The pre-modern history of population change in the Fuping County (Shaanxi Province,China) during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (AD 1368-1911) was reconstructed using historical sources.The Fuping County experienced two major population collapses,i.e.the late Ming Dynasty (1550-1640s) and the 1860-1880s.The first one was caused by the great AD 1556 earthquake and the extreme droughts and warfare in the 1630-1640s.The second one was caused by warfare and extreme droughts.As a whole,natural disasters,including extreme drought and great earthquake,were the key direct causes of population collapse,and climatic cooling would be a potential indirect cause.It is very interesting that population collapses occurred almost synchronously in the Fuping County and whole China,and the trends of population change were also very similar.Climate-population relationship in China would be valid at finer geographic level,and climatic cooling could be a potential indirect cause of population collapse.
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