Collapse: the Little Ice Age and the Decline of the Ming Dynasty

About This Novel

Why did the Ming Dynasty collapse in the mid-17th century after lasting for 276 years? From the unique perspective of climate history, Sinologist Professor Bu Zhengmin demonstrated how the extreme environment of the Little Ice Age broke through the empire's survival threshold, providing a new perspective in addition to the traditional narrative of "Chongzhen's lack of ability and the Manchus' southward movement leading to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty". Around the 14th century, the climate in the northern hemisphere began to turn colder, reaching its peak in the 17th century. In these three centuries, intermittent dry and cold weather and the persistent dry and cold climate around the 1640s gradually destroyed the agricultural foundation of the Ming Dynasty, causing it to slide from local famine in the Yongle period to the collapse of the national food system in the Chongzhen period. Professor Bu Zhengmin used a large number of private account books, local chronicles, notes and other materials to quantitatively analyze the soaring food prices and the soaring cost of survival, fully presenting the Ming people's feelings about the living environment, commodity prices (especially food prices), etc., As well as the difficulties of people's lives under climate change. The book is logically rigorous and advances layer by layer, demonstrating the impact of climate change on the Ming Dynasty regime. The author believes that climate often sets the limits of people's lives. If there is not enough food to feed everyone, it will at least trigger an economic and social crisis, and probably a political crisis. This understanding has far-reaching implications for understanding the fragility of pre-modern countries and the impact of climate fluctuations on countries.

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