From 1877 to 1878, a rare drought occurred in North China, sweeping through the five provinces of Shanxi, Zhili, Shaanxi, Henan and Shandong, causing more than 10 million people to starve to death and more than 20 million victims to flee the famine. This is the famous "Ding Peng Qi Desert".
Ding PengQi desert
In order to mitigate the effects of the drought, the Qing court took various measures to provide disaster relief, one of which was the issuance of a prohibition on alcohol.
In December 1877, due to the severe drought and the starvation of people, Yushi Huzhi reported to the imperial court and requested that the burning of pots be strictly prohibited. In ancient times, the workshop that brewed liquor was called a pot. Because in the northern region, people usually use iron pots to steam rice grains, thereby extracting distilled liquor. Hu Pingzhi believes that banning brewing in workshops will reduce food consumption and make the grain used for winemaking available to the disaster victims.
Winemaking workshop
At that time, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, supported the imperial court in issuing a ban on alcohol, and sent a message to the imperial court, requesting that the pot be temporarily stopped in Zhili Province. The Guangxu Emperor ordered that the household department should discuss whether to issue a prohibition on alcohol. Hubu Shangshu Mao Changxi proposed that the imperial court issued an order strictly prohibiting the burning of pots, which would have two undesirable consequences: "merchants losing their livelihood" and "Xu Gong blackmailed by means of evil". Mao Changxi suggested taking a step-by-step approach, "since the fourth year of Guangxu (1878), but the business was closed, not allowed to be newly opened, and the pot could not be reduced."
The Guangxu Emperor approved Mao Changxi's proposal. However, after the news spread, there was an uproar in the imperial court. In February 1878, Together with Baoting, Zhang Peilun, and Zhang Zhidong, Zuo Shuzi Huang Tifang, who was known as the "Four Counselors of Hanlin", reported to the imperial court that the reason why the household department was reluctant to ban the pot was because the pot would bring tangible benefits to the household department, and the household department could get 30,000 taels of silver per year. Huang Tifang further pointed out that the province consumes 5.6 million stones of grain every year to burn pots, and after the disaster, it should be strictly forbidden to burn pots.
Huang Tifang's proposal was approved by the Guangxu Emperor. Therefore, the Qing court ordered the implementation of alcohol prohibition in places such as Zhili Province, and it was strictly forbidden to burn pots.
After two years of drought, in the summer of 1878, the wind and rain were smooth, which greatly alleviated the disaster. In the autumn of that year, the grain harvest was bumper. The "Ding Peng Qi Famine" was declared over. Seeing this, Li Hongzhang reported to the imperial court, requesting that the prohibition of alcohol be lifted in Zhili Province and that the brewery be allowed to re-burn the pot.
From that time on, Li Hongzhang became an official who opposed Prohibition.
Li Hongzhang is not an alcoholic, has no special interest in wine, and only in his old age will occasionally drink a glass of wine at dinner. In 1896, when Li Hongzhang visited the United States, a reporter from the New York Times recorded Li Hongzhang's meal at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel: "He (Li Hongzhang) brought two assistants and many kitchen utensils, and many strange foods brought from Tianjin. The chefs prepare dinner and bring the prepared meal to Lee's bedroom. Dinner had bird's nest soup, grilled chicken, shark fin and rice, and a glass of light wine. ”
Li
Li Hongzhang's opposition to prohibition was not out of personal preference, but out of economic considerations.
As a cadre of the western affairs movement, Li Hongzhang had long been aware of the huge economic value contained in the winemaking industry, and then tried to find ways to obtain taxes from this industry, increase the income of the imperial court, and make the pot of the brewing workshop become the "money bag" of the imperial court. Therefore, in 1875, Li Hongzhang levied a pot tax on the breweries directly under the jurisdiction of the province.
Later, even if there was another famine, Li Hongzhang still did not approve of the prohibition and became a strong opponent of this policy.
In 1886, floods occurred on the Yongding River in the province of Zhili. The Qing court intended to adopt the old method in zhili province, strictly prohibiting the burning of pots. At that time, there were thousands of winemaking workshops in Zhili Province. Li Hongzhang believes that if all these breweries stop cooking pots, it will make many people lose their livelihood and bring disastrous consequences. Of course, Li Hongzhang did not dare to disobey the orders of the imperial court, so he adopted a flexible approach, allowing the brewery to donate silver for disaster relief in exchange for continuing to brew wine. The amount of donations varies from large to small, with large workshops donating up to 50 taels of silver and small workshops donating at least 20 taels and 30 taels of silver.
Yongding River
In this way, everyone rejoices. The brewery does not need to stop production and can continue to make ends meet. The imperial court had an extra amount of silver for disaster relief, and was able to buy grain from other places to help the victims.
In 1890, more severe floods occurred in the Yongding River, which led to a reduction in grain production, and the price of grain in the province rose rapidly, and the people were miserable. Yushi Chongling sent a report to the imperial court, requesting that the burning of pots be strictly prohibited in zhili province for a period of one year, so as to stabilize the price of grain.
After Li Hongzhang learned of this, he sent a report to the imperial court in a tit-for-tat manner, saying that the people of Zhili Province mainly used wheat and millet as the main grain, while the pot was mainly made of sorghum as raw material. The ban on burning pots has had minimal impact on food prices. If all the breweries in zhili province were to suspend the pot roasting for one year, it would still make the poor people lose their livelihood.
Li Hongzhang pointed out that the flood disaster in Tianjin, Hejian and Baoding was extremely serious, and it was difficult to raise funds for disaster relief, so it was better to imitate the practice of 1886 and donate silver to the disaster relief by the brewery. In this way, the imperial court can get more than 20,000 taels of silver for disaster relief, relief to the victims, and alleviate the disaster situation.
There is no doubt that Li Hongzhang's proposal is realistic and has no advantages or disadvantages. The Guangxu Emperor was as good as a stream and approved Li Hongzhang's proposal. Since then, the Qing court has never imposed a prohibition on alcohol.