Early Medieval China

ISSN: 1529-9104 (Print) 1946-7842 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yemc20

Climate Change and Migrations of People during

the Jin Dynasty

Connie Chin

To cite this article: Connie Chin (2008) Climate Change and Migrations of People during the Jin
Dynasty, Early Medieval China, 2008:2, 49-78

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/152991008790012853

Published online: 18 Jul 2013.

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 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 49

CLIMATE CHANGE AND MIGRATIONS OF PEOPLE DURING

THE JIN DYNASTY

Connie Chin
San Jose State University

Early medieval China is known for its violence and instability.*

The accepted version of events in the Jin dynasty (280–420 CE) is
that the empire’s failure was caused by fratricide among the
imperial clan, internecine warfare that weakened the state, and
nomad tribal groups invading from the north, which forced the
Chinese south. In this paper I propose a different thesis: that, on
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the basis of Chinese historical records and new scientific evidence,

one of the main factors underlying these events was climate change.
Since the 1930s, when Ellsworth Huntington’s ideas were
discredited as “environmental determinism,” discussion of climate
change as a factor in history has been out of favor. But we should
not discount climate change, as the physical environment surely
gives bias to the direction of decisions that make up the course of
history.1
I would like to present a case of climate change in early
medieval China for which we have good scientific evidence, and
elucidate from the early historical records the impact of climate
change on the peoples of north China. First, I will lay out some of
the scientific evidence for climate change in China in the period
around 200 CE, the end of the Han dynasty, until 581 CE, when
China was reunited under the great empires of the Sui and Tang

*I would like to acknowledge the patient and wise guidance of Professor

Albert E. Dien, who helped me through many revisions of this paper.
1
Reid A. Bryson and Christine Padoch, “On the Climates of History,” in
Climate and History: Studies in Interdisciplinary History, ed. Robert I. Rotberg
and Theodore K. Rabb (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981), 3.
 50 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations

dynasties. Second, I will discuss in some detail the migrations of

people in China during this period.

Climate change
Reid Bryson and Christine Padoch in their article, “On the
Climates of History,” state that the new appreciation of the role of
climate change is an extension of well-known ecological principles. 2
One such principle predicts that when environmental factors change,
this will result in shifts in relative competitive advantage and then in
changes in community composition. The mix of resource use of a
population may change, some occupations supplanting others as they
become more profitable or less risky. The size and rapidity of climate
change is crucial to the ability of societies to adapt.
The principle of limiting factors, such as lack of nitrogen in a
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particular soil, or lack of water in arid regions, will affect what is

possible. Climate fluctuations may move temperature, precipitation,
or other thresholds and change the absolute limits of particular
economic activities, altering patterns of human behavior. Some
possibilities may be eliminated, others opened up. Small changes
may be critical in marginal areas.
There is geological and archaeological evidence for climate
change in north China during the Jin dynasty. An article published
in Earth and Planetary Science Letters in 2002 describes a study in
which a two-meter trench section was dug at the desert/loess
transition of north-central China. 3 (See Figure 1.) This site, at
Jingbian 靖邊 in Shaanxi province, was chosen because the strata
recording variation in climate in north China were well-preserved.
The pattern of climate in East Asia is dominated by summer and
winter monsoons, which are driven by air mass distribution over
the Asian continent and the Pacific Ocean. The winter climate is

2
Ibid., 3.
3
Jule Xiao, Toshio Nakamura, Huayu Lu, and Guangyu Zhang, “Holocene
climate changes over the desert/loess transition of north-central China,” Earth
and Planetary Science Letters 1997 (2002): 11–18; available at http://
www.elsevier.com/locate/epsl.
 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 51
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Figure 1. Desert / Loess Transitional Zone

The map shows the current distribution in north-central China of desert and
loess, and the location of the research trench at Jingbian. From Jule Xiao et
al., “Holocene climate changes over the desert/loess transition of north-
central China,” Earth and Planetary Science Letters 1997 (2002) 11–18.
 52 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations

characterized by strong winds from the north and frequent dust

storms from late autumn to early spring. In contrast, the summer
climate is dominated by the warm, moist summer monsoon from
the south, which is responsible for most of the annual precipitation
and rainstorm activity. The location of the trench, which is at the
current loess/desert transition, enables us to see that the deposits
register variations of the East Asia monsoons both sensitively and
abundantly, to a temporal resolution of about 100 years. This study
uses grain size distribution as a winter monsoon proxy, and total
organic carbon as a summer monsoon proxy, as plentiful rain leads
to more prolific plant matter residues, resulting in more carbon.
The trench section was analyzed at 2-cm intervals for grain-size
distribution (Md) and total organic carbon (TOC, %). Carbon 14
time series of the Md and TOC records provide direct information
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on the variations of the East Asian monsoon climate during the last
10,000 years. (See figure 2.) Grain size distribution is considered
to represent wind strength, and high Md reflects strong winter
monsoon winds. Total organic carbon, TOC, denotes the degree of
vegetation cover, a function of intensity of summer monsoon
oscillation. We see a period of low TOC, which includes early
medieval China. There is a prominent peak of enhanced summer
monsoon circulation at 700 CE, during the Tang dynasty, with two
intervals of increasing winter monsoon around 1000 and 300 BP
( that is, around 1000 CE and 1700 CE, respectively). “In addition,”
the authors state, “the climate of China was colder than today’s in
the third century and the latter half of the sixth century, which can
be seen in our record.”
A 2006 study published in the Journal of Ningxia University
provides scientific confirmation about climate change to a cold
and dry period in early medieval China, and adds archaeological
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Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008)

Figure 2. Time Series of Grain-size Distribution

Percentages of clay, silt, sand, and total organic carbon are indicated, together with grain-size
distribution, in this chart of calibrated radiocarbon ages for the trench studied. “BP” signifies
53

time “before present.” From Jule Xiao et al., Earth and Planetary Science Letters 1997 (2002):
11–18.
 54 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations

evidence as well. 4 He Tonghui and his colleagues studied the

Maowusu Desert in Inner Mongolia and revealed a long record of
climate variation in that region of north China. The Maowusu lies
in the loop of the Yellow River. Its geological record during the
Holocene demonstrates a relatively warm and wet climate in 2500–
1500 BP, followed by a dry period in which desertification took
place. The authors then discuss a study by Hou Renzhi of thirty-
four archaeological sites of ancient cities in the region, which
shows that ancient cities disappeared in the northern part of
Maowusu as it became desertified during the period between Han
and Tang dynasties. 5 (See Figure 3.) The archaeological evidence
shows that before the Han dynasty, there were ancient cities in all
parts of the Maowusu desert. In later periods, cities remained only
in the southern part of the region. In the 350 years from the Jin
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dynasty down to the Tang dynasty, the archaeologists did not

discover a single ancient city dated to that time in the interior of
Maowusu. The most believable explanation, they say, is that the
interior of Maowusu was already desert and was not an amenable
environment for cities.
Documentary evidence from Chinese sources also bears on the
question of whether there was dramatic climate change during the
Jin Dynasty. There is astonishing detail due to the Chinese habit of
record keeping. The most famous study of weather and Chinese
history is that of Zhu Kezhen, a modern climatologist, who uses
proxy data from historical and literary references to temperature-
sensitive plants growing in specific locales, the arrival of sparrows,

4
He Tonghui 何彤慧 , Wang Naiang 王乃昂 , Li Yu 李育 , and Feng
Wenyong 冯文勇, “Lishi shiqi zhongguo xibu kaifa de shengtai huanjing beijing
ji houguo”历史时期中国西部开发的生态环境背景及后果 [“The Ecological
Environmental Background and Results of Development in Western China in
Historical Times, Using Maowusu Desert as an Example”], Journal of Ningxia
University 宁夏大学学报 (Humanities and Social Sciences edition), 28, no. 2,
(2006): 26–31.
5
Hou Renzhi, 侯 仁 之 , “Cong Hong He shang de gucheng feixu kan
Maowusu shamo de bianqian”从红柳河上的古城废墟看毛乌素沙漠的变迁
[“Changes in the Maowusu desert seen from Hongliu River’s ancient city
ruins,”] Wenwu 文物 (1973.1): 35–41.
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Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008)

Figure 3. Ancient City Sites of Maowusu Desert

55

He Tonghui et al., Journal of Ningxia University 28.2 (2006): 26–31

 56 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations

and historical records of the freezing of rivers to determine climate

changes.6 Zhu says that the centuries following the Western Han
Dynasty were a time of strange weather, culminating in terrible
drought and cold arctic climate during the Western Jin Dynasty, in
the years 266–316 CE. The first recorded freezing of the Huai
River (between the Yangzi and the Yellow Rivers) was in 225 CE.
This was followed by a period of severe cold between 280 and
289, during which Zhu estimates the average temperature was 1 to
2 degrees centigrade colder than today. This may not seem like
much of a difference in temperature, until you realize that 130,000
years ago the sea level was 15 to 20 feet higher than today due to a
mere 3 to 5 degree centigrade increase in average temperature in
the far north, which caused ice to melt.7
A relevant record has come down to us in the “Annals of
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Huaidi” in the Jin shu: “There was a severe drought. The Yangzi,
the Han, the Yellow and the Luo Rivers all diminished greatly, and
one could wade across them.”8 Other historical records show that
the confluence of the Jing and Wei Rivers in the Chang’an area
changed during this period. During previous ages the Wei was
clear and the Jing muddy, but during the Northern and Southern
Dynasties, the Jing became clear and the Wei muddy.9 This change
indicates a shift in weather patterns.10

6
Zhu Kezhen 竺可桢,“Preliminary Research into the Past 5,000 Years of
Climate Change in China” 中国近五千年来气候变迁初步研究, Kaogu xuebao
考古学报 (January 1972): 15–38.
7
Tim Appenzeller, “Big Thaw,” National Geographic 211 (June 2007): 56.
8
Fang Xuanling et al, Jin shu 晉書 5.119. All standard histories are cited
from the Zhonghua shuju edition.
9
Zou Zongxu, The Land Within the Passes, trans. Susan Whitfield (London:
Viking 1991), 31.
10
Personal communication from Edmund Chang, Stanford geologist: The
changes in the Jing and Wei confluence may be explained by a shift to cold and
dry weather. The catchment basin of the Wei is the rock surface of the Qingling
mountains, through which clear water flows in normal years. The Jing River
flows through the loess of the Ordos, and is normally turbid. If the weather is
extremely cold in the area, the land freezes and there is little erosion in the
Ordos. If the weather is unusually dry, there also will be little run-off into the
Jing River. Therefore the confluence of the two rivers changes in appearance.
 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 57

In 336 CE, according to the Zizhi tongjian, the sea froze in the
north for the first time in memory. Murong Huang 慕容皝 (d. 349
CE), leader of the Xianbei tribe in the northeast, used this
opportunity to take his army across the frozen waves for a surprise
attack on his rival for tribal leadership.11 Huang is reputed to have
said, “Never before was the sea between him and us frozen. Since
the beginning of Ren’s rebellion, the sea has been frozen for three
successive years…We can attack him by sea…Why else would
Heaven have built us this bridge of ice?”
About the same time as Diocletian was taking authority in
Rome, Sima Yan 司馬炎 was founding the Jin dynasty in China.
The area of Jin nominal control ranged from northern Korea to
Dunhuang on the Silk Road, and as far south as Hanoi.
It was not to last. The population count had declined radically
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since the end of the Han dynasty. The Jin census of 280 recorded
16,163,863 people in 2,459,840 households. This was a fraction of
the 56.5 million people and 10.7 million households reported in the
Han census of 157,12 (123 years earlier), an indicator of dwindling
control over the populace, and probably an absolute decline in
population. Facing starvation and epidemics, much of the surviving
population of the north China plain fled south. The Jin state
disintegrated in the “War of the Eight Princes,” imperial relatives
who fought amongst themselves for state power. Times were hard
as resources dwindled in the cold, dry climate. As the economic
base of the Jin dynasty dissolved under environmental pressures,
the political regime crumbled. The refugee stream increased to a

The Chinese phrase jing wei fen ming 涇渭分明, meaning a “clear demarcation”
(sometimes with moral overtones) is based on this river confluence.
11
Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019–86), Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑 (Taipei: Shijie
shuju, 1962), 95.3005. If the historical atlas of Yang Shoujing is correct, the
troops and horses walked across part of what is now called the Bay of Liaodong,
which lies between Korea and China.
12
Tang Changru 唐長孺, Wei Jin Nanbeichao Sui Tang shi san lun 魏晉南
北朝隋唐史三論(Wuhan: Wuhan daxue chubanshe, 1993), 29–30, as cited in
David A. Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300–900 (London and New York:
Routledge, 2002), 35.
 58 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations

flood of people moving south. As reported in the Jin dynastic

history,
By the Yongjia period [307–12] trouble and disturbances were
widespread. From Yongzhou eastward many suffered from
hunger and poverty. People were sold [as slaves]. Vagrants
became countless…there was a bad plague of locusts…Virulent
disease accompanied the famine. The people were murdered by
bandits. The rivers were filled with floating corpses; bleached
bones covered the fields…There was much cannibalism. Famine
and pestilence came hand in hand.13

As the climate became inhospitable for agriculture, many

Chinese farmers moved south, and more and more nomad peoples
moved within the historical borders of China as their pasturage
farther north dried up and froze. Nomads had had contact with
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China for a very long time. As the Han Chinese population

declined in the north, Chinese leaders accepted the submission of
more and more steppe peoples along the frontier. For example, the
Jin government received more than a hundred thousand Xiongnu in
286.14 Many Xiongnu and other tribal peoples were relocated to
the interior of the empire, where they came to outnumber the Han
inhabitants. The response of the Chinese was predictable. In 300
CE, a memorial by the Chinese official Jiang Tong 江統 claimed
that of the million people in Guanzhong, half were barbarians.15 In
his memorial, Jiang Tong complains that the barbarians look
different, have strange customs, and speak a different language. He
proposes to send them back to where they came from. The Chinese
government did not act on the memorial.
From the above accounts, two things may be deduced. First,
north China was suffering from a very harsh climate during the
early medieval period, which included the time of the Jin dynasty.

13
Jin shu 26.791.
14
Ni Jinsheng 倪今生, “Wu Hu luan hua qianye de Zhongguo jingji” 五胡亂
化前夜的中國經濟, Shihuo banyuekan 1.7 (March 1, 1935): 39, cited in Graff,
Medieval Chinese Warfare, 40.
15
Jin shu 56.1533.
 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 59

This is confirmed by the scientific proxy data. Second, the Chinese

government felt very threatened by the nomad peoples of the north.
There is a debate about whether the northern tribal peoples
were pulled into China by political chaos and a power vacuum, or
whether they were pushed by bad conditions on the steppe. Both
were factors; however, new scientific proxy data indicate long
periods of drought in the areas north of China during that time.16
Indeed, the ethnic and social composition of the area was
undergoing a transition, as nomads and Han Chinese all struggled
to adapt to climate change. Millions of people suffered, died, or
moved away to survive. It has been estimated that more than two
million Chinese migrated south. 17 Since Chinese identified with
their native places and were greatly attached to their ancestral graves,
this must have been a decision based on desperation.
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After 317 the Jin capital was reconstituted south of the Yangzi
by a distant cousin of the Jin emperor. Sima Rui 司馬叡 and his
descendents would rule for another one hundred years, but the north
of China was lost to the new nomad rulers. China would not be
reunited again under an imperial government until 589, and this
new dynasty would be ruled by people of mixed nomad and Han
ancestry.

16
Several recent studies of pollen concentrations over time, and lake
sediments in regions north of China, have provided evidence of a dry period in
Mongolia and the Russian Altai region in the fourth through the seventh
centuries. These include Frank Schluetz and Frank Lehmkuhl, “Climatic change
in the Russian Altai, southern Siberia, based on palynological and geo-
morphological results, with implications for climatic teleconnections and human
history since the middle Holocene,” Vegetation History and Archaeobotany,
16.2–3 (January 2007): 101–118, and Jule Xiao et al., “Hydrology of Dali Lake
in central-eastern Inner Mongolia and Holocene East Asian monsoon
variability,” Journal of Paleolimnology 40.1 (July 2008): 519–528, among
others.
17
Liu Shanli 劉掞藜, “Jin Huidi shidai Hanzu zhi da Liuxi” 晉惠帝時代漢
族之大流徙, Yugong, 4. 11 (February 1936): 12, as cited in William G. Crowell,
“Northern Emigres and the Problems of Census Registration under the Eastern
Jin and Southern Dynasties,” in Albert E. Dien, ed., State and Society in Early
Medieval China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990), 175.
 60 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations

The end of Western Jin rule at Luoyang left China divided

between north and south along a line running from the Qinling and
Dabie mountains to the Huai River, between the cool and dry north
and the warm, wet south, between the cultivation of wheat and
millet in the north and rice in the south. Below the Yangzi River
the Eastern Jin dynasty continued, and would be followed by Han
Chinese successor dynasties. In the north, nomadic leaders fought
and ruled over sixteen short-lived kingdoms that shifted and
overlapped with the contingencies of success in battle. In between
lay a dangerous buffer zone vulnerable to invasion from both north
and south. The flow of Chinese migrants continued as an estimated
million households fled, mostly south. The Guanzhong area lost
approximately one-third of its population.18 Some of the remaining
Chinese huddled near fortresses where they could seek protection
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from bandits and warring armies. The Jin History reports that Shi Le
石勒, a Xiongnu tribal military leader, captured dozens of such forts
as he swept through Henan.19

Migrations to the South

Method for studying migrations
Although movements of people occurred 1,600 years ago, the
remarkable Chinese historical record has left us with sufficient
information to discover much about settlement patterns. From this,
migration routes, motivations, even patterns of early economic
development may be deduced.
The data for this study come from a famous historical atlas
edited by Yang Shoujing.20 Yang’s data, in turn, are derived from
the Jin shu, and other sources. His maps of Western Jin are called
Dili zhitu 地 理 志 圖 , reflecting the title of the geographic
monograph of the Jin shu; however, his maps of Eastern Jin are

18
Wang Zhangluo 王仲荦, Weijin Nanbeichao shi 魏晉南北朝史 vol. 1, 223,
cited in Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare, 55.
19
Jin shu 62.1695.
20
Yang Shoujing 楊守敬 comp., Lidai yudi yan’ge xianyaotu 歷代與地沿
革險要圖, woodblock edition, n.p., 1906.
 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 61

labeled Jiangyu tu 疆域圖, a title signifying merely “under the

control of Jin.”21
In Yang’s atlas, the dynastic area is divided into about 100
map groups, laid out in grids, each square representing an area 50
li square (a li is about one-third of a mile). The maps indicate xian
縣 (county seats), jun 郡 (commanderies, the next higher level
administrative unit), provincial capitals, and political borders. ( See
Figure 4.)
Comparing Yang’s maps of the Western Jin Dynasty grid for
grid with those of its successor, the Eastern Jin dynasty, it is
possible to determine which towns over this period of time remain
unchanged on the maps, which are no longer under Jin control, and
which new settlements show up. It is important to remember that
the place names reflect administrative entities of the Jin dynasties,
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thus places no longer under Jin control are not included. The most
intriguing story to be read in the maps is that of places labeled qiao
僑, or “migrant.” A close look at the maps reveals that many towns
and commanderies from the north were reestablished in the south,
keeping their former toponyms, but with a qiao (migrant) suffix. A
search of Jin dynasty place names reveals more than 150 county
seats and commanderies in this category, which form the database
for this study. (See Appendix for a full list.) I argue that because
migrants from the north were settled in places named for their
original homes, retaining their original place names when they
moved south, we can determine where they came from, where they
later settled, and deduce their probable migration routes. The Jin
and Song dynastic histories give plentiful details of the
establishment of these qiao (migrant) settlements. The Chinese
rulers tried repeatedly to gain control over the massive migrant
population, setting up special census registers for them.22

21
One of Yang’s primary sources for Eastern Jin is the work of Hong
Liangji 洪亮吉(1746–1809), Dong Jin jiangyuzhi 東晉疆域志. Hong’s research,
in turn, is based on the annals and biographies of the Jin shu, which he then
correlated with information from the Song shu, the Wei shu, and earlier histories.
22
Crowell, 180.
 62 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations
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Figure 4. Sample map square of area south of Jiankang

From Yang Shoujing, Lidai yudi yange xianyaotu.
 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 63

All over China (and the rest of the world), settlements have
followed the contours of river valleys. This is true even in the
relatively flat north China plain, and is especially true in the south,
where there is an abundance of water.
When the Jin capital moved southeast to Jiankang (today’s
Nanjing), a striking pattern can be seen: many of the new qiao
migrant settlements appear to be where they can have a strategic
military role. (See Figure 5.) A whole ring of new cities appears in
a semicircle north of the capital, Jiankang, to protect it from
invasions from the north. The Han River valley, which might
provide access to the Yangzi River and thence to Jiankang, is also
militarily blocked by a series of new qiao settlements. Access by
sea to the capital is denied by heavy new settlement on the coast
downstream from Jiankang.
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Close scrutiny of the maps shows that most of the new towns
fill in empty areas on the earlier Western Jin map. Evidently new
settlements were not to displace existing towns, but to supplement
them. Many new settlements are upriver from Jiankang spaced at
intervals of about twenty-five to fifty li apart (the distance a farmer
can conveniently go in one day). These settlements could provide
food and goods for the capital. Another area of new population
concentration was at the bend of the Yangzi, upstream 280 li from
the capital. Even further upstream, the mid-Yangzi region, 600 li
from Jiankang, was home to dozens of new settlements. This area
was protected by the mighty Yangzi River, and was a relatively
short journey from the previous northern capital, Luoyang. Though
more distant from Jiankang, these areas could supply rice and non-
perishables for markets downstream. The Han River valley also lay
upstream from Jiankang. This area was primarily of strategic
military importance, but it also was rich enough to export products
down the Yangzi.23 A fifth area, centered around Kuaiji, stretched
below the capital southeast to the coast, and was connected to

23
Yasuda Jirō, “The Changing Aristocratic Society of the Southern
Dynasties and Regional Society: Particularly in the Hsiang-yang Region,” Acta
Asiatica 60 (1991), 27.
 64 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations
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Figure 5. Map of Migrations in the East

Original settlements have names and numbers; numbers without names
are the corresponding migrations.
 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 65

Jiankang both by a network of canals and lakes and by ocean and

river transportation routes.24
The first migrations of Han people were from Shandong
toward the new capital, Jiankang. Langye 琅邪 (# 54) was listed as
a migrant settlement in the Jiankang area in 310.25 People from six
nearby towns in the north, located within a fifty kilometer radius of
each other, settled in the south in the same area. Examples are
Zhuqi 祝其(# 42) and Jiqiu 即丘(# 50). The inhabitants of Dongwu
東 武 (# 4), Pingchang 平 昌 (# 6), Qinghe 清 河 (# 21), and
Guangyang 廣陽 (# 26) settled in an area that would block attacks
up the Yangzi from the sea. Moving to a largely unoccupied area
northwest of Jiankang, Gaomi 高秘 (# 2) and Chunyu, 淳予(# 1)
probably were resettled at about the same time, continuing the
protective military ring around the capital westward.
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Much of the lower Yangzi area was already populated by the

Wu peoples, and the northerners were often forced to settle in
marginal lands. One area of heavy immigrant occupation was
Dantu, at the head of the main ford across the lower Yangzi. It was
also the end of the waterway system of the Tai Lake 太湖 area
southeast of Jiankang, and thus a doubly strategic point for the
protection of the capital. Many northerners settled in the marginal
farmland there, reclaimed land with waterworks, and began to
grow wheat, for they were noodle eaters.26 The migrants settled in
this area were originally clan-based military forces of the central
plains. They kept their martial traditions and were the main force
to fight and defeat armies of northern regimes when they
invaded.27

24
Kuaiji is the standard pronunciation for the town that in local Wu dialect
is called “Guiji.” See Cynthia Chennault, “Lofty Gates or Solitary Impoverish-
ment? Xie Family member of the Southern Dynasties,” T’oung Pao 85.2 (1999):
269, note 46.
25
Shen Yue, Song shu 宋書 35.1039.
26
Huang Shu-mei 黃淑梅, Liuchao Taihu liuyu de fazhan 六朝太湖流域的
發展[Development of the Tai Lake Area During the Six Dynasties] (Taipei:
History Research Institute of National Taiwan Normal University, 1980), 87.
27
Ibid., 88. For more detail about the role played by the “Northern
Headquarters Troops” (beifu bing), see Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare, 84–87.
 66 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations

The Kuaiji area had a network of waterways and canals that

made it possible to move food and products to Jiankang, the capital.
Much marshland was reclaimed by the new immigrants, but there
was not enough land to go around. Many of the immigrants turned
to commerce, transport, and handicrafts to earn a living. They had
carried all the capital they could from their homes in the north.
This influx of labor and capital, combined with a water transport
system, led to new economic development in Kuaiji. The most
notable handicraft industries of Kuaiji included metal working,
paper goods, and textiles.28 By the third and fourth centuries the
area was exporting bronze “deities and animals” mirrors as far as
Japan. Later, in the Jin dynasty, this gave way to the making of
bronze Buddha images used in the burgeoning numbers of
Buddhist temples. The fine papers of Kuaiji were manufactured
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from mulberry leaves and rattan, materials from the hills and
mountains of the area. One of the preeminent skills that the
northern immigrants brought with them to the south was silk
making,29 but they probably carried few other useful agricultural
techniques from dry-land farming to this wet-land rice farming
area.
Kuaiji at this time was already a center of the Tianshi Daoist
religion.30 As Xu Mai 許邁 of the Jin dynasty described the area,
“From Shanyin to Lin’an, everywhere were golden halls and jade
pagodas, and medicinal herb gardens of the Daoist adepts. The
disciples of late Han dynasty Daoists who had achieved the Way,
such as Zuo Yuanfang 左 元 放 , all resided there.” 31 Perhaps
because of this religious association, immigrants from Shandong,
an earlier center of Tianshi Daoism, settled in Kuaiji. They
included people from eminent clans: the Wang of Langye, the Xie
of Chen, the Xi of Gaoping.32 The famous calligrapher and painter
28
Liu Shufen 劉淑芬, Liuchaode chengshi yu shehui 六朝的城市與社會
[Cities and Society in the Six Dynasties] (Taipei: Xuesheng shuju, 1992), 214–
217.
29
Ibid., 217.
30
Ibid., 233.
31
Jin shu 80.2107.
32
Liu Shufen, 233.
 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 67

Wang Xizhi 王羲之 was an administrator of Kuaiji, and brought

members of his clan from Jiankang to settle there.
Between the Yellow River and the Yangzi, the Huai River
valley served as an essential buffer between the Han Chinese area
south of the Yangzi and nomad-controlled north China. The Huai
River valley was under Han Chinese hegemony most of the time,
but during certain periods, harsh climate and nomad invasions
caused much chaos there, and then residents of the Huai River
valley fled south. (See Figure 6.)
The first migrations from the Huai River valley southward may
have taken place during the Yongjia period. Residents of cities that
could be considered part of the North China plain, Fuli 符离 (#
126）and Zhuyi 竹邑 (# 132）resettled in defensive positions
north of the Yangzi just above Jiankang. Others, such as Longkang
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龙亢（# 129) and Shansang 山桑（# 130), resettled in the area

immediately upstream from Jiankang, where there were few
existing towns.33 They could produce and ship food and goods to
the burgeoning new capital.
Further migrations may have occurred during the drought years
and wars of 373–396. The Jin shu documents an extended period
of drought in the lower Yangzi during the reign of Xiao Wudi 孝武
帝(r. 373–397). 34 In 374 CE taxes were forgiven for the year
because of crop failures, and food was doled out to the destitute.
The year 376 saw many people moving out of the area north of the
Huai River.35 Crop failures and epidemics were recorded for 379
and 380, and more tax relief was ordered. Rice was given to
orphans and the elderly poor by the government.
People from four middle Huai River valley cities, Sungzi 松滋
（# 120), Yicheng 義成 (# 123), Chaoge 朝歌(# 124), and Xiacai 下
蔡 (# 128), fled to the Han River valley. Chaoge people relocated
twice, having first fled to the Huai River valley from north of the
Yellow River. Migrants from four cities of the middle Huai River

33
This can be seen by comparing Yang Shoujing’s maps of Western Jin and
Eastern Jin.
34
Jin shu 1.226.
35
Jin shu 1.228.
 68 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations
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Figure 6. Map of Huai River Valley Migrations

 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 69

valley may have moved together to the mid-Yangzi region, about 200
li to the south. These cities were Xincai 新蔡 (# 135), Runan 汝南 (#
136), Sung 宋 (# 137), and Xiyang 西陽 (# 138). Residents of a
group of three cities from the headwaters of the Huai River, Yiyang
義陽(# 139), Juexi 厥西(# 141), and Pingshi 平氏(# 143), also
moved south 200 li. Immigrants from three other cities, Fanchang 繁
昌(# 140), Xiangcheng 蘘城(# 145), and Ruyin 汝陰(# 122), moved
to a sparsely settled area upstream from Jiankang.36
These new settlements were strung out along the Yangzi River
basin like beads on a string, serving as producers of rice and raw
materials for the capital, which was a ready market encouraging
their development.
Another major area of qiao (migrant) settlement was the Han
River valley and mid-Yangzi River valley, where the Han and
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Yangzi rivers join. As in the east, there were several waves of

settlers into these areas.37 The first wave was during and just after
the Yongjia disturbances. In 311 CE more than 4,000 families fled
from Chang’an to the Han River valley. General Liu Kun resettled
people of five counties to Xinxing and other places.38 According to
Yasuda Jirō, the Zong clan of Henan Commandery 河南郡 and the
Liu clan of Xie County in Hedong 河東 moved to the Xiangyang
region at about this time from the Luoyang area. (See Figure 7.)
People from cities nearby probably moved together to the middle
Han River valley: Heyin 河陰 (# 89), Yangcheng 陽城 (# 92), and
Henan Commandery 河南郡 (# 94), which all originally were
within 50 kilometers of Luoyang. People from a few cities in the
north China plain resettled in the Han River valley, too, including
Changle 長樂 (# 9), Handan 邯郸 (# 11), Yiyang 易陽 (# 14),
Weichang 魏昌 (# 37), and Guangchang 廣昌 (# 29). These may
have been military settlements, established for the purpose of
preventing nomad incursions southward toward the capital.

36
See sample map square 48R in Yang Shoujing’s atlas, Figure 4 in this
paper.
37
Yasuda Jirō, 28.
38
Jin shu 5.123.
 70 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations
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Figure 7. Map of Migrations to the Han River Valley

 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 71

One of the refugees who settled in Xiangyang was the famous

monk Daoan 道安. In 365, the year that Luoyang was taken by the
Murong Xianbei, Daoan, aged 53 years old, moved to Xiangyang
and dispersed his disciples to spread the Buddhist doctrines. He
stayed in Xiangyang for fifteen years, gathering new disciples
around him. In 379, when Fu Jian 苻 堅 attacked Xiangyang,
Daoan again scattered his disciples. One, Huiyuan 慧遠, crossed
the Yangzi and established a monastery at Mount Lu. 39 Daoan was
taken to Chang’an to become an advisor to Fu Jian. There he
trained monks working in the large translation bureau established
to translate Buddhist texts into Chinese.
In 369 the Jin general Huan Wen 桓 文 , whose base was
Xiangyang, attacked the Xianbei and attempted to re-take the
northern capital of Luoyang. His attack failed because of severe
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drought documented in the Jin shu between 369–380 CE. Because of

the drought, the usual water routes were not open. 40 Huan Wen’s
men dug the ancient Juye canal near Luoyang for more than 300 li
to open up a passage for supply boats. Soon their food stores were
completely gone, and ultimately Huan Wen had his men burn the
boats and retreat by foot. The Jin shu says, “From Yan through
Chenliu they dug wells to drink, and thus marched for 700 li.”
The second wave of migration, between 365 and 385 CE, took
place during terrible droughts and the campaigns of Huan Wen and
Fu Jian. Many of the migrants came from the Luoyang area, as
detailed above, and many moved from the Chang’an region; for
example, from Jingzhao 京兆 commandery (# 109), which was
established as a qiao commandery in the Han River valley in 386.41
Also from the Chang’an area came people from Bacheng 霸城 (#
108), Wugong 武功 (# 118), Wannian 萬年(# 97)¸ Shiping 始平 (#
98), and Fufeng 扶風 (# 106), which were re-established farther
south in qiao form before the end of the Jin Dynasty.42

39
Erik Zurcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972),
208.
40
Jin shu 98.2576.
41
Yasuda Jirō, 29.
42
Song shu 35.1155.
 72 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations

These refugees had their choice of several dangerous routes

over the Qinling Mountains and into the Han River valley, one of
which was the famous Ziwu plank road built along treacherous
cliffs and over a 7,000 foot pass. 43 Another was the Yao Pass
below Lantian, a little to the east. The official Kang Mu 康穆 of
Lantian 藍田(# 101) is said to have led 3,000 families to settle in
the south in 420, at the end of the Jin dynasty.44
Between 386 and 420 the Xiangyang region was under the
direct control of a military commander. He had the responsibility
of preventing incursions from the north and also protecting the
immigrants from the local tribespeople, the Man. At the beginning
of the fifth century a “Commandant for Pacifying the Man” was set
up under the region’s commander-in-chief. As the immigrants
developed fields and began irrigation works, the Man were driven
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back into the hills, from which they made periodic attacks on the
Chinese farmers.
The mid-Yangzi region,which served as a granary for the
capital, Jiankang, was settled in a pattern similar to that of the Han
valley. (See Figure 8.) Immigrants from a small group of cities
from east of the Ordos resettled in the loop of the middle Yangzi
River, probably during the Yongjia Disturbances. These cities
included Dingxiang 定襄(# 28), Guangmu 廣牧(# 30), and Yunzhong
雲中(# 38). People from a cluster of places east of Luoyang probably
moved to the mid-Yangzi together around 317 CE. They include
Hongnong 宏農(# 110), Linfen 臨汾(# 111), and Wenxi 聞喜(#
112).45 People from three other places in this area, Xinfeng 新豐(#
96), Yong’an 永安(# 40), and Xinxing 新興(# 117) moved first to the
Han River valley and then farther south into the mid-Yangzi region.
The Xiangyang region of the Han River valley suffered
devastating blows in the form of widespread epidemics, incursions

43
Lyman Van Slyke, Yangtze: Nature, History, and the River (Stanford,
CA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1988), 55.
44
Yasuda Jirō, 40.
45
These three places are marked 无考 by Yang Shoujing. Such sites are not
marked with exactitude, but are listed as such in the general area in which they
probably were located. The place name database includes a few other such sites.
 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 73
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Figure 8. Map of Migrations to the Mid-Yangzi Region

 74 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations

by roving bandits, and occupation by the Later Zhao (Fu Jian),

who destroyed the core city of Xiangyang and carried off a large
number of its inhabitants. The population was sharply reduced as
the Chinese settlers fled further south.46 Han Valley cities whose
residents resettled in the mid-Yangzi region include Wuling 武陵
(# 147), Xinkang 新康 (# 149), Xinfeng 新豐(# 96), Yong’an 永安
(# 40) and Xinxing 新興 (# 117).

Conclusion
The Jin shu and Song shu, by pinning down the places of origin
and the places of resettlement of large numbers of people, allow us
to deduce when and why people migrated. The histories tell us of
droughts and freezing weather patterns, shifting state boundaries,
invasions and counter-invasions. Mass migrations ensued, many of
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which may be mapped. The settlement patterns of the migrants

show that, for the most part, they put down roots in areas that were
previously underdeveloped. Many new settlements, the earliest
ones in particular, were placed where they would have a strategic
impact and might play a role in military defense. Other new cities
are in places where they have great economic value as suppliers to
the capital or other regional centers. Migration routes are also
suggested by the data.
We have seen some of the evidence for climate change during
early medieval China. People adapted to climate change in many
different ways, including fierce competition for resources in almost
constant warfare in the north, vast migrations of people to more
hospitable environments, and the adoption of new economic
activities. Over many decades, language, customs, religion, and
forms of government also began to change. Eventually a vigorous
mixed-blood elite emerged in north China, which produced the
first rulers of the Sui and Tang dynasties in reunited Chinese
empires of the sixth and seventh centuries. The Tang dynasty
existed at a time, not coincidentally, when warmer weather and

46
Yasuda Jirō, 27.
 Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008) 75

more abundant rain returned to the north China plains. 47 An

improved climate accompanied the flourishing of a new Chinese
culture, now enriched and changed by the influence of foreign
cultures, and tempered by generations who had endured harsh
weather.
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47
Zhu Kezhen, 22, gives documentary evidence of earlier blooming of fruit
trees and longer growing seasons during the Tang dynasty, which indicate
warmer climate conditions.
 76 Chin: Climate Change and Migrations

Appendix : Chart of Place Names with Migrant(“qiao”) Suffix

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Early Medieval China 13–14.2 (2008)

77
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78
Chin: Climate Change and Migrations