Deforesting and Mining: Another View on Crisis of Environment in Huizhou during Ming and Qing Dynasties

Deforestation became serious during Ming and Qing dynasties. Especially since Mid-Ming Dynasty, the activities that shed people grew industrial crops by opening up mountains had been imitated by the native, which destroyed the vegetative cover greatly. The area of bare soil was large till later Qing Dynasty. Meanwhile, the scale of quarrying and lime-roasting became larger and larger, and the massifs were damaged seriously. All the out-of-order actions by both the native and shed people led to a series of problems such as: soil erosion, flushing fields, soil fertility decreasing, silting up irrigation works, which affected greatly agricultural production and people’s daily life.