The Chinese famine of 1928–1930 occurred as widespread drought hit Northwestern and Northern China, most notably in the provinces of Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu. Mortality is estimated to be within 6 million, which already included deaths from famine-led diseases. The inefficiency of relief has been pointed out as a factor which aggravated the famine.
Historical background
From 1928 to 1930, China was under the control of Chiang's Nanjing Nationalist government.
The Nanjing Nationalist government was established in April 1927, a year after the Northern Expedition war ended. This war ended the power of imperialism in China and it was a war in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) collaborated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP). After the Northern Expedition ended, Chiang, as the leader of the CNP, breached the collaboration between the two parties and began to arrest and murder the members of the CCP. This event is called the Shanghai massacre, the April 12 Purge or the April 12 Incident. In the same year, the Nanjing Nationalist government was established. The CCP retreated to the countryside and hid, while Chiang kept murdering CCP party members.
When the famine happened, the Nanjing Nationalist government was still busy on fighting the CCP. At the time, the leader of the Northwestern army, Feng Yuxiang, did not agree with Chiang's policies against the CCP, therefore, he was preparing for a war against Chiang's domination. This war came to be known as the Central Plains War.
Consequence
Death by famine
When famine developed, people began to eat everything they could, including bark, grass roots, tree leaves, bran, mud and animals they fed. Human cannibalism also occurred; people exchanged their young children to eat. Many dead bodies had no feet or arms, people even thought that if they did not eat their own children or parents' bodies, other people would eat their bodies.
Some people died from eating too much mud. The mud that they ate was Kaolinite, also called Guanyin Mud in Chinese (Chinese:观音土). This kind of mud can give the body a false appearance of being full, yet it cannot be absorbed or digested. After the false appearance of fullness faded, people continued to eat the mud again until eventually, they would die from the inability to excrete the mud from their bodies.
Death by violence
At the preliminary stage of the famine, the price of crops began to increase. Some food theft occurred. In 1927, some robbing events had been reported and the people who robbed were called "brigands" by the government. Some of them were poor farmers who robbed food from rich landlords; some were beggars; the rest were local armies, and they had guns.
Besides these factors, the Central Plains War was perhaps another reason that caused death.
Death by plague
Many people also died because of the plague, or because of suicide or starvation, and their dead bodies had not been buried. All dead bodies were thrown into a big hole, human bodies and animal bodies mixed. The reason as to why these bodies could not be buried is because surrounding villages kept throwing bodies into this big hole. In addition, some people would dig the graves, to eat recently dead bodies or to collect money. In ancient Chinese culture, when a person died, their children would also bury something they used with them. Usually, there would be pottery, in rich people's graves there would be gold, silver and jewelry. Some people would dig rich people's graves for these valuables. Bodies that could not be buried and bodies that were dug out produced the plague.
Death toll
Gansu's population in 1922 was 6,403,339, before the famine struck in 1928 its population likely reached 7 million. Of which, an estimate of 2.5-3.0 million of Gansu people died. Shaanxi's population in 1928 was 11,802,446, an estimate of 3 million died. In total 6 million died. Some put the mortality as high as 10 million.
See also
References
- Li, Yucai (2006). 冯玉祥与民国年间豫陕甘大赈灾(1928-1930) [Feng Yu-xiang's Relief Work of Drought in Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces During Min Guo Period (1928-1930)]. Zhōngguó Nóngshǐ 中国农史 [Agricultural History of China] (in Chinese). 25 (1): 73–81. ISSN 1000-4459. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ Li, Lillian M. (2007). Fighting Famine in North China: State, Market, and Environmental Decline, 1690s–1990s (PDF). Stanford: Stanford University Press. pp. 303–307. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2021.
In Gansu the estimated mortality was 2.5 to 3 million In Shaanxi, out of a population of 13 million, an estimated 3 million died of hunger or disease
- Chen, Sherong (2002). 浅析1928-1930年西北大旱灾的特点及影响 [An Elementary Study about the Characteristics and the Effect of the Great Drought in Northwest China from 1928 to 1930]. Gùyuán Shīzhuān Xuébào 固原师专学报 [Journal of Guyuan Teachers College] (in Chinese). 23 (1). Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- "话说民国十八年（1928）的大饥荒". Zhōngguó Qīngnián Wǎng 中国青年网 (in Chinese). 28 November 2014. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- alphahis (22 May 2013). "The Shanghai Massacre". Chinese Revolution. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- Worthing, Peter (November 2018). "A Tale of Two Fronts: China's War of the Central Plains, 1930". War in History. 25 (4): 511–533. doi:10.1177/0968344516685927. ISSN 0968-3445.
- ^ 安, 少梅 (2010). 陕西民国十八年年馑研究 (硕士 thesis). 西北大学.
- 陈, 生伟 (2019). 1928-1929年山西旱灾及救济研究 (硕士 thesis). 湖南师范大学.
- ^ 宗, 鸣安 (2009). "一场饿死二百万人的大灾荒——陕西"民国十八年年馑"史实汇录". 中国减灾: 51–52 – via CNKI.
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- Li, Lilian (2007). Fighting Famine in North China: State, Market and Environmental Decline, 1690s-1990s. Stanford University Press. p. 284.
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