A matter of life and death: engagement with the covid-19 pandemic
Item
Title
A matter of life and death: engagement with the covid-19 pandemic
Description
Lantern (2020), Scheid, Volker.
Source
Abstract
During the late Ming dynasty (1358-1644), first in the 1580s and then in the 1630s and 1640s, a series of devastating epidemics swept through China. Historians estimate a mortality rate of up to 20 per cent. If correct, it means these epidemics were about 20 times more deadly than the current covid-19 pandemic. Against a background of repeated bad harvests caused by flooding and unseasonally cold weather, locust plagues and other natural disasters, as well as social unrest and civil war in the lead-up to the Manchu invasion of 1644, the population of China decreased 35 to 40 per cent over the period 1585-1645. These, too, are almost unimaginable numbers for us today.
Creator
Language
English
Date
volume
17
issue
2
page start
2
page end
5
Alternative Title
Lantern
issn
1449-2717