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

Subject

volume

17

issue

2

page start

2

page end

5

Alternative Title

Lantern

issn

1449-2717

Item sets