1976年到1879年的大饥荒是历史上最严重的一次,在此期间中国十八省中有一半遭受或轻或重的灾害。灾荒结束时,毫无疑问,一千五百万到两千万人死于这场饥荒,相当于欧洲的人口总数。曾经一位清政府的官员发布过一个公告,禁止人们迁往满洲,虽然那里的谷物便宜很多,同样真实的是邻省的某些官员禁止向山西出售粮食,这使得山西的饥荒更加恶化了。 The famine from 1976 to 1879 was the worst in history, during which half of China’s 18 provinces suffered light or heavy disasters. At the end of the famine, there are no doubt that fifteen to twenty million people died in this famine, equivalent to the total population of Europe. A former Qing government official issued a proclamation to ban people from moving to Manchuria. Although the grain there is much cheaper, it is also true that some officials in the neighboring provinces forbid the sale of food to Shanxi, which has aggravated the famine in Shanxi.