| Abstract |
This article aims to explore the natural disasters resulted from climate change and the victims’ critical choice for surviving the consequential starvation after drought. Upon a natural disaster, negative impacts follow inevitably, minor ones: such as shortage to answer basic needs, economy downturn, major ones: such as turmoil or disturbance threatening the authority. The ruling classes of Tang Dynasty, while encountering natural disasters one after another, were in bad need of actively formulating effective strategies and taking contingent measures to take issues under control in addition to coping with the challenges passively. However, the governments often than not answered the urgent needs of the people rather meagerly despite of having responded with soothing and relief policies; to our surprise the consequences of the officials’ negligence victimized the people far more severely than natural disaster. The parents as ordinary people being trapped in the disasters helplessly and further struggling under the critical threats of both the natural disaster and the negligence of the authority and officials had no choice but making a painful decision to sell their children for beating the survival crisis with the unbearable pain of cruelly leaving family behind. |
