In the two weeks from December 11 to 24, Beijing recorded more than 300 hours of sub-0°C temperatures, setting the coldest record since 1951. The picture shows a man walking past a temple with a snow-covered roof in Beijing on December 18, 2023. (Wang Zhao/AFP)
[The Epoch Times, December 29, 2023](Epoch Times Special Topics Department reporter Jiang Feng reported) China has experienced widespread severe cold weather recently. Beijing has just experienced the coldest December in 70 years, and Guangdong Province has experienced the coldest in 40 years. of winter solstice. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Little Ice Age, characterized by the freezing of the Yangtze River and falling snow in Guangzhou, caused drought, famine, plague, and peasant uprisings, eventually leading to the downfall of the Ming Dynasty. The history of abnormal celestial phenomena accelerating the change of dynasties seems to be repeating itself.
Data from the Beijing Meteorological Observatory shows that during the two weeks from December 11 to 24, Beijing recorded more than 300 hours of temperatures below 0°C, setting the coldest record since 1951. During this period, Beijing also had nine consecutive days with temperatures below minus 10°C.
Shanghai, the financial capital, also experienced the coldest December in 40 years. Starting from December 21, the minimum temperature has been below minus 1℃ for five consecutive days, which is unprecedented.
Southern China also ushered in the coldest winter solstice in 40 years in December. On December 22, many cities and counties in Guangdong set the coldest record in the past 40 years. The morning minimum temperatures in Renhua, Pingyuan, Jiaoling, Wuhua, Heyuan, Huadu, Guangzhou, Raoping and Chaoyang all broke historical records. Guangzhou recorded a record low of 3.3°C on the winter solstice in 40 years. Temperatures in Renhua, Pingyuan and other places in northern Guangdong fell below zero, with the lowest temperature in the province being minus 2.4°C. Light snow fell in Dongguan, and a vast white “snow scene” appeared in the Wuzhishan Scenic Area of Liuxihe National Forest Park.
At the same time, many places in China were hit by a strong cold wave. From December 13th to 16th, the temperature dropped by 6°C to 12°C in most areas of the country, and in some areas the temperature dropped by more than 14°C. Around the 14th, the strong cold wave process caused the daily average temperature or daily minimum temperature in parts of northern Xinjiang, eastern Northwest China, Inner Mongolia, North China, Northeast China, Huanghuai, eastern Jianghuai, and eastern Jiangnan to be lower than the same period in normal years. People in many places felt that the weather was “Exceptionally cold.”
The rare cold weather is reminiscent of the Little Ice Age five hundred years ago.
The Little Ice Age brought droughts and famines
During the 190 years from AD 1500 to 1690, which coincided with the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, severe droughts and floods took place in the summer, and the winter was extremely cold, with heavy snowfall in Guangdong and other places.
During the Little Ice Age, the North Canal was frozen for more than 100 days each year, nearly twice as long as today. The canals in the south are in the subtropics and generally do not freeze. However, during the Little Ice Age, the Huaiyang Canal, Jiangnan Canal, and East Zhejiang Canal were all frozen nearly 30 times. The Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and even the coasts of the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea have also been frozen for a long time, and even the Han River and Taihu Lake have frozen many times.
Even the Pearl River Delta, located in the far south of mainland China, has experienced severe cold weather. Guangzhou and other places frequently experience snowfall, and livestock freeze to death.
The first consequence of severe cold weather is reduced grain production. The severe cold caused the humidity to decrease, the area of land suitable for farming was reduced, and the rainfall areas generally moved southward. The growth cycle of crops became longer and the yield decreased.
From the Wanli period to the fall of the Ming Dynasty, droughts, locust plagues, and floods never stopped, with drought being the most serious. Documents such as “Records of the Ming Dynasty”, “History of the Ming Dynasty”, and “Huidian of the Ming Dynasty” are full of words such as “long drought”, “no rain”, “thousands of miles like burning” and “extreme drought”.
The Little Ice Age brought plague
The Little Ice Age also led to epidemics of plague. From 1408 to 1644, nearly 20 epidemics occurred in the Ming Dynasty. For one thing, cold makes it easier for viruses and germs to survive. On the other hand, lowering temperatures reduce the body’s immunity, allowing diseases to spread on a large scale. Among the various epidemics, the plague was the most serious. During the Wanli and Chongzhen years, while droughts occurred frequently, the plague also began to spread. The plague broke out from Shanxi, spread to several provinces in North China, and then spread to the Gyeonggi region. Resulting in a population reduction of 5 million.
Five hundred years later, in the winter of 2019, the Wuhan pneumonia (COVID-19, CCP virus) pandemic also broke out in China and spread to the world. How many people have died from this plague in China? The CCP still dares not release real data. In November 2023, the epidemic broke out again in China, and a large number of children suffered from respiratory emergencies. The CCP authorities also have to admit that the respiratory disease that is still spreading this time is caused by a multi-pathogen virus that is a mixture of syncytial virus (RSV), influenza virus, mycoplasma and mutant CCP virus. On December 24, Luo Qi, a well-known Chinese financial media person, died of a sudden “severe pneumonia” at the age of 36. The CCP virus is not far away.
Cold weather this winter has the potential to exacerbate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. One study compiled data from 100 Chinese cities with COVID-19 cases and found that higher temperatures and humidity were associated with lower infection rates. Another study reported that COVID-19 outbreaks are particularly concentrated in “areas with relatively cold and dry weather.”
Shu Rong, a Chinese medicine practitioner and I Ching expert in Cambridge, UK, said on NTDTV’s “Elite Forum” program on December 26 that 2024 is the year of Jiachen, and “the year is too earthy, and rain and dampness are prevalent.” In other words, the climate tends to be humid and cold throughout the year. The COVID-19 virus likes cold air and humidity, so she predicts that the COVID-19 epidemic will be the “most serious” year in 2024, with the most serious disease in southeastern China and the most serious disease in Europe and Southeast Asia around the world.
Plague and natural disasters trigger peasant uprisings
Historically, major plagues and natural disasters can cause the destruction of a dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty, severe cold weather brought drought, famine and plague, and the people were in dire straits, prompting farmers to rise up. In March of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, there was a severe drought in Shaanxi and farmers lost their harvest. However, Chengcheng County Magistrate Zhang Douyao, regardless of the life and death of the people, still severely demanded food and whipped farmers who were unable to pay taxes. As a result, local farmer Wang Er united with hundreds of people who could not survive, killed Zhang Douyao, and kicked off the peasant uprising.
After that, peasant uprisings occurred one after another across the country. In 1644, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing. Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself from a large locust tree in Meishan Mountain, and the Ming Dynasty fell.
Less than a year after Li Zicheng became emperor in Beijing, the Qing army began to attack Shanhaiguan and launched a decisive battle with the Ming Dynasty general Wu Sangui. Wu Sangui later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty regent Dorgon.
The Little Ice Age that enveloped China thus ended the 276-year rule of the Ming Dynasty, allowing China to change dynasties.
There have been many times in Chinese history where changes in dynasties were related to natural disasters. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Shandong, Anhui and other places were hit by disasters due to long rains and became water towns. In the late Western Han Dynasty, floods, droughts, insect plagues, etc. continued year after year and lasted until the fall of the Western Han Dynasty.
The 35-year reign of Emperor Yuan Shun, the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, was the period when epidemics were most prevalent in the history of the Yuan Dynasty, with as many as 12 epidemics recorded in history books. On average, a plague occurs every three years and countless people die. In 1368 AD, Zhu Yuanzhang’s general Xu Da came to Dadu, and Emperor Shun fled north, and the Yuan Dynasty fell.
Today’s China is similar to the last years of dynasties in history, with constant natural disasters and plagues.
On December 19, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake occurred in Jishishan County, Gansu Province, China, killing at least 120 people.
On October 10, the Ministry of Emergency Management of the Communist Party of China announced that natural disasters occurred frequently in China in the first three quarters of this year, including floods, droughts, typhoons, wind hail and geological disasters, as well as cryogenic freezing and snow disasters, earthquakes, sandstorms, forest and grassland fires, etc. The number of people affected by the disaster nationwide reached 89.118 million.
In the past two years, as the Chinese people have awakened, not only have civil protests continued, but the top leaders of the CCP have also been fighting to the death. In order to protect their power and life, the leader of the CCP has gone all out to purge dissidents and prevent assassination.
In this regard, independent writer Zhuge Mingyang said, “History is always strikingly similar, but China today is different from previous dynasties. History is a normal change of dynasties, but the current CCP is an anti-god, Evil freaks who are anti-human, anti-traditional, and anti-moral. The current changes in the celestial environment, whether it is natural disasters or epidemics, are disintegrating the CCP. Anyone who wants to save his life must break away from the CCP and stay away from the CCP.”
Editor in charge: Lian Shuhua#
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2023-12-28 17:33:37
