Natural and man-made disasters have occurred frequently in China's history, and the biggest natural disaster in the 20 th century was the major drought in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, and Shandong provinces, which swept through the entire North China region and turned more than 25 million people into victims.
At that time, the land was dry, the people's livelihood was complaining, and the people seemed to be in a huge furnace. After the spring of 1920, what was supposed to be a rainy summer turned out to be a lack of rain and high temperatures, and the days passed, and the continuous dry weather did not relieve until the autumn.
Throughout 1920, there were three consecutive droughts in North China, and the severity of the drought was beyond people's imagination. But in the face of this disaster, the organizational relief of the ** authorities has not been effective.
The drought mainly occurred in Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi, and also affected Hubei, Jiangsu, Liaoning and Jilin provinces. In total, there were more than 300 affected counties at that time, with more than 20 million people affected and more than 500,000 deaths.
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Drought has engulfed northern China, and the climate is unusually dry. The annual precipitation in northern China is only 200 to 400 mm, and in some areas it is less than 200 mm.
Yang Zhongjian, a student from Shaanxi Province, was shocked by the sight along the way, and he saw that the villagers got up every day to beg for rain, and the overseers in the provincial capital also begged for rain.
In 1920, a major drought ravaged northern China, and people began to ask for rain from the heavens for spiritual sustenance. However, the intensification of drought has led to widespread famine, reduced food production and soaring food prices.
Farmers had to eat less often and even ate bran and poisonous plants to ward off hunger. The International Relief Society found that the food of the victims contained many poisonous ingredients, which caused many to die by mistake.
At the same time, the **authorities** disregard the life and death of the people, while wealthy families sold their assets to survive, resulting in land and livestock *** in the area of Xinxiang and Anyang in Henan, each donkey ** from forty or fifty silver dollars ** to one piece, but still no one cared.
In China in 1920, the hardships of the common people were painful. Even if you sell everything you can sell, it won't last long. In extreme cases, people's behavior can be far from the standards of a civilized society.
Horrifyingly, people in some areas have begun to sell their wives and daughters. In many counties at that time, you could see children and women with clearly marked prices,** even less than ten oceans.
If no one buys for days, the women and children are thrown into the river. In the Anyang area of Henan, the ** selling women is even lower, and even reached an unbelievable level, and it is even like buying meat.
A piece of ocean can buy fourteen or fifteen catties, each woman is counted as eighty catties, and each girl is counted as seventy catties. In this way, it only costs five oceans to buy a woman.
However, no one wants to sell their loved ones. This is just to keep the people in the family alive, and even those who have been bought by the landlord will think that they have finally found a chance to live, and even breathe a sigh of relief.
When they were handed over to the landlord by their families, the whole family was in pain and knelt on the ground to say goodbye, and the scene was very tragic. This is a real historical picture, reflecting the hardships and helplessness of the Chinese people in 1920.
We should remember history, cherish today's life, and work hard to achieve a better future.
In Handan County, Hebei Province, in 1920, forty or fifty children of less than 250 residents in a small village were sold. Some of these sold children became slaves, and some were sold to theaters or even brothels.
In some parts of Shandong, farmers are unable to feed their children, so they have to throw them into wells, and even some nearby dry wells are about to fill up. However, God's temper is beyond human means, and the drought has made people miserable.
As the drought intensified, the locust plague ensued, frighteningly. Dense locusts devoured the fields, and the already scarce and valuable agricultural products were destroyed beyond recognition by the locusts.
In addition to locusts, another pest has emerged in some areas, burrowing into new shoots and eating the whole seedlings when they first grow a little.
Not only that, but some villages in Henan have even appeared wild wolves, which are rarely seen in normal times. Because there was no food in the fields, there was no food for rats, hares, etc., so wild wolves also began to come out in search of food.
At that time, when the peasants were walking on the road, they could see wild wolves blocking the road and not letting you go. These historical accounts are not unfounded.
In 1920, disasters swept across the country, and the lives of the people were in dire straits. Famine intensified, plague frequented, and disease became the greatest threat to people. The number of people who died from the plague was even less than the number of people who starved to death, and the destruction of the unbalanced body and the immune system allowed the disease to invade easily.
The 5,000 people die every day from organ diseases, a staggering number that represents the loss of countless lives. The disaster in counties and districts across Hebei is severe, with more than 100 people dying every week, and many elderly, sick and disabled people choose to commit suicide to avoid suffering from hunger and illness.
Young people choose to flee the famine, hoping to find life in other areas. Their direction of escape was centered on the disaster area, and Kanto became their preferred destination. In 1920, the number of displaced people in the Kanto region exceeded the 100,000 mark, and they waited at the train station and scrambled to the northeast, hoping to find new hope there.
* In the early days, the Henan region was hit by a severe famine, and a large number of people poured into the train station, and the authorities took coercive measures to drive them off the train. Victims were left begging along the streets with their families, and trains were crowded with refugees, and some even collapsed from cold and fatigue.
The young and vigorous young people chose to leave their hometowns and embark on the difficult road of escape. As they traveled through the bad weather, they encountered fallen people, and their belongings and rations were often stolen, making an already difficult life even more difficult.
When the great drought of 1920 swept the north, a warlord war broke out in the country, and natural and man-made disasters followed, and the people faced major disasters and tests of fate.
Ever since Yuan Shikai stole the fruits of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, he has always wanted to restore the feudal dynasty. Although Yuan Shikai's attempt to proclaim himself emperor failed in 1916, the seeds of democracy and freedom did not bring tangible benefits to the people.
After Yuan Shikai's defeat, local warlords began to cultivate their own forces, and the turmoil and war continued. As the main area of warlord melee between the north and the south, Beijing suffered a serious disaster.
In July 1920, the flames of war reached Beijing. Zhang Zuolin, a warlord of the Feng lineage, joined forces with Cao Kun and Wu Peifu to launch a large-scale battle against the Anhui warlords who controlled Beijing, and the battlefield centered on Beijing and Tianjin, and spread to Shandong, Henan and other regions.
During the war, the fighting between the warlords led to the destruction of many homes by artillery fire, leaving many residents homeless.
Natural disasters and wars raged at the same time, and innocent people suffered double disasters. Villages in the south of Beijing were destroyed by artillery fire, and residents of the war zone were left homeless. And even in a peaceful zone, life is still difficult.
The towns and villages around Beijing were not spared, as they were looted by the army and all their cattle and sheep were stolen. During the famine, some young victims had no choice but to join the army in order to survive and became cannon fodder for the warlords.
Or take the risk of robbing homes and houses and become bandits. In the midst of disasters and wars, bandits run amok, looting goods and food in groups, leaving people with nowhere to live.
In 1920, the reality of people's lives can be described in one word: misery. Regardless of it, bandits are rampant and domineering, and the people live in dire straits.
According to a disaster report organized by the relief society, people died either from famine, banditry, or war. This short sentence aptly sums up the life of the people in that era.
During this period, the local tyrants and inferior gentry began new means of accumulating wealth. They were on a loan shark spree, and for every $100 they borrowed, they had to repay twice as much, and they had to use their fields and properties as collateral.
After the end of the war, the Feng and Zhizhi took control of the city of Beijing, and in order to shape a regime trusted by the people, they began to take some disaster relief measures.
First of all, the warlord set up a supervision office in Beijing, as the commander-in-chief of the provincial disaster relief agencies, and went to the disaster relief areas with the raised disaster relief funds and food.
At the same time, they also promulgated a relief charter, stipulating that the disaster relief funds should be mainly shared by the local government and the **. Although these measures have improved, they still cannot change the difficulties of people's lives.
In 1920, the living conditions of the victims in China were deplorable. Although the warlord had tried to solve the problem by instructing the localities to provide disaster relief and reassurance, the orders were not effectively implemented due to the excessive local power.
The warlords everywhere are busy fighting and are only coping with the plight of the victims. As a result, it is difficult to implement the relief measures formulated by Beijing, and the entire disaster relief mechanism is paralyzed.
To make matters worse, the burden on the victims has increased during the pandemic. The county officials' disaster relief duties should have included disaster reporting expenses, and the Pingguang Bureau should have used the grain in the warehouse at a low price in the year when there was a shortage of grain, but in some places they levied "bureau donations" from the victims.
As a result, the official relief campaign has increased the burden on the victims. Under these circumstances, some people of benevolence began to organize large-scale disaster relief activities. How do they provide assistance to disaster victims in difficult times?
How can we raise enough food to help the victims?
In 1920, the people of the North were living on the death line, while the warlords everywhere were doing nothing. In this predicament, benevolent people in the land of China stepped forward and launched a Huayang charity relief campaign to distinguish it from the official disaster relief campaign.
The charity, based in Shanghai, has been able to transport large amounts of relief money and food to the disaster area by contacting foreign charities. In order to better coordinate the work, on October 6, 1920, the Beijing International Unified Disaster Relief Association was established, and then other cities also established Huayang Charity Relief Association, and in November gathered in Beijing to hold a joint meeting.
With their actions, they expressed their concern and love for the people living in dire straits.
In 1920, a nationwide charity campaign was launched. Different from the simple distribution of materials in the past, this fundraising activity pays more attention to mobilizing people from all walks of life to jointly contribute to the disaster area.
Whether it's donating money or providing ideas, it's a sign of care and support for the victims. As a transportation hub, Zhengzhou has attracted a large number of disaster victims. Feeling a great responsibility, the staff of the railway bureau decided to set up donation boxes to encourage employees to donate their love, and no matter how much it was welcomed.
Donations will be converted into silver dollars, which will be given priority to the elderly, infirm, children and women, and then distributed to other victims. Even foreign employees actively participated, and some even donated a month's salary of their own.
The development of this activity reflects the care of the whole society for the victims and the commitment to social responsibility.
The power of the private sector has always shown its unique charm in times of crisis. Cai Yuanpei, president of Peking University, set up a disaster relief committee to actively raise funds, and Tsinghua University faculty and staff also voluntarily signed up to go to the disaster area.
Due to the large number of applicants, they were divided into three groups. The first batch also set up a porridge factory in Tang County to help the victims. Not only the teachers, but also the students want to contribute to the victims.
To this end, students in Beijing spontaneously organized a drought anniversary, and rallied with 37 colleges and universities on the streets to raise donations. They took to the streets and handed out flyers to passers-by to inspire more people to participate in donations.
In recognition of the donors, students have also prepared paper badges approved by the relevant authorities, which can be obtained by making a donation.
In 1920, China was hit by a disaster, and people from all walks of life began to realize the seriousness of the disaster and participated in donation activities. Among them, entrepreneurs represented by the cotton textile industry have put forward the idea of cash-for-work, hoping to solve the long-term living problems of the victims.
The idea was well received by the victims, who began to set up factories in the affected areas and organize handicrafts such as handicrafts and straw mat weaving for the victims, so that they could change the situation through their own labor.
In this way, the victims can earn wages through their work every day, can buy food, and although it may still be high, they can at least maintain a basic livelihood.
The Huayang Disaster Relief Group also mobilized entrepreneurs to recruit the victims to work in the factories, and the Beijing International Unified Disaster Relief Association also introduced more than 10,000 disaster victims in the western part of Zhili Province to work in the factories, and also organized some young and middle-aged victims to work at the construction sites.
In addition, women have more ways to survive and are no longer the only option to be sold. The entrepreneurs opened a women's factory in Baoding, Hebei Province, providing them with job opportunities and teaching them pinyin and other knowledge.
This cash-for-work method not only solves the living problems of the disaster victims, but also improves their living conditions.
In 1920, the living conditions of the people reflected the selfless dedication of domestic and foreign disaster relief organizations and the active organization of the International Unified Disaster Relief Association. They provided temporary adoption for the homeless, taught them life skills, and cared for their parents who were unable to work.
The event raised a large amount of money and helped millions of victims, accounting for more than 1 4 of the country's disaster victims. The power of this civil society is undoubtedly greater than the callousness of the warlords in power.
It is these ordinary Chinese and foreign people who have demonstrated the power of human kindness and care with their practical actions.
It was only with the help of domestic and foreign philanthropists that the Great Famine of 1920 was alleviated, but it still left more than 500,000 people dead. But in fact, warlordism, frequent fighting, political fragmentation, and rising taxes are the main reasons for the spread and exacerbation of this disaster.
People were deeply dissatisfied with the corruption of the Qing court and the theft of the fruits of Yuan Shikai, believing that the establishment of ** and the power of the direct warlords might make society better, but the reality shattered people's illusions.
Only those people from all walks of life who have patriotic enthusiasm can really help the people. "
The drought of 1920 was rare in its duration and scope. Coupled with the chaos and darkness of old China, it is undoubtedly worse for those people who are struggling with the disaster.
Let us remember that unbearable history, remember the lives lost in the disaster, and hope that such a tragedy will never happen again, because the lives of ordinary people cannot withstand such a disaster.