Deforesting and Mining: Another View on the Environmental Crisis in Huizhou during the Ming and Qing Dynasties

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Huizhou region frequently witnessed phenomena such as illegal logging, digging up tree stakes, and setting fires to burn mountains, which destroyed the nurturing of forest resources. In some areas, the scale of stone quarrying, lime burning, and coal mining continued to expand, causing significant damage to the mountains within the region. At the same time, local residents also followed the example of the immigrant settlers to cultivate the mountains, planting cash crops, mining, and coal extraction, which accelerated the destruction of vegetation and led to environmental problems such as soil erosion, soil degradation, and the inability to reclaim good farmland. The academic community generally believes that the mountain reclamation activities of the immigrant settlers in Huizhou during the Qianlong period were the main cause of the local environmental crisis. However, this is not the case; even before the settlers arrived, there were signs of environmental destruction in the Huizhou region, and the large influx of settlers in the Qing Dynasty accelerated this process. In fact, the deforestation, mining, and mountain reclamation activities imitating the settlers by the indigenous Huizhou residents are also significant factors that cannot be ignored in the deterioration of the Huizhou region's environment.