历史时期气候变化对中国古代人口的影响

Influence of Climate Change to Ancient Population of China over History

对历史时期气候变化对中国古代人口的影响进行了研究,结果表明,在一般情况下,气候温暖时期,人口数量增长,纬度较高的边疆地区适合耕种,大批汉民迁至边疆地区开展农业生产;气候寒冷时期,人口数量减少,少数民族南迁,掠夺粮食和土地;为躲避战乱,中原人口也大量南迁。气候变化可直接对人口产生影响,如人口被冻死或被迫迁移;也可以通过导致农业减产、诱发战争、促进瘟疫的传播等途径间接地对人口产生影响。

Effects of climate change to ancient population of China over history was analyzed. The results showed that in general, during warm climate, population goes up and lands at the high-latitude frontier become fit for farming, a good number of Han Chinese migrate there to reclaim for farming ; when climate becomes cold, facing lower population, the national minority moves southward, amid which, pillage and conflict often inevitably break out, resulting that a growing population living in the central plain of China also migrate southward. Therefore, climate change can exert direct influences on demography, such as human death and migration. Furthermore, in the consequence of agricultural reduction, potential war and spread of plague, it can bring indirect influences on population.