张謇与民初苏北沿海的移民大潮

Zhang Jian and His Contributions to the Coastal Immigration in the North Jiangsu at the Beginning of the Republic of China

清末 ,张謇出于解决苏北沿海南部海门、南通两县贫苦农民的生计与北部淮南盐场农业近代化试验的双重需要 ,往淮南盐场组织移民从事废灶兴垦。移民运动进入民初形成大潮 ,与张謇同期组织的垦殖大潮和对移民实施的优惠政策有着密切的关系。民初苏北移民大潮颇具特点 ,最后虽归于衰退 ,但对苏北沿海乃至整个苏北的经济发展和社会进步产生了十分积极的作用 :其一是近20万海门、南通移民在淮南盐场安家落户 ,一定程度上改变了苏北沿海人口分布上南密北疏的不合理局面 ;其二是广大移民基本上完成了废灶兴垦的历史任务 ,大大改变了苏北沿海的自然面貌 ;其三是移民传播了先进的农业生产经验与生活习尚 。

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Zhan Jian went to the salt fields to the south of the Huai River and led the immigrants there to eliminate kitchen ranges and start plowing fields with a view to both sustaining the likelihood of the destitute people in Haimen and Nantong County, two counties in the south coasts of north Jiangsu, and conducting modern agricultural experiments on the salt fields. Immigration drive evolved into a big trend at the beginning of the Republic of China, which owed a great deal to the large scale of field cultivation initiated by Zhan Jian and the preferential policies granted to the immigrants. The immigration, recession as it suffered, has played an active role in enhancing the economic development and social progress in the coastal areas in north Jiangsu or even north-Jiangsu the whole. Firstly, nearly 20,000 Haimen and Nantong immigrants settled on the salt fields to the south of the Huai River, which in a way, redressed the irrationality in the population distribution in the north-Jiangsu coastal areas where previously, the southern part was densely populated while the northern part sparsely inhabited. Secondly, since a majority of immigrants completed, by and large, the historic task of eliminating the kitchen ranges and starting plowing fields, there resulted in an improvement of the natural visage in the north coastal areas. And finally, the diffusion of the advanced agricultural production techniques and life customs greatly foster the progress in society and elevation of civilization.