Original title: "Research and Thoughts on Natural Disasters and Ecological Environment Changes in the Mongolian Plateau throughout the Years"
Zhai Yu
3 Deputy Director, Associate Researcher, and Doctor of History, and is mainly engaged in the research of Yuan History, , Mongolia History, and Inner Mongolia Local History.
This article has been authorized by the author and has released on the WeChat public platform for the first time.
Abstract: Mongolian Plateau is the main event stage for northern grassland ethnic groups. This area has always been a relatively fragile ecological environment and a place where disasters are frequent. Natural disasters have their own characteristics and are closely related to the history of northern ethnic groups. At present, the collection and research of historical materials on natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau throughout the dynasties is relatively weak and needs to be carried out urgently. This will benefit the construction of contemporary ecological civilization, especially for ecological governance and social development in Inner Mongolia.
Keywords: Mongolian Plateau; natural disasters; environmental changes; literature compilation; ecological civilization
Natural disasters are generally caused by natural changes. One type of natural change occurs when nature moves itself and is basically not affected by human activities; the other type is caused by improper production activities and lifestyles of human beings that damage the environment. The latter shows the "revenge" of nature towards humans and is a manifestation of the interaction between man and nature. We are engaged in the study of the history of natural disasters and ecological environment changes in order to understand and understand the complex phenomena of natural disasters and ecological environment changes that have occurred in history.
On the one hand, this is to understand the natural environment conditions in a certain area and the historical process of its development and evolution. On the other hand, to study the human factors that lead to natural disasters, it is intended to warn the world and provide reference for today's people to correctly handle the relationship between man and nature. At the same time, in-depth research should be conducted on disasters caused by natural factors that cannot be controlled by humans, with the purpose of providing historical experience for today's human society to formulate a more reasonable disaster warning mechanism. The Mongolian Plateau area is located in the northern border of China and is the main event stage for ancient northern grassland ethnic groups in China. Various natural disasters have occurred many times in history, and the ecological environment is constantly changing. Generally speaking, it is a region with fragile ecological environment. It will be very meaningful to carry out research on natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the past dynasties.
1. Early data work and special research
Research on the history of disasters and environmental changes is still an emerging discipline in the academic community today. To a certain extent, it does not occupy the mainstream compared with political history, social history and other research. Therefore, there are currently few scholars who specialize in data work and special research in this area. In addition, the collation and research of historical materials on natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau area is even more blank in the academic community. The collection of disaster literature has a long history.
In the early years, relying on the support of various national projects and policies, various national departments and some scientific research institutions related to the environment and disasters had collectively compiled large-scale disasters and environmental historical materials, and thus published a large number of data collections of disaster historical materials. The more typical ones are Chen Gaozhong "State of Natural Disasters and Man-made Disasters in China" (Shanghai Bookstore Photocopy 1986), "Chinese History Editing Group compiled by the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Data Editing Group compiled by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Data Editing Group Materials on Natural Disasters and Agricultural Policy in the Past Ages" (Agricultural Publishing House in 1988), Song Zhenghai edited the "All Collection of Major Natural Disasters and Anomalies in Ancient China" (Guangdong Education Press 1992), Jiang Lin's "Agricultural Famine Chronicle" (Jiangsu People's Publishing House in 1993), Zhang Bo and others edited the "A Collection of Historical Materials of Agricultural Natural Disasters" (Shaanxi Science and Technology Press 1994), Liu Zhaomin's "Climate Changes in Chinese History" (Taiwan Commercial Press 1992), Zhang Deer-Erified the "All Collection of Meteorological Records in China's Three Thousand Years" (Phoenix Publishing House, Jiangsu Education Press 2004), Zhang Zhibin's "Chronology of the Epidemics of Ancient Chinese" (Fujian Science and Technology Press 2007), Wang Yuxing's "Chronology of Ancient Chinese Epidemics (I and II)" (Journal of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2003, No. 3 and 4), Chinese Earthquake Data Chronicle of History Group of the Seismic Working Committee of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( Science Press 1956), Xie Yushou, Cai Meibiao , edited by "Compilation of Chinese Earthquake Historical Data" (Science Press 1983-1987), Lou Bao Editor-in-chief "A Summary of Earthquake Disasters in Ancient and Modern China" (Earthquake Press 1996), Lu Renji's Historical Materials of Disaster Sea Tides in China throughout the Chronicles (Ocean Press 1984), etc. The above-mentioned chronology and historical materials all involve various natural disasters and ecological environment changes related to the northern ethnic groups living in the Mongolian Plateau area to a greater or lesser extent, which provides us with a good basis for the research on natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau area throughout the Chronicles, and also helps to study and understand the historical research related to northern ethnic groups in China throughout the Chronicles.
In addition, local governments in China have also compiled a number of historical materials for local natural disasters based on regional actual conditions, such as "Historical Materials of Natural Disasters in Inner Mongolia" (Editor Group of "Historical Materials of Natural Disasters in Inner Mongolia" (Editor Group of Natural Disasters in Inner Mongolia" in 1982), "Continuation" (Advisory Office of the Inner Mongolia People's Government, 1988), "Historical Materials of Natural Disasters in Shaanxi Province" (Meteorological Observatory of Shaanxi Province Meteorological Bureau, 1976), and "Historical Materials of Natural Disasters in Haihe Basin" (Hebei Province Drought and Flood Forecasting Research Group, Meteorological Press 1985 2018), "Guangxi Natural Disaster Historical Materials" (Second Library of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 1978), "Guangdong Province Natural Disaster Historical Materials" (Guangdong Provincial Literature and History Research Institute, Guangdong Science and Technology Press, 1999), "Flood and Drought Disasters in Northeast China" (edited by Songliao Water Conservancy Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources, Jilin People's Publishing House, 2003), "Compilation of Natural Disaster Historical Materials in Shanghai (751-1949 AD)" (edited by Huo Enjie and Liu Changsen, Earthquake Press, 2002), etc., all include and involve some related regional disaster historical materials.
Among them, some special historical materials, such as "Historical Materials of Natural Disasters in Inner Mongolia" and its continuation, have included many historical materials of natural disasters and ecological environment in the Mongolian Plateau area. However, due to the early editing of this set of materials, it is limited to the basic conditions of historical materials search and research at that time, and the overall search is relatively rough and not comprehensive enough. We will look at the past.
But at the same time, it should be seen that the documents selected in these large-scale data collections are mainly common documents in various historical stages of ancient Chinese society, such as official history, rules and regulations documents, private writings, notes and novels, local chronicles, etc. The scope of selected historical materials is generally limited, and is not comprehensive and systematic.On the one hand, due to the conditions, the different versions of the same document cannot be compared, and most of them only use one common version, which limits the analysis, proofreading and correction of historical materials; on the other hand, similar documents are not exhausted, but only one or two are selected for compilation, which will certainly cause the lack of relevant historical materials; on the third hand, the newly published, newly compiled and newly discovered documents, especially some unearthed documents and multilingual documents, were mostly not well used in the early collection of historical materials, some are due to limitations of conditions, and some are not yet published or discovered.
Editor-in-chief Professor Yuan Zuliang of Zhengzhou University Editor-in-chief "General History of Disasters in China" ( Zhengzhou University Press 2009) started from the pre-Qin period and ended in the late Qing Dynasty, and it was divided into eight volumes, namely the pre-Qin period, Qin and Han dynasties, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Five Dynasties, Song dynasties, Yuan dynasties, Ming dynasties and Qing dynasties. This series of books mainly conducts a comprehensive and systematic study on the specific situation, space-time distribution, frequency laws, impacted areas, degree of hazards, as well as ideas, systems and measures for disasters such as the major natural disasters that have occurred in Chinese history for thousands of years - floods, droughts, winds, hail disasters, epidemics, earthquakes, insect disasters, , snow and freezing, etc., including the specific situation, space-time distribution, frequency laws, impacted areas, degree of hazards, as well as the ideas, systems and measures for disaster prevention and relief. It is currently the only general history of China's disaster special research, and it has pioneering significance to fill the gap. Each book in this series has an appendix to the chronology of disasters that have been passed down from generation to generation. Historical materials of important disasters and environmental problems of the past dynasties are selected and compiled, which is of great benefit to further research.
Mr. Wang Peihua's "Farage and Relief in the Northern Period" ( Beijing Normal University Press 2010) takes famine and relief issues in the northern region throughout the Yuan Dynasty as the main research scope, and adopts social science research methods such as history and some research methods of natural science, combined with discussions, many of which involve the Mongolian Plateau area of the Yuan Dynasty. The historical materials and research work of disasters in the Qing Dynasty was grand, especially the research and historical materials sorting work carried out by . The Institute of Qing History of Renmin University of China was the highlight. Scholars such as Li Wenhai, Xia Mingfang and others have organized and published "The Top Ten Famines in Modern China" ( Shanghai People's Publishing House 1994), "The Chronicle of Modern China" ( Hunan Education Press 1990), "Famine and Famine 1840-1919" ( Higher Education Press 1991), "Continuation of Famine Chronicle of Modern China" (Hunan Education Press 1993), "Complete Book of Famine Politics in China", etc., all of which are beneficial to disasters and environmental problems in the Mongolian Plateau area.
has a relatively large relationship with the topics involved in this article. The main research results include Bao Qingde's "Research on Famine in Inner Mongolia in the Qing Dynasty" (People's Publishing House in 2015), "General History of Inner Mongolia" Volume 8 of "Evolution of Ecological Environment and Development of Ecological Civilization in Inner Mongolia" (People's Publishing House in 2012), etc. Although they are all research works, they all belong to the regional scope involved in this article.
The book "Research on Famine in Inner Mongolia in the Qing Dynasty" mainly focuses on famine in Inner Mongolia in the Qing Dynasty as its main research topic. It systematically sorted out the famine time distribution laws and spatial distribution characteristics, as well as various disasters such as waterfront disasters, interannual distribution, and several frequent periods. The book "Development and Land Desertification of Western Inner Mongolia in the Ming and Qing Dynasties" ( Xiao Ruiling , Cao Yongnian , Zhao Zhiheng, Yu Yong, Zhonghua Book Company 2006) is a monograph on the ecological environment problems of western Inner Mongolia in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This book is the final result of the National Social Science Foundation project "Development and Land Desertification of Western Inner Mongolia in the Ming and Qing Dynasties" project hosted by the late scholar Xiao Ruiling of Inner Mongolia in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The research of this book is very in-depth and specific, and there are many research reports in the appendix, and new results are published one after another.
is based on the natural disaster problems in the contemporary Inner Mongolia region. It has used multidisciplinary means, especially the natural discipline perspective to carry out research, especially in comprehensive research and special research on various disasters and their prevention and treatment, with many results.Some of these results are research results, some are data compilation, and some are introductions and promotions of local disaster prevention and relief practices, which have strong practical guiding significance. Although these achievements and materials are mainly aimed at contemporary society, they are of great help to our understanding of historical disasters and environmental problems. In turn, we can closely combine historical disasters and environmental problems with contemporary society, which will benefit future disaster prevention and control and environmental protection.
There are some works and papers about various disaster issues in Inner Mongolia. Because the papers are relatively scattered, they will not be repeated. His main works include "Inner Mongolia Plague" (editor of Liu Jiyou and Zhang Wanrong, Inner Mongolia People's Publishing House 1997), and there are also some information related to plague , such as "Dictionary of Modern Plague in Inner Mongolia (Episode 62 of Inner Mongolia Literary and Historical Materials)" (editor of the Inner Mongolia CPPCC Literary and Historical Materials Committee, 2008), etc. The scientific research project "Research on the History of Natural Disasters in Inner Mongolia" hosted by Mr. Zhao Zhiheng of Inner Mongolia Normal University is also underway, and a series of related results have been published. Since Inner Mongolia is the main stage of activity for ancient northern ethnic groups in China and an important area of the Mongolian Plateau, the research on the history of disasters in Inner Mongolia will be very helpful to the research on disasters and environmental issues in the Mongolian Plateau area involved in this article.
However, the problem perspective involved in this article is based on the historical stage of the entire northern Chinese ethnic activities - historical materials on disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau area, so it is different from the research on disaster history with Inner Mongolia as the regional scope. The book "Research on Natural Disaster System in Inner Mongolia" ( Shi Peijun , Hu Tao, Wang Jingai, Fang Xiuqi, Chen Jin, etc., Ocean Press 1993) systematically summarizes the results of natural disaster research in Inner Mongolia. Taking the author's idea that the disaster system is a surface variation system composed of the pregnancy environment, disaster-causing factors, and disaster-bearing bodies, it takes the disaster-study research as a breakthrough point to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the main natural disasters in Inner Mongolia, proposes the zoning of natural disasters in Inner Mongolia, and focuses on analyzing the regional differences between agricultural and natural disasters in Inner Mongolia's agricultural and animal husbandry areas, and points out corresponding disaster reduction measures.
"General Journal of Natural Disasters in Inner Mongolia" (editored by Xingye , one of the ten series of Inner Mongolia, Inner Mongolia People's Publishing House in 2001) divides natural disasters in Inner Mongolia into drought, wind disaster, cold wave, dry and hot wind, sandstorm , snow disaster, black disaster , hail disaster, frost, flood, saline and alkali waterlogging disasters, pests, rat damage, wolf damage, grass damage, fire, and earthquakes. The regular characteristics of each disaster, the distribution of each league and city, and the disaster situation was analyzed, and the disasters on Inner Mongolia's history were also sorted out and documented. The book "Chinese Meteorological Disasters Ceremony: Inner Mongolia Scrolls" (editor of Shen Jianguo, Meteorological Publishing House in 2008) divides meteorological disasters in Inner Mongolia into drought, flood, wind, snow, frost, hail disaster, cold wave, thunderstorm disaster, dry and hot wind, low temperature and cold damage, forest and grassland fire and ecological disasters, and sorts out the history of various types of disasters in Inner Mongolia from ancient times to the present, until 2000.
Overall, it is still blank to carry out historical materials sorting for natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau region in all dynasties. However, since the academic and relevant departments of society, whether for the national or regional scope, the data collection and sorting work has been carried out for many years. The compiled data more or less involves disasters and environmental issues in the Mongolian Plateau region, and can be used as a reference. However, in order to systematically understand and master the natural disasters and ecological environment in the Mongolian Plateau region, it is still necessary to carry out specialized, systematic and comprehensive data collection and sorting research on this topic.There are currently relatively few research results on this topic, and some of them are involved in the relevant research results. Among them, the "Inner Mongolia Region" is the closest to the geographical scope of the Mongolian Plateau. Therefore, the problems such as the history of natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Inner Mongolia region carried out by some scholars, especially scholars in Inner Mongolia, are within the research scope of the "Mongolian Plateau".
Since "Inner Mongolia Region" and "Mongolian Plateau Region" are two concepts of different natures, the former is the name of a contemporary administrative division, and the latter is a natural regional geographical concept. Although Inner Mongolia region belongs to the category of the Mongolian Plateau, the two have great differences in conceptual attributes, scope demarcation, etc. The author believes that using the concept of "Mongolian Plateau region" to conduct research on disasters and environmental issues is more logical, because the occurrence, development and changes of natural disasters and ecological environment are closely related to natural geography . The disasters and environment in the Mongolian Plateau region have their own uniqueness and are very different from the surrounding areas, especially the mainland of the Central Plains. But no matter what, the study of disasters and environmental issues in Inner Mongolia will greatly help promote the overall disasters and environmental issues in the Mongolian Plateau area.
2. Thoughts on the special research on natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau throughout the ages
(I) Causes of weak research on disasters and environment in Mongolian Plateau
The main living groups in the Mongolian Plateau area are northern grassland ethnic groups, and their main production methods are nomadic and hunting. Like the farming ethnic groups in the Central Plains, they must always suffer from famines. However, the ways in which nomadic and farming ethnic groups fight against famines are different, which is mainly based on the different natural ecological environments in the two regions. From the current perspective, the academic community basically lacks systematic and comprehensive historical materials and literature collation and research results based on the theme of natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau region. At the same time, the importance of systematic analysis of these basic historical materials is insufficient, and there is also a lack of analysis and research on related disasters and environmental historical materials. There are three reasons:
First, the Mongolian Plateau area is an area of northern ethnic activities in all dynasties and a place for the exchanges and integration of multiple ethnic groups. The history of northern nations has its own special features, with complex historical intricacies and complex contexts, so the grasp and research of their related historical issues is not easy to attract attention from the general academic community, and has not yet entered the focus of researchers in disasters and environmental history in emerging academic fields.
Second, because the Mongolian Plateau area is located inside the Eurasian continent, the natural environment is generally fragile and is a place where disasters occur frequently. The ethnic groups living here mainly use nomadism, hunting, etc. as their main production methods, and also engage in agriculture. For the Central Plains region, which mainly farms, the disasters and environmental problems in this area have never been paid attention to by historians of the Central Plains.
Third, historical records of natural disasters and environmental changes in the Mongolian Plateau are mostly scattered in various documents of the past dynasties, and it is quite difficult to compile, and historical records from some periods are relatively lacking.
(II) The significance of carrying out disasters and environment research in Mongolian Plateau
Carrying out the collation and research of historical materials on natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau throughout the ages has important academic and practical significance.
First of all, this work has important academic significance for learning from the experience of ecological governance from history and promoting the construction of contemporary ecological civilization. The construction of ecological civilization is the fifth largest civilization proposed by our country and has an important position in the national strategy. National leaders have repeatedly talked about strategies and guidelines related to ecological civilization. It is the unshirkable responsibility of historical workers to seek governance experience from the history of disasters and ecological environment.
Secondly, for the northern border areas, especially Inner Mongolia, carrying out this research is an important research topic in the history of northern Chinese ethnic groups. It is helpful and promotes our in-depth understanding of the social economy, production and life, political and military events of the northern grassland ethnic groups living on the Mongolian Plateau, the relationships of various ethnic groups, and the history of the integration and conflicts between agriculture and pastoral culture.
3 Third, carrying out this research will help to understand the natural disasters in the history of the Mongolian Plateau, especially the Inner Mongolia region, and its various social consequences and social causes of the disasters, help to understand the relationship between the nomadic economy and the ecological environment, and understand the complex problems of grassland reclamation, grassland vegetation and ecological environment changes, thus helping to promote the economic and social development of the Inner Mongolia region, helping to create a beautiful scenery in the northern border, and have great academic value and social significance for maintaining national unity, cultural security, border stability and national unity.
Basic literature compilation work in the field of disaster and environmental history research is an important prerequisite for carrying out this special research and is also the most basic work. Without this premise, no research can be discussed. At the same time, this is also an academic work to fill the gap. It is of pioneering significance and has a driving role in academic fields such as northern ethnic history, Mongolian history and ethnic historical documents, and Inner Mongolia regional history.
(III) Basic connotation of historical documents on natural disasters and ecological environment of the Mongolian Plateau
The "natural disasters and ecological environment" mentioned in this article is actually a broad concept, covering disasters, wasteland, relief, relief, and environment issues and academic concepts. The main types of historical materials about natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau are:
First, it directly records the content of various natural disasters and ecological environment changes, such as water, drought, locusts, frost, storm, earthquake, etc., and records the time, location, content, frequency, degree of disasters, as well as records of the damage and changes of the ecological environment. For the Mongolian Plateau areas, natural disasters have their own characteristics, such as frequent droughts and frequent animal epidemics, such as plague, locust , etc. This is related to the unique ecological environment of the grassland area. These disasters may not have occurred or rarely occurred in other places. This is the uniqueness of the Mongolian Plateau area.
The second is to record the damage caused by various natural disasters, such as famine, number of casualties, property loss, etc.
Third, it records the various disaster relief measures taken by the government and society after natural disasters occur, and the content in this regard is relatively extensive.
Fourth, the human society's understanding of natural disasters and its utilization. The understanding of disasters mostly comes from agricultural production, social stability and the safety of people's lives and property. The utilization of natural disasters is mainly reflected in the disastrous views of ancient society. Confucian scholars and civil officials often use disaster phenomena to persuade the emperor in order to achieve the purpose of adjusting policies and benefiting people's livelihood. In addition, for the ancients, "locustards do not enter the country" as an important work and political achievement for officials to govern local society. Only those who can do this can be called parents. These are all direct manifestations of the relationship between disasters and politics.
Five, we must also pay attention to the role of human factors in natural disasters. The occurrence and damage caused by natural disasters in any region are inseparable from more or less human factors, but the performance of human factors varies from region to region. The Mongolian Plateau area has always been a place where wars occur frequently, and wars and disasters and famines often have causal relationships, which constitutes a distinctive feature of the Mongolian Plateau area. During some dry and cold environments, the probability of grassland ethnic groups going south to attack the Han area in the Central Plains will increase. This shows the interactive relationship between ecological environment changes and human group activities, so this interaction affects the direction of the historical development process.
Mongolian Plateau region has always been the main activity area of northern ethnic groups. The main northern ethnic groups appear in the order of the era roughly in the literature, including Donghu , Xiong , Xiong , Xiong , Xiong , Turkish , Uighur , Xiagas , Tuyuhun , Khitan , Khitan , Kumoxi, Dangxiang, Jurchen, Shiwei-Datta, Mongolia, Manchuria, etc.Although this article uses the "Mongolian Plateau" as the main regional scope to determine the scope of documentary and historical materials, it must still be combined with the history of northern ethnic groups here. The history of northern nations has a long history and has a wide range of regions. They have had a significant impact on Chinese history and world history. The disaster problems related to them are different in different historical periods and in different ethnic groups. Therefore, the relevant disaster historical materials should be sorted and compiled from the following aspects:
First, disasters, treatments, and related ecological environments occur within the area of northern ethnic activities. Relief and governance include the independent relief of the northern ethnic groups and the treatment of their own unique production and life experience, and also includes the relief and governance of the northern ethnic groups under their jurisdiction and rule.
The second is the northern ethnic group that established a regional local regime. The northern ethnic disasters as the ruling nation, their governance ideas, concepts, political strategies, social systems and other related historical materials should be collected and sorted out, especially the disaster historical materials that clearly reflect the thoughts and culture of the northern ethnic group, which are specifically manifested as disasters, ecological environment views, etc.
The third is the northern ethnic group that established a national unified dynasty regime (mainly the Mongolian ethnic group that established the Yuan Dynasty and the Manchu ethnic group that established the Qing Dynasty). The scope was selected in the northern grassland area during the period when the two major ethnic groups ruled the country, because this area was the activity area of the northern ethnic groups in ancient China, with similar geographical environments, and thus similar production and lifestyles, disasters and ecological concepts.
In addition, as a national ruling nation, disaster historical materials should be collected and sorted out with distinct national thoughts, national politics and national historical characteristics.
(IV) Regional categories and historical materials involved in disasters and environmental changes in the Mongolian Plateau area
The so-called Mongolian Plateau area is based on the northern grassland area in China as the main core area. Because this area is the main activity area of northern ethnic groups in history and is also the core area for the integration of agriculture and animal husbandry culture, the documents and historical records about this place are relatively comprehensive and systematic. Therefore, the research scope can be roughly defined as the areas in the current China from the east, west and south of the Greater Xing'an Mountains through Yanshan, Taihang Mountains, Inner Mongolia Plateau to Kunlun Mountains, ljinshan, Animaqing Mountains, Qinling Mountains, lc3 Qinling , all or local areas of the three northeastern provinces of , Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Ningxia and other provinces and regions. At the same time, according to the national, social and state power situation in different historical periods, other areas of the Mongolian Plateau are appropriately covered, including present-day Mongolia , Russia Siberia, Central Asia and other places.
The history of natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau, the time range involved ranges from prehistoric pre-Qin period to modern and modern Republic of China period. According to the northern ethnic groups and important historical stages active on the Mongolian Plateau, the author roughly divided them into four periods: one is prehistoric pre-Qin, Qin, Han, Wei and Jin Northern Dynasties (Ethnic active periods such as Donghu, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turks, Rouran, Uighurs), the second is Liao, Song, Xixia, Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasties (Ethnic active periods such as Khitan, Jurchen, Dangxiang and Mongolia); the third is the early and middle periods of the Qing Dynasty (before the establishment of the Qing Dynasty until 1840), and the fourth is the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China (before 1840-1949). There are three main reasons for this division: one is based on the overall characteristics of disasters and ecological environment literature, the second is based on the historical characteristics of northern ethnic groups active in the Mongolian Plateau area, and the third is based on the different processing methods and total documents of documents in different periods, etc.
The main contents of historical documents on natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau are mainly recorded in Chinese documents, especially before the Qing Dynasty, which were mostly Chinese documents. In the Qing Dynasty and modern times, a considerable number of multilingual documents such as Manchu and Mongolian were retained, among which Manchu archives were mostly documented, so it should be paid enough attention to non-Chinese literature.Regarding the basic forms of documentary historical materials, before the Qing Dynasty, the main documents were handed down from generation to generation, such as official history, political books, notes and novels, collections of literati, private works, etc. In addition to traditional documents in the Qing Dynasty and modern times, there were also a large number of archival documents, oral historical materials, field ethnography, local chronicles and other forms of documentary historical materials. In short, the closer the era is, the greater the total amount of historical materials, the better the systematic nature, and the greater the difficulty of analyzing and collecting them. There are different ways to deal with documents and historical materials from different periods.
(V) How to collect, organize and study the Mongolian Plateau disasters and environmental historical materials
1. Basic research methods of historical bibliography. First, historical materials on natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau should be compiled according to the year; second, relevant historical materials should be compiled and sorted according to the disaster category, environmental changes, social treatment, relief, etc.; third, historical materials with unknown years can be appropriately classified according to the general age; fourth, flexible and maneuverable treatment methods should be adopted for large-scale comprehensive disaster historical materials, or compiled separately according to year, content, or separately.
2. Historical material analysis, verification and proofreading work. The collected historical materials on the disasters and environment of the Mongolian Plateau should also be verified, proofreaded and preliminary analysis. There are three main tasks: First, compare and analyze the same events recorded in different documents, compare the similarities and differences, and analyze the content of the document records based on text analysis; second, systematically sort out disasters and environmental events, and centrally compile and organize the records of the causes and consequences related to them, and strive to use historical materials to describe history; third, overall proofread, sort and study of large-scale documents, specialized documents and systematic records of disasters and environmental historical materials, which is mainly aimed at relevant documents in the Qing Dynasty and modern times.
3. The particularity of literature and historical materials and their response methods. The records of disasters and environment in the Mongolian Plateau areas in documents of past dynasties are generally simple and scattered, and most records are often mentioned in one stroke, so it is difficult to get a detailed look. At the same time, historical records often have certain errors, inconsistencies, and inappropriate details, so it is very necessary to organize and review the work. Historical records often have different degrees of choice, so it is necessary to conduct in-depth analysis based on the historical background of the time and the local area. The specific situation of the disaster is often unclear in historical records, such as the degree of disaster and the geographical area of the disaster. The records of the same disaster in different documents sometimes vary, which requires preliminary analysis and investigation. Many disaster phenomena occur simultaneously, such as after an earthquake, it is often accompanied by famine, flood, drought, wind and haze disasters, so it is necessary to combine case research and comprehensive research.
Generally speaking, the total amount of historical records of disasters and ecological environment related to the Mongolian Plateau area before the Qing Dynasty was relatively small, and it was mostly scattered in official history, essays, collections of literati, notes and novels, local chronicles, and some private works. A large number of related documents need to be reviewed and the disaster historical materials are compiled one by one. The documents and historical materials of the Qing Dynasty and the modern period are relatively rich, with a large number of voluminous books, and are manifested as the coexistence of multilingual documents. There are also some writings that systematically describe disaster-related works. Therefore, when dealing with documents from the Qing Dynasty, modern times and before the Qing Dynasty, there should be different ways of handling them.
summarizes the characteristics of disasters and environmental historical records of Mongolian Plateau, so as to understand the overall situation of natural disasters and ecological environment in the Mongolian Plateau where northern ethnic groups live. It is initially believed that compared with the Central Plains, snow and droughts in the northern grassland areas have the highest frequency and the deepest extent; natural disasters have a greater impact, and the occurrence of various types of disasters is mostly accompanied by famine; for disasters, their ability to rescue, respond and recover on their own are poor, and they all rely on the relief and assistance of the central government of , etc.
3. Yu Lun
The author believes that the study of compiling and sorting historical materials on natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau will be greatly beneficial to the research in the fields of Chinese ethnic history, disasters and environmental history, and has the value and significance of filling the academic gap. In the study of the history of ancient northern ethnic groups in China, there have always been problems such as scarce historical materials, insufficient research, and insufficient specific understanding. In response to the special areas such as Inner Mongolia regional history and modern Mongolian history, there are also problems such as uneven research focus, insufficient in-depth research, lack of system, and insufficient integration with reality. If the study of natural disasters and ecological environment changes in the Mongolian Plateau can be opened up and expanded, it will greatly promote the study of northern ethnic history, deepen the study of historical geography of the Mongolian Plateau, and organize and study documents and historical materials on the Mongolian Plateau disasters and environment, so as to understand the history of the northern ethnic groups and its important role and contribution in the construction of the Chinese National Community .
[Note] The article was originally published in the Journal of Chifeng College (Chinese Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition) 2020 Issue 8. For the convenience of mobile phone reading, notes and references are omitted.
Editor: Li Jing
