The Lifeline of Eastern Agriculture

Karl Marx once observed that artificial irrigation systems were the foundation of Eastern agriculture, requiring centralized governance to maintain. When governments neglected these systems, the consequences were catastrophic. This principle was tragically demonstrated in late Ming Dynasty China (1368–1644), where the collapse of hydraulic infrastructure—compounded by corruption, fiscal mismanagement, and climate shocks—precipitated one of history’s deadliest famines and paved the way for rebellion.

By the Wanli era (1573–1620), the Ming state was financially crippled. Emperors drained the treasury for lavish court expenditures and costly military campaigns against minority uprisings and peasant revolts. As funds vanished, critical maintenance of canals, dikes, and reservoirs ceased. The Yellow River, which required dredging every three to five years under Ming law, became a symbol of systemic failure. Officials embezzled allocated repair budgets, leaving sediment to choke riverbeds. As one contemporary noted, “No one profited more from river floods than officials—from ministers to local gatekeepers.” By the 1620s, the river’s “annual breaches became routine” (天启以前，无人不利于河决者).

The Domino Effect of Administrative Neglect

When崇祯帝 (Emperor Chongzhen) ascended the throne in 1627, officials pleaded for water conservancy projects. The response was telling: Asked why repairs stalled, Grand Secretaries Zhou Daodeng and Qian Longxi replied, “Water management is the foremost task in the southeast—but it requires funding.” The emperor, wary of imposing taxes, deflected: “Would such projects burden the people?” The matter was shelved (可扰民否？).

Meanwhile, the Yellow River’s collapse triggered parallel disasters. The Grand Canal, vital for transporting grain to Beijing, silted up. Regional networks in the Yangtze Delta deteriorated, leaving farmlands vulnerable. As scholar Huang Chengkuang warned, “The southeast’s perpetual floods stem from abandoned waterworks.” Without irrigation, droughts ravaged the north; without drainage, southern deluges drowned crops.

Hell on Earth: The Great Famine (1630s–1640s)

Surviving accounts depict apocalyptic suffering. In Shandong (万历四十三年), magistrate Huang Huaikai reported:

> “Now they slaughter the living for food—fathers, wives, brothers. Human flesh sells for six coins per catty; brains are scooped from skulls. When reproached, the starving reply: ‘If I don’t eat others, they’ll eat me.’”

In 1641,举人 Chen Qiyou submitted The Famine Scrolls to the throne, depicting scenes like a mother boiling her own child: “Better my belly than a stranger’s.” Even educated elites, he noted, grew desensitized amid Beijing’s opulence (杯酌相呼，前事若忆若忘).

The epicenter was Shaanxi, where rebel leader Li Zicheng emerged. Official Ma Maocai’s 1628 memorial described延安 prefecture:

> “They ate bark, then gravel. Children vanished from roads—later found in cookpots. Corpses filled mass graves; survivors turned to banditry, reasoning: ‘Starving or hanged, we die anyway.’”

Tax collectors exacerbated the crisis, demanding payments from dwindling households. “One or two survivors bore a whole village’s taxes,” Ma wrote, spurring mass migration and spiraling violence (转相逃则转相为盗).

The Rebellion That Toppled a Dynasty

By the 1640s, climatic disasters (later linked to the Little Ice Age) intensified suffering. The Ming’s legitimacy crumbled as:
– Fiscal collapse: Counterproductive taxes alienated surviving farmers.
– Military overstretch: Garrison troops starved, defecting to rebels.
– Cultural trauma: Cannibalism and infanticide shattered Confucian norms.

Peasant armies—led by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong—exploited this vacuum. In 1644, Li’s forces sacked Beijing; Chongzhen hanged himself on Meishan Hill. The Ming’s fate was sealed not by Manchu invaders alone, but by its failure to uphold Marx’s “artificial irrigation” principle.

Echoes in the Anthropocene

Today, the Ming crisis offers stark lessons:
1. Infrastructure as Governance: Hydraulic systems remain geopolitical stabilizers (e.g., Egypt’s Nile dams).
2. Corruption’s Cost: As in 17th-century China, modern fund misallocation (e.g., Venezuela’s oil wealth) breeds collapse.
3. Climate & Society: The Ming’s struggles mirror contemporary debates on state-led climate adaptation.

The Ming Dynasty’s fall reminds us that empires perish not by sword alone, but by the slow rot of neglected earth and eroded trust.