疫病与秩序:准噶尔汗国覆灭前后西北地区的天花疫情

Disease and Order: Smallpox Epidemic in Northwest China before and after the Fall of the Junggar Khanate

准噶尔汗国覆灭前后,西北地区发生了两次大规模天花疫情。乾隆八年(1743)到九年(1744)的天花疫情发生在伊犁、乌鲁木齐、叶尔羌等地,导致了准噶尔汗国十余名宰桑身亡。乾隆二十(1755)到二十三年(1758)的天花疫情伴随着准噶尔汗国的灭亡,扩散至天山南北,导致流民四起,人口大量死亡。通过档案文书的解读可以发现,一些学者声称的清军给准噶尔带来天花的观点缺乏依据,天花在准噶尔社会及周边早已存在,并多次暴发。准噶尔汗国覆灭之际,内讧、战乱、饥荒使准噶尔社会秩序瓦解,本就一直存在的天花有了大暴发的条件,社会的失序使得病毒的传播更加肆无忌惮,又反过来加剧社会的失序,并伴随着饥荒、战火将准噶尔社会拉入深渊。

Two widespread smallpox epidemics occurred in northwest China before and after the collapse of the Junggar Khanate. The smallpox epidemic from 1743 to 1744 occurred in Yili, Urumqi and Yarkand regions, which resulted in the deaths of over ten Jaisang of the Junggar Khanate. The smallpox epidemic that accompanied the collapse of the Junggar Khanate from 1755 to 1758 spreading across the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains led to the rise of exiles and population deaths in large numbers. By reviewing documents, claims by some scholars that the Qing army brought smallpox to the Junggar is proved to be unsubstantiated. Smallpox indeed had long existed inside Junggar and neighboring places around Junggar society and there were once many outbreaks. During the fall of the Junggar Khanate, internal strife, war and famine disintegrated the social order of the Junggar. The smallpox which had always existed encountered the conditions of a large outbreak. The social disorder made the spread of the virus more unscrupulous, which in turn aggravated the social disorder, and accompanied by famine and war. These situations had made the Junggar society fall into the abyss.