What do you mean by going west?

Westbound is one of the five most famous migration events in China's modern history. In the long history of more than 400 years from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the early Republic of China, countless Shanxi people, Shaanxi people and Hebei people left their homes, which opened up the economic and cultural channel between the hinterland of the Central Plains and the Mongolian grassland and promoted the prosperity and development of the northern region.

The barren land, frequent natural disasters and poor living environment in northern Shanxi have forced many northerners to make a living outside. There is an old saying in Shanxi, "Hequ defends Texas, and it will not be collected for ten years and nine years." Men go outside and women dig wild vegetables, which fully shows that most people who go to the west are hungry people caused by natural disasters. From the third year to the fifth year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty, Shanxi and other provinces suffered from drought for three consecutive years, and the worst drought occurred in modern times, known as the "Seven Famines in butyl five", and it didn't even rain in some areas. Population migration caused by natural disasters is most prominent in northern Shanxi, such as Xinzhou and Yanbei. The barren land and harsh natural environment in northern Shanxi forced a large number of people to leave their homes. For example, "Yanggao is located in the northern fortress, with excellent sand moraine, high soil and yellow sand, and low soil everywhere. It is difficult to cultivate with alkali and brine ... The land is barren and the people are poor, so there is nothing to hide. In case of famine, they are displaced. " In the harsh natural environment of barren land, cold climate and no stream irrigation, people in northern Shaanxi live in poverty. Every time there is a disaster, people have to be displaced and go out to make a living.

"Westward Journey" is a bitter history of immigration, but also a history of hard struggle and entrepreneurship. Groups of immigrants left their homes and went north to Mongolia, where they worked hard to develop Inner Mongolia. More importantly, they brought advanced farming culture to the central and western Inner Mongolia, which was in a backward nomadic state at that time, and fundamentally changed the whole local cultural outlook. With the process of "westward migration", the Mongolian area outside the mouth has developed from a traditional nomadic society to a diversified society with both flags and counties and grazing and farming. In this evolution process, Shanxi immigrants, as the main body of immigrants, have made great contributions. Because Shanxi immigrants account for the vast majority of immigrants, the local immigrant culture is more characteristic of Jin culture, which can also be said to be the expansion of Jin culture in this area.

Lower Nanyang, Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan provinces are also called "national vassals", which belong to Fujian-Guangdong dialect and refer to making a living in Nanyang.

1. During the historical period from the end of Ming Dynasty to the end of Qing Dynasty, civil wars continued and the people were poor. At that time, people in Fujian and Guangdong were terrified, poor and poor, with a large population and little land, and the lives of ordinary people were extremely difficult to maintain. In order to make a living, maintain family life, change the fate of individuals or families, and avoid war, the people of Fujian and Guangdong sneaked into Nanyang again and again to make a living. According to the survey of China Pacific Society 1935, 69.95% of the refugees went abroad because of "economic oppression". At that time, some people who went to Nanyang were full of hope for the future, while others could not stay in their hometown.

2. Generally speaking, in the last years of China's feudal dynasty, most of them were accompanied by peasant uprising, foreign invasion and dynasty change, and ordinary people who suffered from war and lost their political power emigrated overseas. Due to its geographical proximity, Southeast Asia has become a place of immigration and refuge for China immigrants.

3. Nanyang under British and Dutch colonial rule is in the process of accelerated development, and the demand for labor is very great. In order to attract China workers, Southeast Asian countries have successively issued a series of preferential policies. For example, Sarawak, Malaysia's largest state, issued a special notice during the reign of Pope II: giving immigrants enough free land for planting, and the government providing temporary housing to resettle immigrants; Free supply of rice and salt for one year; Provide transportation, set up police stations to protect the safety of Chinese, and Chinese can live permanently in Sarawak. Such a policy is very attractive to unemployed refugees who have lost their land in China. It was at this time that many people traveled across the ocean to Nanyang, either with their wives or alone.

"Guandong" refers to the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Northeast Heilongjiang to the east of Shanhaiguan. From the early Qing Dynasty to the founding of New China, due to natural disasters, wars and other reasons, a large number of poor people in North China struggled to survive in the Northeast. In this immigration tide, Shandong is the home of the vast majority of people, and 20 million Shandong people have set foot on the vast and resource-rich land of Kanto. /kloc-in the 9th century, the lower reaches of the Yellow River suffered from famine year after year, but the Qing government still prohibited customs clearance. Thousands of bankrupt farmers ignored the ban and risked being punished to "rush into" Kanto, which is the origin of "rushing to pass". By 1840, the population of Kanto had exceeded 3 million, an increase of seven or eight times over 100 years ago, and the national population reached more than 400 million. In the late Qing Dynasty, Russia invaded Manchuria. Famine was partially banned in Kanto in Qing Dynasty 1860 and completely banned in 1897. 19 10, the total population of kanto increased to180,000. During the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949), there was a surge of people, with nearly 40 million people on the eve of new China (data from China Demography, Zhang). In 38 years of the Republic of China, the average number of people from Shandong ventured into Kanto reached 480,000 per year, with a total of more than 6,543,800+083,000, and the number of Shandong people retained reached 7.92 million, which was "one of the largest population movements in human history" and "unprecedented in modern history". So now the ancestors of most Han residents in Kanto belong to the lower reaches of the Yellow River in Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi and other provinces.