Overcoming Heaven: Xu Guangqi and Intellectual Responses to Climatic Crisis in Late Ming China

Abstract

Abstract This dissertation examines the scholarship of late Ming intellectual Xu Guangqi (1562–1633), focusing on how the environmental crises of his time were crucial to understanding his work and the broader intellectual landscape of the period. It emphasizes Xu’s lifelong involvement in astronomy and calendrics, agriculture, hydraulics, and mathematics, arguing that these seemingly disparate fields were unified by his relentless pursuit of disaster relief, particularly famine control. While Xu’s scope and synthesis were distinctive, he was part of a broader late-Ming literati movement concerned with disaster relief. These efforts increasingly encompassed southern China. Through the chapters, I show how Xu’s engagement with heaven, earth, and water was driven by three key concerns: (1) astrological predictions of natural disasters based on accurate astronomical knowledge, (2) famine relief through the cultivation of famine-resistant crops, and (3) water control to mitigate disaster-related damage. The frameworks of the Little Ice Age and the seventeenth-century crisis, as defined by modern environmental historians, provide valuable insight into these efforts. Chapter One, “Multiple Crises? Xu Guangqi and His Time,” examines Xu’s response to the military, environmental, and demographic crises of his era. While his concerns about military threats, particularly from the Manchu invasions, were largely provisional, the environmental crisis had a lasting impact on his scholarship. The chapter shows how the modern concept of the Little Ice Age helps illuminate the persistent environmental challenges Xu faced throughout his life. Although demographic pressures could have complicated his agricultural initiatives, Xu focused on migration from the south to the north to alleviate population density. This strategy ensured welfare through studies on disaster relief and preparedness, regardless of geographic location. Chapter Two, “Heaven: Astronomy and Prognostication,” explores the reception of European astrology by Chinese intellectuals, with Xu playing a pioneering role in integrating it into Chinese thought. I argue that Xu viewed European astrology as a tool for predicting natural disasters, challenging traditional Chinese meteorology—particularly through debates over solar and lunar eclipses. I characterize this transition as a shift from a “correlative” (moralist) to a “naturalist” stance and trace the intellectual legacy of Xu’s astrological concerns. Chapter Three, “Earth: Agriculture and Famine Relief,” examines Xu’s agricultural studies, particularly his promotion of famine-resistant crops like sweet potatoes and turnips across the country. I argue that these initiatives were a direct response to the widespread environmental crisis of the time, which unfolded on a national, and even global, scale. This chapter shows Xu’s empirical rigor and positions his agricultural efforts as an intellectual response to the environmental challenges he faced. Chapter Four, “Water: Hydraulics and Mathematics,” investigates Xu’s hydraulic work and related mathematical concerns. I distinguish his “artificial” approach to water control from the earlier “naturalist” approach, highlighting his pioneering role in translating Western hydraulic machines. This chapter shows how Xu integrated Western mathematics with traditional Chinese approaches, driven by his practical concerns for land surveying in the construction of hydraulic facilities such as dams, dikes, and reservoirs. In doing so, Xu postulated a fundamental unity between Chinese and Western traditions, laying the groundwork for subsequent scholarship. Chapter Five, “Overcoming Heaven,” explores Xu’s concept of heaven, which unites his work in astronomy, agriculture, and hydraulics. I argue that his notion of “overcoming heaven”—the belief that heaven can err and must be corrected through human knowledge and interventions—marked a radical departure from the traditional neo-Confucian view of heaven as benevolent, a perspective shared by his contemporaries. I suggest that this redefined understanding of heaven may have paved the way for the introduction of Christianity as an alternative moral foundation. The dissertation concludes by examining the legacy of Xu’s self-funded efforts in disaster relief, which were part of a broader trend among Jiangnan literati in the late Ming. I argue that these efforts reflect both the failure of the Ming dynasty’s famine administration and the frustration of local literati. In contrast, the Qing court actively engaged in famine relief, incorporating late Ming disaster relief texts into agricultural and famine relief manuals. I suggest that the intellectual legacy of Xu and his contemporaries played a critical role in shaping the Qing dynasty’s success in famine relief effort.