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1 results

  • 5 - Relieving Famines

  • from Text 5 - On Relieving the People’s Suffering
  • Edited by Timothy Brook, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Lianbin Dai, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book:
    Chinese Statecraft
    Published online:
    17 July 2025
    Print publication:
    31 July 2025, pp 80-92

  • Summary

    Chapter 16 of DYB introduces a range of relief policies to succour the victims of natural disasters that Qiu Jun considers should be developed by the Ming state. His references go back to the Rites of Zhou and include a significant amount of Tang and Song precedents. He particularly insists on preparedness measures and on the pre-eminent role of the state to store the surpluses produced by society and redistribute them in years of famine – hence, for example, his reservations regarding public granaries run by local notables – and, more generally, to preserve the stability of local communities confronted with subsistence crises. If Qiu’s recommendations do not seem to have had much impact, if any, on Ming relief policies, several of them anticipate the setting up of a centrally controlled and fairly efficient system of famine relief under the Qing.