Persistent humid climate favored the Qin and Western Han Dynasties in China around 2,200 y ago
Abstract
The Qin and Western Han dynasties (221 BCE to 24 CE) represent an era of societal prosperity in China. However, due to a lack of high-resolution paleoclimate records it is still unclear whether the agricultural boost documented for this period was associated with more favorable climatic conditions. Here, multiparameter analysis of annually resolved tree-ring records and process-based physiological modeling provide evidence of stable and consistently humid climatic conditions during 270 to 77 BCE in northern China. Precipitation in the Asian summer monsoon region during the Qin–Western Han Dynasties was ~18 to 34% higher compared to present-day conditions. In shifting agricultural and pastoral boundaries ~60 to 100 km northwestward, possibility up to 200 km at times, persistently wetter conditions arguably increased food production, contributing to the socioeconomic prosperity around 2,200 y ago. A gradual wetting trend in the western part of arid northwestern China since the 1980s resembles the historical climate analogue, suggesting that similar benefits for regional environmental and agricultural systems may reoccur under current climate change, at least in the near term.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (18)
Chun Qin
Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Bao Yang
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University
Achim Bräuning
Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg
Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist
Department of History, Stockholm University
Timothy J. Osborn
Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia
Vladimir Shishov
Mathematical Methods and Information Technology Department, Siberian Federal University
Minhui He
Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shuyuan Kang
Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lea Schneider
Department of Geography, Justus Liebig University of Giessen
Jan Esper
Ulf Büntgen
Jussi Grießinger
Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg
Danqing Huang
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University
Peng Zhang
Stefanie Talento
Department of Geography, Justus Liebig University of Giessen
Elena Xoplaki
Department of Geography, Justus Liebig University of Giessen
Jürg Luterbacher
Department of Geography, Justus Liebig University of Giessen
Nils Chr. Stenseth
Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University