Late-Yuan Famine and Social Crisis

Timeline

1. 1351Along the Yellow River · Yellow River basinFrom Zhizheng 4 onward the Yellow River breached repeatedly; the Baimao and Jin dikes collapsed in succession, flooding Jining, Daming, Dongping, Caozhou and elsewhere, cutting the grain transport route and destroying salt fields, reducing millions to refugees.
2. 1351Huanglinggang · Shandong ProvinceThe Yuan court appointed Minister of Works Jia Lu as chief river-control envoy, conscripting 150,000 laborers from thirteen circuits including Bianliang plus 20,000 soldiers to work the river and seal the breach at Huanglinggang. The laborers suffered hunger and cold while officials embezzled their rations, fueling popular resentment.
3. 1351–1352North China and the Huai River basin · ChinaFamine, plague, and corvée labor for the river works, combined with the Yuan court's overissue of paper money and soaring prices, left the people with no way out. Han Shantong, Liu Futong and others used the folk rhyme 'a stone man with one eye' to stir up the populace; in May of Zhizheng 11 the Red Turban Uprising broke out, turning social crisis into armed resistance.