In ancient Chinese history, there have been many extreme weather, such as the Xiaoice River period at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the eight summers of Qianlong, which is known as the "hottest summer in China". The former is of course far more harmful than the latter, but the extreme heat of the summer of The eighth year of Qianlong is extremely rare in the entire history of China. So, what happened in this "hottest summer in Chinese history" and how hot was it at that time?
According to scientific standards, the high temperature condition of 35 ° C and above for many days is called "heat wave", which is a meteorological disaster, and the ancients called it a "heat disaster". The frequency of heat disasters is extremely low, and the famous climatologist Zhu Kezhen believes that before 1900 AD, There were four "warm periods" in China, and there were four corresponding "cold periods", and they often alternated.
In the last year of the Ming Dynasty, ushering in the Xiaoice River period, the land of China fell into severe cold, and the population quickly fell by half. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the Xiaoice river period gradually ended, but the hot weather was more and more, until the extreme high temperature weather broke out in the eighth year of Qianlong (1743), and the hottest summer in Chinese history appeared.
In the summer of this year, the high temperature swept through half of China, and the entire North China region such as Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi, and Shandong was shrouded in scorching heat. There are many historical records of the extreme heat conditions at that time, such as the "Records of the Continuation of the East China": "June 25 (July 25), Jingshi Wei Xia. The "Continuation of Tianjin County Chronicle" says: "(Tianjin) May bitter heat, the soil and stones are scorched, the mast top flows gold, and many people die of heat." The Chronicle of Gaoyi County says: "From May 28 (July 19) (July 19) to the sixth day of the first month of June (July 26), the heat was unbearable, the walls were heavy and hot, and the lead and tin were sold out during the day, and many people died of thirst. Qianlong's "Chronicle of Fushan County" says: "Summer and May are very hot, and there are many pedestrians on the road who are killed." The Kyoshi is even worse, and the floating traders in Beijing also have hot people. ”
In the eighth year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1215 AD), Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan and other provinces were hit by heat disasters, and the disaster was serious. The "Song Shi Wu Xing Zhi II" records: "In May, the great flames, the grass and trees withered, and the hundred springs were exhausted." Due to the hot weather, the demand for water has risen sharply, resulting in "a hundred dollars for water in xingdu and dozens of dollars in jianghuai cups of water." Such a price is really "as expensive as oil". However, the summer of Jiading's eighth year was still only as expensive as oil, and in the summer of the eighth year of Qianlong, it was "many people dying of thirst", "many pedestrians on the road had many deaths", and even "floating people and traders in Beijing also had hot deaths", which can be imagined how hot it was at that time.
And because Beijing is located in the heart of extreme heat and has a large population, the situation in Beijing is the most severe. A. French priest who was living in Beijing at the time? Gaubil1 wrote in a witness report sent to Paris: "The old man in Beijing said that he had never seen such a high temperature as in July 1743", "the heat has been unbearable since July 13, and the death of many poor and fat people has caused widespread panic. These people often died suddenly, and were later found on the road, in the streets, or in the interior, and many Christians prayed for them, "on the orders of the emperor, the officials discussed ways to help the people, and distributed medicines in the streets and city gates", "high-ranking officials counted that 11,400 people had died in the heat in the suburbs and cities of Beijing from July 14 to 25. ”
How to infer specific temperatures from ancient written records describing the scorching heat has always been an extremely difficult problem, but the large number of documentary records of the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty and some early Beijing meteorological instrument observation records have provided valuable information for solving this problem. With the help of numerous literature, experts calculated that in the summer of the eighth year of Qianlong, the temperature from July 20 to 25 was higher than 40 °C, and the temperature on the 25th was the highest, more than 44 °C. This extreme temperature record has not been broken, and even in the summer of 1942 and 1999, when there were extremely hot weather in northern China, the maximum temperature was only 42.6 °C and 42.2 °C, which was about 2 °C lower than the maximum temperature in the summer of Qianlong's eight years.
According to weather records, this extreme high temperature event was caused by the warm and high-pressure system controlling North China for a long time, and it was not until after July 26 that a cold air activity occurred in North China, and the high temperature gradually subsided.
In ancient times, dealing with hot weather was not without means. As early as the Zhou Dynasty, people already knew how to store ice cubes and use it to cool down. The Book of Poetry reads: "On the second day, the ice rushed through, and the third day was absorbed in Lingyin." "This means that at that time the nobles would let the next person chisel ice cubes and hide them in the ice cellar for use in the coming day." At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "air-conditioned rooms" had appeared in the imperial palace. Craftsmen dug deep wells under the room to collect air conditioning, and then used it to control the temperature of the room. In the winter, the hot air comes out of the deep well, and in the summer, it is heated, which makes the room warm in winter and cool in summer. During the Tang Dynasty, people had even learned to make ice. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, craftsmen mined large amounts of saltpeter while producing gunpowder, and they later discovered that saltpeter dissolved in water would absorb a lot of heat. So craftsmen began to use saltpeter to make ice, making it possible to make ice in summer.
Under the scorching heat of the eight years of Qianlong, the rich and noble families naturally tried to find ways to escape the heat. According to records, the Qianlong Emperor was also unbearable in the summer of this year, and wrote the poem "Heat": "Ice plate and snow mound, the cold light of the cold." Spreading pain and heat, the heart is next to Qianli. However, although Qianlong wrote this, he would not really stay by the people's side. In order to escape the sweltering heat, Qianlong came to the summer resort in the summer and rarely lived in the Forbidden City. The princes and nobles in the capital can "escape" basically run away, and those who really can't go can only spend high prices to buy ice and water to cool down.
However, these ways of summer escape are only enjoyed by the princes and nobles, and for ordinary people, this is really a disaster. Official statistics put the number of heat deaths this summer at 11,400, but the actual number must be even higher than that. Therefore, this hottest summer in Chinese history may be a small episode for Qianlong and others, but for many ordinary people, it is the culprit who took their lives.
Resources:
"Continued East Hualu"
"Continuation of Tianjin County Chronicle"
《Chronicle of Gaoyi County》
《Chronicle of Fushan County》
History of the Five Elements ii