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China is one of the countries most affected by natural disasters. It had 5 of the world's top 10 deadliest natural disasters; the top 3 occurred in China: the 1931 China floods, death toll 3 million to 4 million, the 1887 Yellow River flood, death toll 0.9 million to 2 million, and the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake, death toll 0.83 million. "Natural disasters occur frequently in China, affecting more than 200 million people every year. They have become an important restricting factor for economic and social development."〔( Disaster Emergency Management in China )〕 In the course of recorded history, many types of natural disasters – except volcano eruptions – have occurred in China, which include floods, droughts, meteorological, seismic, geological, maritime and ecological disasters as well as forestry and grassland fires. These natural disasters pose serious threats to life and property safety to China and its people and severely affect the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development of that country's economy and society. In addition, they threaten China's national security and social stability and stand in the way of economic development in some regions and poverty alleviation of certain rural population. ==Natural disasters historically== The Chinese term for natural disasters reveals the traditional view of disasters as divine retribution: ''tianzai'' (天災), literally 'heavenly disaster'. In ancient beliefs, natural disasters were seen as Heaven’s response to immoral human behaviour, whereby the conduct of different individuals carried different weights. While the behaviour of common people ranked last, the actions of bureaucrats had a greater effect.〔Elvin, M. ‘Who Was Responsible for the Weather? Moral Meteorology in Late Imperial China’ ''Science, Technology, and Medicine in East and Southeast Asia'', 1998〕 Given that in Imperial China the emperor's behaviour was believed to be the most important, popular belief was that the emperor should attempt to prevent disasters by ensuring his conduct was in following with moral codes – and if a disaster should occur, he was responsible for addressing the consequences. According to the Overseas Development Institute, the state-led nature of humanitarian aid in today's China traces back to these traditional beliefs. 〔Krebs, Hanna B. ("Responsibility, legitimacy, morality: Chinese humanitarianism in historical perspective" ), ''Overseas Development Institute'', September 2014〕 This concept of cosmic linkage between natural disasters and human conduct was radically rejected at the height of Maoist years, when nature was represented as ‘an enemy to be overcome, an adversary to be brought to heel’. Propaganda posters were produced with the slogan, “Earthquakes cannot frighten us, the people will certainly conquer nature.”〔Krebs, Hanna B. ("Responsibility, legitimacy, morality: Chinese humanitarianism in historical perspective" ), ''Overseas Development Institute'', September 2014〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Natural disasters in China」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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