in 1863 and 1867, as well as drought.10–30 million peopleNorthern Chinese Famine of 1876–791876– 1879Mostly Shanxi (5.5 million dead), also in Zhili (2.5 million), Henan (1 million), Shaanxi and Shandong (0.5 million).Drought, decades of declining grain production relative to population size.9.5 to 13 millionNorthern Chinese Famine of 19011901Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner MongoliaThe drought from 1898-1901 led to a fear of famine, which was a leading cause of Boxer Rebellion. The famine eventually came in Spring 1901.0.2 million in Shanxi, the worst hit province.Chinese famine of 1906–19071906-07northern Anhui, northern Jiangsu20 to 25 million Chinese famine of 1920-19211920–1921Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, southern Zhili (Hebei)0.5 millionChinese famine of 1928–301928–1930Northern ChinaDrought, wartime constraints, and inefficiency of relief6 to 10 million Sichuan famine of 1936-371936-1937Sichuan, Henan and GansuDrought and civil war.5 million in Sichuan, up to 50 million displaced as 'famine refugees'1942–1943 famine1942–1943Mainly HenanSecond Sino-Japanese War0.7 to 1.4 millionGreat Chinese Famine1959–1961Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62. Walker & Company, 2010 pp.32, 67, xxiii. Becker, Jasper (1998). Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine. Holt Paperbacks p. xi. Yang, Jisheng (2008). Tombstone (Mu Bei - Zhong Guo Liu Shi Nian Dai Da Ji Huang Ji Shi). Cosmos Books (Tian Di Tu Shu), Hong Kong pp.12, 429.Half of the country, in particular Anhui (18% died), Chongqing (15% died), Sichuan (13% died), Guizhou (11% died), Hunan (8% died)Great Leap Forward, Floods, Droughts, Typhoons, Insect Invasion15 to 55 million An excerpt is published as:
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 to provide, 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 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.
Qing China built an elaborate system designed to minimize famine deaths. The system was destroyed in the Taiping Rebellion of the 1850s.Pierre-Etienne Will and R. Bin Wong, Nourish the people: The state civilian granary system in China, 1650–1850 (University of Michigan Press, 2020).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
See also List of disasters in China by death toll History of famines in the Far East List of famines
References
Further reading 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).