Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

China: 2000 Years of Climate Reconstruction from Historical Documents

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History

Abstract

This chapter reviews the historical climatology of China, with emphasis on records from the Ming (1368–1644 ce) and Qing (1644–1911 ce) periods. China’s historical climatology draws on documentary sources, including classical literature and chronicles, local gazettes, and central imperial archives. These contain both objective records of natural proxies and qualitative weather descriptions. Utilizing these sources, Chinese historical climatologists have generated regional and local temperature and precipitation series, as well as reconstructions of extreme events and their societal impacts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    Zhang, 1996.

  2. 2.

    Beijing Astronomical Observatory, 1985.

  3. 3.

    Ge et al., 2005. For examples from these series, see the study of volcanic weather and its effects in China following the Tambora eruption of 1815 (Zhang et al., 1992).

  4. 4.

    Gong et al., 1984; Gong and Hameed, 1991.

  5. 5.

    Ge et al., 2003.

  6. 6.

    Zhu, 1973.

  7. 7.

    Wang and Wang, 1990.

  8. 8.

    Wang et al., 1998.

  9. 9.

    Zhang, 1980; Zheng and Zheng, 1993; Shen and Chen, 1993.

  10. 10.

    Wang and Gong, 2000.

  11. 11.

    Ge et al., 2003.

  12. 12.

    Hao et al., 2012.

  13. 13.

    Ge, 2008.

  14. 14.

    Ge et al., 2010, 2013.

  15. 15.

    Academy of Meteorological Science of China Central Meteorological Administration, 1981.

  16. 16.

    Shen et al., 2006.

  17. 17.

    Zhang, 1996.

  18. 18.

    Zheng et al., 2001, 2006.

  19. 19.

    Hao et al., 2016.

  20. 20.

    Ge et al., 2005.

  21. 21.

    Zheng et al., 2005.

  22. 22.

    Ge et al., 2008, 2011.

  23. 23.

    Zheng et al., 2012.

  24. 24.

    Hao et al., 2010.

  25. 25.

    Shen et al., 2008.

  26. 26.

    Ge et al., 2014.

References

  • Academy of Meteorological Science of China Central Meteorological Administration. Yearly Charts of Dryness/Wetness in China for the Last 500 Years. Beijing: Cartographic Publishing House, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beijing Astronomical Observatory CAS. Unified Catalogue of Local Gazettes in China (Zhongguo di fang zhi lian he mu lu). Beijing, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ge, Q.S. “Coherence of Climatic Reconstruction from Historical Documents in China by Different Studies.” International Journal of Climatology 28 (2008): 1007–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge, Q.S. et al. “Winter Half-Year Temperature Reconstruction for the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yellow River and Yangtze River, China, during the Past 2000 Years.” The Holocene 13 (2003): 933–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ge, Q.S. et al. “Reconstruction of Historical Climate in China, High-Resolution Precipitation Data from Qing Dynasty Archives.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 86 (2005): 671–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge, Q.S. et al. “Meiyu in the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River since 1736.” Chinese Science Bulletin 53 (2008): 107–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge, Q.S. et al. “Temperature Variation through 2000 Years in China: An Uncertainty Analysis of Reconstruction and Regional Difference.” Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010): L03703.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge, Q.S. et al. “The Rainy Season in the Northwestern Part of the East Asian Summer Monsoon in the 18th and 19th Centuries.” Quaternary Science Reviews 229 (2011): 16–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ge, Q.S. et al. “Temperature Changes Over the Past 2000 Yr in China and Comparison with the Northern Hemisphere.” Climate of the Past 9 (2013): 1153–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge, Q.S. et al. “Learning from the Historical Impacts of Climatic Change in China.” Advances in Earth Science 29 (2014): 23–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gong, Gaofa, and Sultan Hameed. “The Variation of Moisture Conditions in China during the Last 2000 Years.” International Journal of Climatology 11 (1991): 271–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong, G.F. et al. “The Variation of Phenodate in Beijing District.” Chinese Science Bulletin 29 (1984): 1650–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hao, Z.X. et al. “Variations of Extreme Drought/Flood Events over Eastern China during the Past 2000 Years.” Climatic and Environmental Research 2010 (2010): 388–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hao, Z.X. et al. “Winter Temperature Variations over the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River since 1736 AD.” Climate of the Past 8 (2012): 1023–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hao, Z.X. et al. “Spatial Patterns of Precipitation Anomalies in Eastern China during Centennial Cold and Warm Periods of the Past 2000 Years.” International Journal of Climatology 36 (2016): 467–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shen, X.Y., and J.Q. Chen. “Grain Production and Climatic Variation in Taihu Lake Basin.” Chinese Geographical Science 3 (1993): 173–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shen, C. et al. “A Pacific Decadal Oscillation Record since 1470 AD Reconstructed from Proxy Data of Summer Rainfall over Eastern China.” Geophysical Research Letters 33 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  • Shen, C. et al. “Characteristics of Anomalous Precipitation Events over Eastern China during the Past Five Centuries.” Climate Dynamics 31 (2008): 463–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, S., and D. Gong. “Climate in China during the Four Special Periods in Holocene.” Progress in Natural Science 10 (2000): 379–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, R.S., and S.W. Wang. “Reconstruction of Winter Temperature in Eastern China during the Past 500 Years Using Historical Documents.” Acta Meteorologica Sinica 48 (1990): 379–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, S.L. et al. “Climate in China during the Little Ice Age.” Quaternary Sciences 1 (1998): 54–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, D.E. “Winter Temperature Changes during the Last 500 Years in South China.” Chinese Science Bulletin 25 (1980): 497–500.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, P.Y. Climate Change in China during Historical Times. Jinan: Shandong Science & Technology Press, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, P.Y. et al. “Evidence for Anomalous Cold Weather in China 1815–1817.” In The Year Without a Summer?: World Climate in 1816, edited by C.R. Harington, 428–36. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Nature, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, J.Y., and S.Z. Zheng. “An Analysis on Cold/Warm and Dry/Wet in Shandong Province during Historical Times.” Acta Geographica Sinica 48 (1993): 348–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, J.Y. et al. “Centennial Changes of Drought/Flood Spatial Pattern in Eastern China for the Last 2000 Years.” Progress in Natural Science 11 (2001): 280–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, J. et al. “Variation of Precipitation for the Last 300 Years over the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yellow River.” Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences 48 (2005): 2182–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, J. et al. “Precipitation Variability and Extreme Events in Eastern China during the Past 1500 Years.” Terrestrial Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences 17 (2006): 579–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, Jingyun et al. “Extreme Cold Winter Events in Southern China during AD 1650–2000.” Boreas 41 (2012): 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, Ko-Chen. “A Preliminary Study on the Climatic Fluctuations during the Last 5000 Years in China.” Scientia Sinica 16 (1973): 226–56.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Quansheng Ge, Zhixin Hao, Jingyun Zheng & Yang Liu

Authors
  1. Quansheng Ge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhixin Hao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jingyun Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yang Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Sam White

  2. Institute of History, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change, Bern, Switzerland

    Christian Pfister

  3. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Franz Mauelshagen

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Ge, Q., Hao, Z., Zheng, J., Liu, Y. (2018). China: 2000 Years of Climate Reconstruction from Historical Documents. In: White, S., Pfister, C., Mauelshagen, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43020-5_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43020-5_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-43019-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-43020-5

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation