Arab businessmen who came to China at that time once said, "China people are healthier than Indians. In China, there are fewer diseases, and people in China look stronger. They rarely see the blind or the blind, and they rarely see the disabled. In India, such people are very common. "
According to the research results of "Investigation on the Hygienic Status of Medieval Cities in China", Rattus norvegicus, Rattus flavipectus and Mus musculus, which have the strongest ability to spread plague, are mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical areas, while Rattus norvegicus, Rattus flavipectus and Mus musculus are the main domestic mice in China, and their range of activities is100-150m. Rattus norvegicus has poor ability to spread plague, Rattus flavipectus is rare in the north, while Rattus norvegicus has a range of only 30,000 meters.
This is true in both cities and rural areas.
China's rural areas have always been dominated by small farmers, that is, farmers run their own businesses on a family basis, with few big estates and little cooperation between them. However, western agriculture originated in the crescent zone of Central Asia, lacking water resources and requiring farmers to jointly build and maintain ditches. Therefore, large manors emphasize mutual cooperation. Small-scale peasant system is separated from each other by earth walls, and its residence is relatively scattered, which has certain advantages in resisting plague. Different from the low mortality rate of British aristocrats, there was a plague in ancient China, and the mortality rate of retired officials and rich people living in rural areas was not low, which reflected the relatively average characteristics of small-scale peasant economy.
Why were there many plagues in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties?
However, the number of plagues in China increased significantly in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in the late Qing Dynasty, when a plague broke out in Harbin in 19 10, killing more than 60,000 people.
The increase of plague in Ming and Qing dynasties may be related to more detailed historical records, but it may also be related to the great changes in the urban pattern in Ming and Qing dynasties. China adopted the square wall system in the Tang Dynasty, and Chang 'an City was divided into 100 squares, each with high walls. At night, the gate of the square is closed and residents are not allowed to go out. In the Song Dynasty, due to commercial development, the square wall was broken and gradually transformed into a market system.
In the early days of the market system, the streets were fairly wide, but small traders invaded the streets. Take Beijing in the Qing Dynasty as an example. The road outside Qianmen was originally wide, but vendors on both sides occupied the street. At first, it was just a swimming pool. Later, when the house was built for a long time, the road width became only about half of the original.
Traditional cities are mostly military and transportation places. After the Song Dynasty, there were more and more commercial cities, among which the population increased rapidly, which led to the deterioration of living environment and living conditions.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the population of China grew rapidly, especially after American species (corn, sweet potato, potato and pumpkin) were introduced into China, which further stimulated the population growth. During the three generations of Kang Yong, the population of China almost tripled.
The population has increased, but the urban infrastructure has not improved. According to the records of western diplomats, Beijing stinks in the late Qing Dynasty, and the city is full of garbage mountains that have been piled up for decades. The sewer system, which was originally composed of open ditches, has been silted up because it has not been cleaned for nearly a hundred years. Many of them are built with stone slabs to make up for the shortage of land, which leads to the open ditches becoming underground ditches and basically losing the sewage discharge function.
Fortunately, there were more and more brick houses in Ming and Qing dynasties, which offset some hidden dangers of plague. In addition, the strict epidemic prevention system and clear division of labor between the government and society in the Qing Dynasty also reduced the casualties caused by the epidemic.