“丁戊奇荒”:十九世纪后期中国的天灾与赈济

The Famine in the Late 1870s:the Natural Disaster and Relief in China in the late 19th Century

光绪初年的华北久旱,以其大范围的蔓延和长时间的连续造成北中国触目惊心的饥饿、时疫、死亡和流亡。在农业经济的中国,荒政曾是国之大政。但时当19世纪70年代初期,绵延了十多年的内战刚刚过去,国库空虚,地方的仓储也空虚。因此,以荒政为家法和旧轨,则国家不能不主持赈济;而巨祲交逢衰世,朝廷和地方又都没有足够的物力施行赈济。与这种深深的困境相对应的,是内廷焦灼,州县竭蹶,旱境里的灾民因饥饿而死,办赈务的官员因劳瘁而死。焦灼和竭蹶,饥饿而死和劳瘁而死,既写照了天灾下的社会相,也写照了儒学民本主义在衰世里的最后一点余晖。而在国家权力之外,"南省"工商社会和西教教会各成一种有组织的力量入华北助赈,又显示了19世纪后期的世事变迁,荒政亦变迁。

The long drought in north China at the beginning of Emperor Guangxu period in Qing dynasty,made serious starvation,death and refugees. Governance of famine was the important policy in agricultural China. At that time,the civil war,which lasted for over 10 years,just stopped. The central and local governments' treasuries were weak. So the nation had to dominate relief activities. However,there had no sufficient materials to carry out the relief. Those disaster victims gradually died of starvation,while some officers who managed relief activities died of overwork. Such death reflected the social situation in the natural disaster,and indicated the last bright of Confucian people-oriented doctrine in a declined age. While besides the national power,the commercial society and foreign missioners became two organized relief power,which showed the social transition in the late 19th century.