Revolts Frequency during 1644–1911 in North China Plain and Its Relationship with Climate

Based on the records of social revolts in the Actual Annals of Qing Dynasty (a collection of official records), the revolts frequency (amount of counties where revolts happened every year) in North China Plain during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) is reconstructed. By comparing revolts frequency with temperature and precipitation series, the interaction between climate and social responses is analyzed. It can be concluded that revolts broke out more frequently in colder periods and less frequently in warmer periods. There were much more revolts in drought decades than in wet decades, and the three fatal peasant uprisings in the Qing Dynasty were all ignited by severe droughts. The impacts of changes in temperature and precipitation on revolts should be estimated at different time scales. The correspondence emerged at neither decadal nor yearly scale until the turn between 18th and 19th centuries, the critical period when per capita cropland area decreased to a vulnerable level. Food crisis increased the vulnerability of local society, and changes in temperature and precipitation became an important trigger for revolts.CitationXiao, L., Y. Ye, and B. Wei, 2011: Revolts frequency during 1644–1911 in North China Plain and its relationship with climate. Adv. Clim. Change Res.,2(4), doi:10.3724/SP.J.1248.2011.00218.