Details of the Little Ice Age in Ming and Qing Dynasties

From 1550 to 185 1, from Jiajing in Ming Dynasty to Daoguang in Qing Dynasty, extremely cold weather similar to the present occurred in China. At that time, lack of experience and untimely defensive measures led to a large-scale crop reduction, followed by a series of chain social effects such as famine and peasant uprising, which had a great impact. This event is also recorded in Historical Records, which is called "Little Ice Age of Ming and Qing Dynasties" in China.

Basic introduction Chinese name: mbth of the Little Ice Age in Ming and Qing Dynasties: Founder of the Little Ice Age: Fran? ois-Emile Matai. For example, the name of extremely cold weather from Jiajing in Ming Dynasty to Daoguang in Qing Dynasty was put forward, and it was recorded in historical books by time period. The name "Little Ice Age" refers to a period that began after the medieval warm period. The name is Fran? ois-Emile martel (Fran? Ois-Emile Matthes) was discovered in the report of Glacier Committee of American Geophysical Society in 1939. From the15th century, the global climate entered a cold period, commonly known as the "Little Ice Age", which ended in the early 20th century. The climate characteristics of low temperature in the Little Ice Age are quite obvious, especially in high latitude and high altitude areas, the environmental effects of climate-sensitive ecological fragile zones are very prominent, which affect plant growth and agricultural production and bring serious consequences to social and economic development. Division of Periods This period spanned the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China, so it was also called "Little Ice Age of Ming and Qing Dynasties" in China. Specifically, some scholars believe that there are three obvious Little Ice Ages (which can be understood as cold ages): (1) Tianshun two years in the middle of Ming Dynasty (1458) to Jiajing thirty-one years in Ming Dynasty (1552). (2) From the 28th year of Wanli in the second half of Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1600) to the 59th year of Kangxi in the first half of Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1720). (3) From the 20th year of Daoguang of Xuanzong in the late Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1840) to the 6th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1880). According to historical records, the climate of the Ming Dynasty inherited the climate of the Song and Yuan Dynasties and remained cold, but it was drier than that of the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Kezhen once said in "Drought in the History of China": "Except for the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the rainfall in the Ming Dynasty was extremely small, which was the largest in the total number of droughts in a hundred years". After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the wonders of ice and snow once again came to Jiangnan, Central China, South China, Taihu Lake, Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake, Hanshui River and Huaihe River. The weather records of "Xia Han" and "frost and snow in summer" are endless, but there were only two records of no snow in winter in the middle of Ming Dynasty-one in the second year of Tianshun, Ming Yingzong (A.D. 1458). At that time, the weather was cold, and the literature records were: Guangdong Tongzhi: In the winter of Zheng Deyuan (AD 1506), it was rainy and snowy in Wanzhou, Qiongzhou, Guangdong. In the winter of Zheng De's fourth year (A.D. 1509), several feet of snow fell in Chaoshan area of Guangdong. Wanzhou, the capital of Qiongzhou, Guangdong Province, is Wanning County of Hainan Island today. Chaozhou is today's Chaoan, Chaoyang and other counties, all located in the subtropical zone. Last weekend, there were rare snowflakes in Guangzhou, but in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it was "raining and snowing" and "falling snow with thick feet", which shows that compared with that time, it was still nine Niu Yi hairs. Tongzhi in the south of the Yangtze River: In the 12th year of Hongzhi (A.D. 1499) and 15th year (A.D. 1502), the winter was cold, and the water in Qiyang was frozen, while that in Yuyao was frozen. Qiyang is in the southwest of Hengyang, Hunan, Xiaoshui (a tributary of Xiangjiang River) flows through the territory, Yuyao is in the east of Zhejiang, and Cao 'e River and Yongjiang River flow through the territory. During the Hongzhi period, the river froze, which shows that the climate was very cold at that time. After the middle of Qing Dynasty, rainfall and temperature have been observed in modern meteorology in China. By studying and counting these numerical records of rainfall and temperature, as well as the annual ring changes of Cooper and ginkgo trees in Beiping, we can see that there was a warmer winter in the middle of Qing Dynasty. After Daoguang, the climate turned cold again and entered the Little Ice Age again, which was also the second cold period in the history of China. It was not until the sixth year of Guangxu in the late Qing Dynasty (AD 1880) that it gradually turned into a warm period. However, during this warming period, we also encountered the extreme winter of 1892- 1893. The winter of 1892- 1893 is the coldest winter in the southeast coastal areas of China in recent 300 years. This year, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the southern region have been continuously affected by strong cold waves, and severe cold weather has continued to occur. 1 1 The severe cold wave in the late month caused extremely rare cold phenomena in the south of the Yangtze River, especially in southern coastal provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. According to the comparison and estimation of the cold degree and natural phenomena caused by similar cold winter years, this cold winter is at least the coldest winter experienced in southern China since 1700. It is not surprising that plants sometimes freeze to death in the cold winter in the north. However, in the winter of 1892, the Wusong River and Huangpu River, which had been flowing eastward for many years in Shanghai, were also frozen in1February, and the river ice remained frozen for ten days. In Suzhou, Jiangsu, it is "snowy and cold in winter, and the ice in Taihu Lake is thick". In Nanjing, "it is extremely cold in winter and the river is frozen for ten days." The heavy snow in this area extends at least eastward to Nanling, Anhui Province. Jiashan area "1 1 in the late month, the weather was freezing, the river was frozen for more than ten days, and the ships were blocked." /kloc-in February, it snowed for two days and nights, and the area was three feet. "Hedeqing area" 1 1 On the 27th of the month, it was raining and snowing, freezing for four or five feet, and the wind was cold. From Wen Ming Bridge to Changqiao River, the boat could not support, and some people were walking on the ice. It will be solved step by step by1February. "Rivers and ports in Xiaoshan, Yuyao, Xiangshan, Taiping, Linhai and Fuyang have also been frozen. Linhai area: "The ice layers of streams and rivers are frozen, which is unprecedented in South China. "Guangxu Taiping County Continuation" also said: "Rivers are frozen. Can't sail, flowers and trees are dying, and centenarians have never seen them. "Hunan and Jiangxi provinces have also experienced the impact of winter. According to limited historical records, Nanchang area is "rainy and snowy in winter solstice and December, trees are frozen and broken, and birds' eggs turn into ice". There are similar records in the southern regions of the two provinces, such as Chongyi County, Nan 'an District, Jiangxi Province, where "there is heavy snow in winter and November, and many trees and flowers are damaged by freezing". Ningyuan county, Yongzhou District, Hunan Province, "It snowed heavily in winter, and the ice lasted for more than a month, so countless people were saved from freezing to death". Most of Fujian and Guangdong provinces belong to the south subtropical zone, with warm climate and no snowfall in general. In the study of historical climate, whether there is snowfall in this area is often regarded as an important judgment condition of climatic conditions. 1892- 1893 winter, there was a large area of snowfall here. 1893 16 10/6 16, the governors of Fujian and Zhejiang reported to the court: "It never snowed in winter in Fujian Province, or it occasionally melted when it landed, and it never snowed a few inches thick. On November 28th, the 18th year of Guangxu, the wind was cold and the night snow was colorful. By the 29 th, the average snow depth was four or five inches. " Not only the heavy snow in Fuzhou, but also the local chronicles of Wuping, Longyan, Shanghang, Changle, Yongtai, Putian, Changtai, Liancheng, Changting, Datian, Xiapu, Tongan and Xiamen. There is a phenomenon that the thickness of heavy snow exceeds one foot in these areas. "If you ask an 80-year-old man, you think you have never seen a cloud." It can be seen that for Fujian, this winter basically involves the whole province. Miaoli in Taiwan "snows heavily in winter 1 1 month, and snows again in1February". Penghu "is extremely cold in January, with heavy snow in mainland China, Kinmen and Xiamen, once in a century." Although there is no snow in Penghu, it is extremely cold. " Even Hengchun County, commonly known as the southern tip of Taiwan Province Island, once had saussurea involucrata. Guangdong and Guangxi have also been affected by this cold winter, and this kind of cold has been recorded all over the Pearl River Delta. "On the 28th of last month (1 1 month), the north wind suddenly became cold, and there was an inch to several inches of snow in the provincial capital and the counties in the attached provinces, as well as Luoding Prefecture in Shaozhou." This is the report of the Governor of Guangdong Province. Gaoming recorded the central part of Guangdong in the local chronicles: "On November 28th, heavy snow continued for three days, such as beads falling, cotton tiles accumulating at night, thick ground, snow-covered mountains and trees, and withered rice and trees, so it is not surprising to come to Guangdong." Enping in the southwest "snowed heavily on November 28th and 29th, and the ground was five or six inches thick". The cold wave reached Hainan Island. Qiongshan "1 1 The monthly rain is torrential and the wind is cold, which is unprecedented. The poor people froze to death, the fish in the stream floated to the surface and the bamboo dried up. Tunchang area is colder. " It's already a tropical fringe in China. However, this is not the coldest winter in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Judging from the freezing of rivers and lakes, the ice condition of Taihu Lake was "one foot thick", but in the eleventh year of Shunzhi, the freezing of Taihu Lake reached "two feet thick". At that time, the frozen southern Xinjiang arrived in Taiping, Zhejiang (now Wenling). "The river was completely frozen and it was impossible to sail." There is heavy snow from Fuzhou to the south, but there is no record of river freezing. On the fifteenth day of the first month of the twelfth year of Shunzhi, it snowed heavily in Fuzhou, and the mountain accumulated five feet. /kloc-on 0/6, the ground freezes and the river condenses to carry pedestrians. This is the only river icing record in Fuzhou. Judging from the thickness of snow, the maximum thickness of snow in this year was about three feet, such as Jiashan, Zhenhai, Zhejiang, Liancheng, Wuping and Yongtai, Fujian. In the twelfth year of Shunzhi, the snow in Fuzhou reached five feet, and in the ninth year of Kangxi, the snow in Changzhou, Zhejiang and Zhenjiang, Jiangsu reached more than ten feet. Judging from the southern boundary of snowfall, this year's snowfall area only reached the southern part of Guangdong and Guangxi, and did not cross the Qiongzhou Strait. There is only cold wind and frost in Qiongshan, Hainan Island, but there was rain and snow in Zheng Deyuan (1506) and Wanzhou (now Wanning). "Salt flew with the wind ... suddenly covered Dongshan Road", and snowfall has occurred in the central part of Hainan Island at 65430 north latitude.