How did the ancient rulers provide disaster relief?

The Qin and Han Dynasties were a period of frequent earthquake disasters in the history of China. According to some scholars' statistics, there were 68 earthquakes in this period, and some scholars think that this data should be 1 18, which is not a small number in any case. Therefore, the disaster relief ability of the government in Qin and Han dynasties was greatly tested.

"Everything is established in advance, and if it is not planned, it will be abolished." During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the rulers began to implement a series of disaster prevention and preparedness measures. Disaster prevention measures mainly include building water conservancy, developing agriculture and protecting the environment, but these measures can only minimize the damage of human factors to nature, and their effects on earthquake disasters are not as obvious as those of floods and droughts. Disaster preparedness measures are mainly to build warehouses and store food for emergencies. During the Qin and Han dynasties, many granaries were built in the central and local governments to store grain, and a complete storage system was established. "Taiping Yu Lan" contains: "In July of the fourth year of Qin Shihuang, Li Chang was granted a position, and abundance was good and apology was evil, in order to benefit the people." "Historical Records, Ping Zhun Ji" records that ... for more than 70 years in Hanxing, the country had nothing to do, except for the early floods, but the people were given enough possessions and everything was full.

When a disaster happens, the government needs to respond immediately. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were four main disaster relief measures taken by the rulers during the earthquake. One is a relief loan, which is a temporary relief for the victims. Relief is a free gift, usually food, daily necessities and so on. And there are cases of giving money directly. In the thirty-fifth earthquake of the first year of Jianguang, Andi "gave money to the dead, 2,000 people". Loan is a kind of fake loan to the poor, that is, interest-bearing or interest-free loan to solve the temporary needs of the victims.

The second way of disaster relief is tax relief. In the ancient society that attached importance to agricultural production, earthquake disasters often caused great damage to crops. Therefore, in the Han Dynasty, the rulers would reduce or exempt farmers' taxes according to the severity of the disaster. For example, in the Han Dynasty, if the grain output was reduced by more than 50% due to the disaster, the annual land rent could be exempted, and those who were dissatisfied with this amount were exempted according to the actual disaster degree.

For severely affected places or places where food production is already insufficient, transportation is needed when disasters occur. There are two kinds of transportation during disasters, one is food transportation, and the other is the transfer of victims.

Timely disaster relief is followed by post-disaster reconstruction. In order to avoid social instability caused by the displacement of a large number of victims after the disaster, the central government often actively resettles refugees and organizes victims to help themselves in production. Specific measures include exempting taxes and corvees, giving money and goods to the victims to farm on fake land. When the disaster is serious, the emperor will also open the Yamazawa Garden Pool (the emperor's private garden or state-owned area) for people to hunt.

Different scholars have different opinions on how many earthquakes occurred in the Tang Dynasty, ranging from more than 30 to more than 80 times, but it is certain that the Tang government has developed earthquake relief compared with the previous generation through the accumulation of experience in previous dynasties.

In terms of disaster prevention measures, the Tang Dynasty basically followed the practices of the Qin and Han Dynasties. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, a relatively complete water conservancy management institution was established from the central government to the local government. The central government is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Industry of Shangshu Province, and the local government is managed by the local county magistrate. Although water conservancy projects have no direct disaster reduction effect on earthquakes, they have obvious effects on the associated disasters of earthquakes. In the Tang Dynasty, warehouses were also built, and grain was reserved for famine. Among them, Yicang and Changcang have played the biggest role in disaster relief and reduction. "Where the millet of YiCang, only allowed to eat during the famine, shall not be used. If you are unfamiliar, you will give loans and seeds if necessary. " "Old Tang Book Official II" also said: "Each warehouse is short of reserves and often closes its positions, so it is expensive and cheap." In addition, there are other warehouses such as Zhengcang and Taicang to supplement disaster relief.

People in the Tang Dynasty were generally influenced by "the theory of different disasters" and "the theory of different disasters of yin and yang and five elements", so when disasters happen, we should pray first. This activity needs to be carried out by governments at all levels from the central government to local governments. I hope that by offering sacrifices to famous mountains, rivers, temples and immortals, we can move heaven, exorcise evil spirits and turn the corner. The people in charge of government prayer are governments at all levels from the central government to the local government. Emperors, princes and prime ministers will attend.

The Tang Dynasty continued the Qin and Han Dynasties. "The country will lose its way, and the day will first create a disaster to inform it." (Han Shu) believes that the occurrence of natural disasters is related to human evil deeds, because after the disaster, the emperor must cultivate administrative ethics and deal with natural disasters. Generally speaking, the emperor should first conduct profound introspection through self-condemnation and begging. At the same time, practical actions such as avoiding the main hall, worrying about prisoners, leaving maids, reducing meals and changing yuan will be taken to eliminate disasters. Under the leadership of the emperor, princes, prime ministers and others will make some political amendments one after another. Now it seems that these measures have no scientific basis, but they are also one of the efforts made by the ancients to reduce disasters and protect the people.

While praying and repairing the government, the disaster relief work cannot be left behind. After the disaster, the government often distributed food, salt, cloth and other relief materials to the victims to maintain people's lives. At this time, compared with the Qin and Han dynasties, the relief method has developed. In addition to free gifts and loans, there are also relief (also known as cheap relief), that is, the government sells food to the victims below the market price after the disaster, and works for the relief, that is, the government hires local victims to build public buildings in the post-disaster areas, and works for the relief.

Post-disaster recovery should not be slack. There are several measures for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction in the Tang Dynasty. First, care for the people, such as burying the dead, sending coffins to the people, helping them repair houses, giving medicines, giving cows, giving food seeds, saving children, etc. For example, the second is exemption, so you don't have to worry about the victims. Yuan Gui, a bookstore: "The ancients made the people timely and gave them some notes to cover the use of the country and civilian power." After the popularity of natural disasters, floods and droughts, and military reforms, there must be a fierce year. Therefore, there is a reinstatement system to mourn their suffering. "

Post-disaster reconstruction needs a lot of human and material support. Therefore, the Tang government encourages the victims to return to China to participate in reconstruction, which can not only solve the labor demand, but also curb the social problems caused by refugees. In addition, after the disaster, the government will take measures such as suspension of levy, loan and probation to support the victims and minimize the social problems caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes.

During the Song Dynasty, according to the statistics of scholars, earthquake disasters occurred once every three years on average, and the high incidence period was in the three dynasties of Yingzong, Zhezong and Guangzong. During the short period of three years under British rule, there were five earthquakes, but in Song Zhenzong, there were as many as 24 earthquakes. The minor earthquake is "the statue of the old gentleman in Kaiyuan Temple in Xuzhou is automatic" (the history of Song Dynasty), and the serious earthquake is recorded in the Long Edition of Continuing Capital Management as a Mirror: "If it is not five days, people and animals will be completely destroyed, and six out of ten will die".

The level of disaster relief in the Song Dynasty was better than that in the previous generation. Ma Duanlin's "General Examination of Literature" said that "the Song Dynasty is a rule, one is kindness, and it helps the poor, especially in the previous generation." The principle of disaster relief in Song Dynasty inherited the government measures in Tang Dynasty and before, and was later inherited and applied by Ming and Qing Dynasties, forming the basic pattern of social relief in the later period of China ancient society. Relief measures mainly include relief, loan reduction, retirement and exemption.

Among them, relief, relief loan and exemption have all been mentioned above, and the kiosk is relatively unfamiliar. Relying on the cabinet refers to the way that the government suspends or delays the collection of taxes, which is similar to exemption. This method can reduce the burden on farmers and maintain social order.

The social relief in Song Dynasty was highly praised by scholars, mainly manifested in the institutionalization and standardization of disaster relief procedures. During the Xichun period in the Southern Song Dynasty, Xichun Imperial Letters made detailed provisions on the time and procedures for residents to complain about disasters and local officials to investigate disasters and injuries, forming a complete system of disaster relief and famine relief. This is of great reference significance to future generations.

The response to earthquakes in Ming and Qing Dynasties mainly continued the previous generation's practices, including exempting taxes and grain according to the degree of earthquake damage, allocating grain and silver for relief, appeasing the people, offering sacrifices to heaven and earth by the supreme rulers and local officials, providing relief since enlightenment, and pardoning prisons. And made efforts on the spiritual level and practical measures.

During this period, the disaster relief system was complete. After the earthquake, the disaster should be reported from the bottom up. Upon learning of this, the imperial court organized a "disaster investigation team" to rule the affected areas and population and provide a basis for the distribution of relief materials.

In the history of Ming Dynasty, Jiajing earthquake was the most famous. The earthquake intensity was 8 degrees, and finally 830 thousand people were killed. In the face of such natural disasters, how the government acts is particularly important.

At that time, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development was mainly responsible for disaster relief. After receiving the disaster report, the central government needed to temporarily send an imperial envoy to sit in the earthquake zone. In Jiajing earthquake, Zou Shouyu, the left assistant minister of the household department, was sent to the disaster area as an imperial envoy. Local officials needed to cooperate with the imperial envoy to help the victims, reduce taxes and maintain order.

"At the time of the earthquake, Pingyang Prefecture in Shanxi and Yan 'an Prefecture in Shaanxi shared 42,000 pieces of silver, and the duty-free grain was poor. "During the Shaanxi earthquake, we gave Yansui 22,000 taels of silver, Ningxia 12000 taels of silver, Gansu 15200 taels of silver, and Guyuan 12000 taels of silver to help people station troops and distribute grain ... to stop the summer tax exemption". These measures of the imperial court greatly eased the plight of the affected people.

Due to the underdeveloped communication and transportation in ancient times, it often takes a long time for disasters to occur and report, and the spontaneous relief efforts of the people cannot be ignored. There was a practice of "respecting the people" in the Ming Dynasty. Ming Yingzong, "Zhili Daming, Calm and other houses were flooded, and the people were short of food. Although the imperial court sent officials to provide disaster relief, its reserves were limited and its food was endless. Whoever receives the letter first and asks the southern people to give 1000 stones out of the valley for relief will be a just person. Its northerners rarely store, and those who ask for 500 stones in the valley are all excellent and free. " In other words, after the disaster, due to the limited reserves of government relief materials, private citizens spontaneously provided food and other relief to the victims, which was rewarded by the court. "Close to the People" had a positive demonstration role at that time ~