元代大德末年特大饥荒与两浙地方社会

A famine happened in 1307 and the Zhejiang society in Yuan Dynasty

大德末年,以江浙行省为中心,元朝爆发了第一次全国范围内的大饥荒。此次由自然引发的饥荒波及范围从南至北,对两浙和周边地区及大都民众的生存环境均造成了直接而明显的影响。自然灾害造成粮食减产,导致国家财政收入及北运粮食减少,引发物价上涨,米价腾贵,人口锐减,城市萧条。并产生了数量庞大的流民,社会矛盾全面凸显。天灾和政治腐败是导致特大饥荒的直接原因,但灾伤如此严重,也与两浙地区的财富分配结构和区域产业结构的不合理直接相关,其中木棉的推广或有负面影响。丁未大饥将元朝统治的诸种弊病全面暴露,其中的诸多因素一直延续到元末。

Around 1307,with Jiangzhe Province as the center,the first nationwide famine broke out in Yuan Dynasty.The disaster area was wide,which had a strong impact on the people living in Zhejiang and Dadu City.The grain production was reduced.As a result,the amount of grain transported to Dadu City from the south of the empire also went down.Affected by the disaster,prices went up,population dropped sharply and cities became depressed.A large number of people became refugees and social contradictions became prominent.Natural disasters and political corruption were the direct causes of the poor effect of the endeavor of relief,but the main causes were the unreasonable structures of the wealth assignment and industry structure in Zhejiang.Ceiba’s widespread planting compounded the problem.This disaster fully exposed the defects of Yuan Dynasty.Many of these defects continued to the end of Yuan Dynasty,so the seeds of Mongolian and Yuan Empire’s demise were deeply buried as early as the early fourteenth century.