The Great Famine of 1640

The record

十三年庚辰，溧水奇荒，绝禾种。拾月十二夜，地震有声。诏自十二年以前民所逋欠粮税悉行蠲免。

Translated: In the thirteenth year, gengchen, Lishui suffered a famine of extraordinary severity, and no seed grain was left. On the twelfth night of the tenth month there was an earthquake with sound. An order was issued remitting all arrears of grain tax owed by the people from before the twelfth year.

The year before

十二年己卯，荒民就浮山取白土充饥。名观音粉。

Translated: In the twelfth year, jimao, the starving went to Fushan and took white earth to fill their bellies; it was called Guanyin powder.

Famine conditions had already appeared in 1639, the twelfth year of the Chongzhen era, when people took white earth from Fushan for food; the gazetteer records that it was called "Guanyin powder".

The famine and the remission

In 1640, the thirteenth year of the Chongzhen era, the gazetteer records a famine of extraordinary severity in which no seed grain was left, that is, the crops did not even survive to provide seed for the following year. On the twelfth night of the tenth month an earthquake was heard. An order followed remitting the arrears of grain tax owed by the people from before the twelfth year.

The following year

十四年辛巳，仍大荒。蝗飞蔽野。八月十九日，雨冰雹。

Translated: In the fourteenth year, xinsi, there was still a great famine. Locusts flew in clouds that covered the fields. On the nineteenth day of the eighth month hail fell.

The famine therefore lasted at least two years.

Uncertainties

First, "no seed grain was left" is the gazetteer's summary of the disaster; the area of land affected and the number of people are not recorded. Second, the remission covered only arrears from before 1639, and the gazetteer does not say how that year's tax was handled. Third, the gazetteer does not link the earthquake with the drought and locusts, and this entry draws no such conclusion.