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Pages

747-787

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Language

Chinese

Key words

locust plagues, the Ming dynasty, locust hunting methods, the mobilization of manpower

Abstract

This article discusses the traditional government’s incorporation of ecological issues into the process of governance through an analysis of the countermeasures used to deal with locust plagues in the Ming dynasty. Locusts have long plagued China, and the involvement of traditional governments in locust control has been well documented. Modern research has concluded that locust hunting was the most important means of locust control. However, if we go back and look at the historical context, we find that locust hunting was related to manpower mobilization, and its effectiveness involved the dynastic political system as well as human and material resources. In the case of the Ming dynasty, the national mobilization of manpower was related to the agricultural season and the national system, and the task of locust hunting could only be accomplished after coordinating many relevant social factors. Over the course of the Ming dynasty, the instability of agriculture, historical changes, and the out-of-control locust ecology deepened the crisis facing the dynasty, and scholars began to look for more effective methods of locust control. Although the main method of locust control in the Ming seems to have been locust hunting, it had different meanings at different times. These variations illustrate the various problems human beings face when utilizing existing techniques to incorporate ecology into their governance.