Is the Little Ice Age coming?

It has snowed a lot in the north this year. I saw the news a few days ago and said that there were two feet of snow on the plains of Hebei, which paralyzed traffic, made travel difficult, and caused water and power outages in some places. Fortunately, there were very few casualties.

After checking the history books, I found that there had been heavier snowfall in Hebei.

In March of the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi's reign (1718), "Xingtai was severely cold, and there was a heavy snowfall." ("History of the Qing Dynasty: Disasters") There was ten feet of snow on the ground. In terms of thickness, this year's snowfall was Five times as much snow.

In the twelfth lunar month of the 23rd year of Jiaqing (1818), "Hebei experienced heavy snowfall, four to five feet deep." ("Tongzhi Lingshou County Chronicle·Disaster Xiang") There was four to five feet of snow on the flat ground, which was the worst this year. Twice as much snow.

In the twelfth lunar month of the 24th year of Jiaqing (1819), "it snowed heavily in Yanshan Mountain for five days, and the flat ground was more than ten feet deep." ("Yanshan County Chronicle of the Republic of China·Gu Shi") It snowed for five consecutive days, and the flat ground was covered with snow. More than a foot.

In the twelfth lunar month of the tenth year of Daoguang's reign (1830), "the snow was several feet deep, and the birds froze to death." ("Tongzhi Lingshou County Chronicle·Disaster Xiang") did not mention the specific thickness, only "several feet" "Chi", "Several Chi" must be more than two feet.

In the twelfth lunar month of the eleventh year of Daoguang's reign (1831), "it snowed continuously for three days. The snow was four to five feet deep. Hundreds of families froze to death." ("Yuanshi County Chronicles of the Republic of China·Disaster Xiang") Heavy snowfall It rained for three consecutive days, with four to five feet of snow covering hundreds of households in Guangyuan County.

There is a "Little Ice Age" in the history of meteorology, which refers to the period after the end of the Ming Dynasty and before the Opium War (some say before the heyday of Kangxi and Qianlong). At that time, the average annual temperature in the entire China was lower than now. Severe droughts and floods occurred one after another in summer, and it was extremely cold in winter. Not only Hebei, but also Shanghai, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong and other places experienced heavy snowfall. This is mentioned in "Yueshibian" written by Ye Mengzhu in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, "Yongxianzhai Notes" written by Chen Qiyuan in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, as well as "History of the Ming Dynasty·Five Elements", "Manuscript of Qing History·Disasters and Strange Records" and other documents A strange scene.

In other words, the heavy snowfalls just mentioned all occurred during the Little Ice Age. Hebei was colder during the Little Ice Age than it is now, and the snow disasters during the Little Ice Age were even greater than now.

This year’s snow disaster has brought a lot of inconvenience to northerners. What impact would the snow disaster of the Little Ice Age have on the lives of ancient people?

As you know, the road conditions were poor in ancient times. The roads were either unhardened or rugged. They were slippery when there was snow and became muddy after the snow melted, making it very difficult to walk. The eighth chapter of "Lao Can's Travels" describes the scene of people walking on snowy roads in the Qing Dynasty: "Although this road is not a narrow path, it goes up and down suddenly. The stone path becomes extremely slippery when the ice and snow freeze. I got up at one o'clock after dinner. "At four o'clock, we were still not ten miles away." I walked five kilometers in three hours, an average of less than two kilometers in an hour, which was much slower than the walking speed of urban white-collar workers in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province a few days ago.

Nowadays, when it snows, taxi prices increase. This was also the case in the Qing Dynasty. During the Jiaqing period, a scribe lived in Cangzhou, Hebei Province. It happened to be a snowy day. He originally hired a donkey cart on the ground in Cangzhou for only 400 cents a day. Because of the snow, the price of the cart doubled. The scribe sighed: "Hire a donkey cart to rush." Snow is not easy, and it costs eight hundred words a day." (Part 1 of "Yantai Bamboo Branch Poems") Sometimes you may not be able to hire a car even if you pay double the price, because the driver's business is very good on snowy days." It takes a long time to wait for a taxi in the snow, and my legs feel numb when I lean against the door." (Part 1 of "Jibei Miscellanies") It's so similar to the situation a few days ago when people went out and couldn't get a taxi!

When ancient people went out in the snow, they were prone to slipping. "Qingyi Leichao·Liar" records that during the Daoguang period, a certain escort was going from Beijing to Shandong and passed through a town in Hebei. It started to snow heavily. The escort was walking forward in the snow. "Suddenly he heard a moaning sound" and saw A pregnant woman collapsed in the snow on the side of the road. It turned out that she came back from her parents' home and rode a donkey. As a result, "the snow was deep and the ice was slippery, and the donkey fell off" and she almost had a miscarriage.

"Qing Bailei Chao · Scam" also records that a certain family planned to marry their daughter-in-law on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Unexpectedly, it snowed heavily that day, and they walked overland. The waterway was "ice as hard as stone", and the wedding team looked at the sky and sighed. But this auspicious moment cannot be delayed. The man was so anxious that he hired a desperate man to brave the wind and snow to deliver a message to the woman. He said that it was snowing so hard and the weather was so cold that the bride and groom could not meet each other, so he might as well say goodbye to each other in the sky. . The woman had no choice but to let the bride and groom worship the heaven and the earth dozens of miles apart. Seven days later, when the snow melted and the road could be walked, the young couple consummated their marriage.

The harm caused by the snowstorm delaying the wedding is relatively small, but the greater harm is the delay in transportation. Water transportation was popular in the Qing Dynasty, that is, the use of canal ships to deliver grain to the capital. When a snowstorm occurred, land routes were blocked and the canals were frozen. Grain could not be transported into the capital. The price of grain in Beijing immediately rose, and ordinary people could not afford to buy grain. It is possible to go hungry.

During the Daoguang period, some people actually starved to death due to snowstorms. Volume 10 of Chen Qiyuan's "Yongxianzhai Notes" records that there is a small temple on Anji Mountain in Huzhou, Zhejiang. There are four monks in the temple, who rely on alms every day to fill their stomachs. In the 20th year of Daoguang's reign, it snowed heavily in the winter and the mountain was sealed. These four monks did not survive. They all went down the mountain to ask for alms, but they all starved to death in the temple.

Some friends may ask, if there is a snow disaster now, the government will actively respond and organize manpower and material resources to solve various problems. Why didn’t the Qing government take some measures?

In fact, the Qing government did not take measures.

First of all, the government will arrange for people to clear the snow.

The snow in the palace is swept by the eunuchs, the snow in the inner city is swept by the guards, and the snow in the outer city and the main roads of other major cities is usually swept by the garrison. As for the snow at the entrance of various shops and communities, it is naturally up to ordinary people to do it themselves. You don't have to do anything, you can hire people. During the Daoguang period, cities in North China had a profession called "street sweeping" (sometimes called "street clearing"). As soon as the snow stopped, they rushed to the streets carrying shovels and brooms, waiting to be swept away. Hire people away and do odd jobs for a while.

Secondly, the government will arrange for people to lay soil on the official road. The purpose of padding soil is to prevent slipping, but due to limited financial and manpower resources, soil padding is generally only placed on specific official roads, such as the official roads that the emperor may pass through when he is on patrol or the army returns in triumph, and the official roads that transport military provisions and salaries. Once these important official roads are covered, other official roads will be ignored. Let them be slippery or muddy.

Secondly, the government will also give holidays to certain officials. In the twenty-fourth year of Kangxi's reign, there was a snowstorm in Beijing. Kangxi said, "The roads are slippery. Dear friends, please don't come to court." (Volume 121 of "Records of Kangxi") In the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, there was another snowstorm in Beijing. Yongzheng also said, "In Beijing There is no need for officials to come to the Old Summer Palace. I will reschedule the report." (Volume 42 of "Yongzheng Records") This is the same as some units now letting employees take leave during heavy snow days.

Secondly, the government has also formulated some traffic rules to reduce traffic accidents during snowstorms as much as possible. Article 296 of the "Regulations of the Qing Dynasty" stipulates: If a person is injured while riding a horse due to weather conditions, the person shall be compensated for medical expenses and the horse must be paid to the injured person. If someone is killed and killed, he will be slapped with a 100-pound ban and sentenced to three years of hard labor. In addition, he will pay compensation for burial expenses to the family of the deceased, and his mount will be confiscated by the government.

Finally, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were very pious. Whenever there was a snowstorm, they would go to the Temple of Heaven to pray and "offer sacrifices to the sky to thank the snow."

Obviously, this is superstition. If praying can ensure that there will be no snow disaster, let’s all pray