A Study of the Formation of Immigrants in Guxian, Shanxi Province, in the Late Qing Dynasty

Abstract

Traditional Chinese society was dominated by intensive agricultural production, and the farming-based population was sedentary for generations, making sedentary living a social norm. Conversely, when migration occurred, it was a "perverse" social phenomenon. At the end of the Qing dynasty, Guxian in Shanxi province was affected by disasters for many years and the local population declined sharply, which provided an opportunity for the Qing government to "reclaim the wasteland" and "attract people from the wasteland", and Guxian as an "incoming place" attracted this opened the door to a "new wave" of migration, attracting a large number of refugees from other provinces to claim the land. This paper uses the findings of the "population push-pull theory", combined with local literature, to further investigate the origins, timing and migration routes of migrants in Guxian, Shanxi Province, and to help further research into the dialects and cultural identities of migrants.