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The social economic transitions during the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties helped to increase the activities of secret societies or underground organizations of the lower classes. With regard to the diversities of their living environments, patterns of organizations, and leading doctrines, these societies can be divided into secret religions and secret sects. The Red Gang has long been believed to be one of the secret sects in southern China, a by-name of the Tien-ti Sect, and the orthodox of Ko-lao Sect. Nevertheless, the extant files of the Ch'ing dynasty show that the Red Gang was a secret gect developing from the Lo Sect, a secret religion in northern China. Most of the dockers working on the barges transporting grain among the provinces crossed by the Great Canal were converted to Lo Sect. The Grain-Barge Gang was the predecessor of the Red Gang, which was named as "Gang" after the former. Localism of the dockers who came from different places as well as incompatibility among those who were converted at different times resulted in conflicts between the old gang and the new gang which sometimes led to catastrophic fighting with arms. This paper consists of six sections. The introduction briefly surveys the extant files of the Ch'ing dynasty, touching the history of the Red Gang. The following sections are discussions on different legends of the Red Gang's origin, the relationship between the Red Gang and Lo Sect, the formation of the Red Gang, and regulations of the Ch'ing government made to guard against the dockers. No anti-Manchurian ideology is emphasized in this study because the Red Gang was nothing more than a fighting group of the dockers who believed in Lo Sect. The leader of the gang passed his orders with red chopsticks in the assembly during which all the members stood together. For the sake of identification, their waists were tied with red bands and their faces painted red. As the emblem of this gang, red also gave it its name. A knowledge of the origin and development of the Red Gang would help reestablish the authentic history of secret societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline in mortality in Taiwan since World War II is analyzed using life tables. "Special features of the research include (1) a phase-of-life-specific, rather than an age-specific, analysis of mortality, and (2) the use of measures based upon person-years of life in phase intervals, rather than survival rates or expectation of life at given ages. The empirical results suggest that the mortality decline can be described as a two-stage process: an initial stage of substantial improvement in life expectancy between 1950 and 1965, and a final stage of slow gain in life expectancy since 1965." Age and sex variations in mortality and differing rates of mortality decline are noted. Implications of increased longevity for economic and social programs are also considered. (summary in ENG), (excerpt)

From a very early time the Chinese economy had been characterized by a high man-arable land ratio as compared with the European history. Chinese rulers had not been pressed by severe labor shortages to institute tight control over labor. Consequently, local labor markets for hiring developed very early in China and, with a few exceptional periods, remained fairly free. This paper attempts to trace the development of labor markets and determine the extent to which waged workers were employed in the Chinese history. From scattered quantitative data, an increasing trend of labor employment over time seems discernible. Wage data have been compiled, too. When converted into real terms, i.e. the amount of grain that could be purchased with the cash wage at the price prevailing then, the wage data display a clear trend of decline in the long history. The level of real wages in the 19th century was more than ten times the level in the 19th century. It is believed that the decline reflects the enormous multiplication of population and labor, which depressed the marginal product of workers. Moreover, the decline in real wages was accompanied by a sharp deterioration of employment conditions. It is emphatically pointed out, however, that in most cases employment contracts were made on a voluntary basis. As long as this was true, the inferior status of workers should be interpreted as part of the worsening terms of employment rather than a symbol of slavery. In a basically uncontrolled labor market, the worker had the freedom to reject a job offer if he considered any of the employment terms unacceptable. The fact that the near-slave status of hired hands appeared after the 12th century suggests that the pressure of excess supply of labor forced workers to accept both the falling wage and the debased status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1957, the late well-known economist Alexander Eckstein who was sent from the United States to Taiwan to investigate academic conditions there, reported that Taiwan was a "cultural desert". Eckstein's view was shared by many Chinese scholars. But Eckstein's report was made 27 years ago. Taiwan is no longer a cultural desert. The United States and the Republic of China have had a history of more than 20 years of fruitful academic cooperation. In this paper we treat a number of themes which contributed to Taiwan's evolving from that cultural desert: 1) The establishment of the Chinese National Science Council under the support of the American Agency for International Development. 2) The financial assistance of U. S. private foundations to R.O.C. academic circles. 3) Sino-American cooperation which helped scientific and technological development in Taiwan. 4)The returned students who helped to build up academic standard in Taiwan; and. 5) Finally, an overview of American academic influence in Taiwan. This paper was originally delivered at the Conference on US-ROC Relations: From the White Paper to the Taiwan Relations Act (Sept. 23-24, 1983) held by St. John's University in New York, and published by the American Asian Review to which those who are interested may refer to for the original English text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a series of experiments attempting to determine the methods of selection, preparation and use of turtle-shells and cattle-scapulas for divination during the late Shang dynasty. These experiments cover a range of topics, including shell and bone selection and preparation, the making of burning-pits, the source and application of heat to produce the divinatory cracks, the court diviners' interpretation of the cracks, why the court historians first wrote the divination-inscription texts on the bone or shell before they were carved, why the divinatory cracks and inscriptions were carved and pigmented, whether or not the bones and shells were softened before preparation and carving, and the use of bronze and jade knives in carving the inscriptions. I have compared the results of my experiments with archaeological data and with the work of other scholars in the field, and have finally established what the complete process of late-Shang oracle-bone divination was. The major conclusions obtained from these experiments include the following: 1) The primary selection criterion for live turtles to be used in divination was that they be good-looking, unscarred individuals with flat, high-quality plastrons. 2) The fifty-eight closely-joined bony plates making up the complete turtle-shell will loosen or fall apart if boiled too long, and are not suited for a softening process before preparation and carving. 3) The backs of the scapulas were flattened in order to facilitate the making of a greater number of burning-pits on the back and the turning of the bone during inscription-carving on the front; this also made them stable for carving and easier to stack. 4) During the making of the burning-pits, the long-oval pits had to be cut deep and straight, as they provided the guide-line for the initial crack during heating. 5) The cracking of the bones and shells required the use of hardwood burning in the form of a hot coal. This was lightly applied to the shallow burning-pit and slowly blown upon to keep it alight for as long as possible, until the crack was produced. 6) Auspicious or inauspicious crack-interpretations were determined by variations in the shape of the horizontal branch of the crack, but these variations were quite likely controlled by the diviners themselves. 7) The cracks and inscriptions were carved and pigmented for the practical purpose of facilitating later reference and confirmation of divinations, and not for aesthetic purposes. 8) The divination-inscription texts were most likely first written on the bone or shell by the historian, then given to specialized artisans for carving. 9) Shell and bone can be softened with vinegar for carving, but this method has its drawbacks. The proper proportions of copper and tin can definitely be used to make a bronze alloy for saws, knives and other tools capable of cutting bone and shell without pre-softening; such tools could especially have been used to make the wide variety of finely-carved late- Shang bone artifacts. This paper represents the first comprehensive inquiry into the actual physical process of oracle-bone divination that has been undertaken in the past eighty-five years of late-Shang research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ch'ing dynasty was established by the Manchus, a national minority in China. There were many suspicious circumstances surrounding the accession of the third emperor of the dynasty, Shih-tsung (Emperor Yung-cheng), and this has been a topic of considerable controversy amongst scholars. Over the past ten years, the author of the present article has published several papers on Shih-tsung and the fourteenth son of Emperor K'ang-hsi the Fu-yuan Ta Chiang-chun Yin-chen, which have supported the view that when Shih-tsung succeeded Emperor K'ang-hsi, he usurped the throne from his younger brother. The present article approaches the problem from another angle. Did K'ang-hsi's fourteenth son receive an instruction from K'ang-hsi, prior to his death, to the effect that he should inherit the throne, and did he return to Peking with the understanding that he would become Emperor? Or was the reason he returned to Peking to take part in the funeral ceremonies for his father, after he had been informed by Shih-tsung of his death? This article investigates the question of the usurpation of Shih-tsung from this direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shell-bridge is the part connecting turtle's shell and turtle's plastron. The term "shell-bridge inscriptions" is used only for those written-records inscribed on the shell-bridges, which are different from average divinations. The distribution of written-record inscriptions on the shell-bridges can be divided into four categories: 1. Written-record inscriptions on the right shell-bridges can be seen frequently among large turtle's plastrons. 2. Written-record inscriptions on the right shell-bridges and inscriber's or his residential names on the left shell-bridges, or vice versa. This category can generally be seen among the large, medium, small sizes' plastrons. 3. Written-record inscriptions on both bridges. This category can be seen more often among small size plastrons. 4. Special cases on both bridges. This category can be seen among all sizes' plastrons. In this paper, I list thirteen different phenomena relative to shell- bridge inscriptions, some of them not been known before, which, however, have been sorted out from those inscriptions upon the less fragmental or restored plastrons. For examples: 1. The contribution's figures as seen in the shell-bridge inscriptions are often contrary to the size of turtle upon which inscriptions were made. That is to say that the contribution's figures inscribed on the larger turtles are smaller, but on the smaller turtles, larger. This indicates that turtles for divination were in fact the contributions. 2. Some of the characters inscribed on shell-bridge were sawed into halves from the middle. This indicates that the shell-bridge inscriptions were inscribed upon the bridges before the shells or the plastron were treated for divintional purpose. 3. In a plastron set, the inscriptions on each shell-bridge was identical, but not every shell-bridge was inscribed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extant and verifiable Han stone-carvings, with very few exceptions, are dated the Eastern Han dynasty. The authentic carvings of the Western Hart are marked with few characters, having no inscribed articles and frontal parts. However, the tomb-stone, the accomplishments-re- cording monument or the memorial slab, etc. allegedly considered later than the Eastern Han, besides the inscription which gives a detailed description of the deceased, his official rank and achievements, mostly contains a frontal part intended for identification or for indicating its purpose. So, for those later generations who are interested in an inscribed article, the frontal part is important in that it outlines the essence of the inscription as a whole. Some tomb-stones of the Eastern-Han officials are foreheaded with the ranks they were conferred upon while some are not. That's why Ouyang Hsiu and Chao Ming-ch'eng admitted their failure in understanding the principles used. During the Southern Sung dynasty, Hung Kua advanced the theories of "t'i-tsung" and "chung-nei" for explanation. The author of this paper, having exhausted all the tomb-stones of Eastern-Han officials whose frontal parts and inscriptions remain intact and legible, analyzes the ranks of the deceased one by one, thereby refutes the theory of "chung-nei" and affirms the fact the stone slabs were usually foreheaded with the ranks the deceased ever received, quite different from the officials of the T'ang and Sung, whose stones were in general foreheaded with the last ranks they were conferred upon. This paper also argues that while the last ranks given to the T'ang and Sung officials were done to observe the imperial decree and the laws, the highest ranks, which were not necessarily the last, were inscribed on the tomb-stone slabs of Han officials for glorification. The latter portion of this paper dwells on how to use the "t'i-tsung" to examine defective monuments, to decide if the stone rubbings of an inscription belong to the same slab, and to help interpret the inscription in question. The epilogue is devoted to discussing the system of civil service in the Eastern Han, which may enable us to understand the biographical data of that period better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to explore the emotional aspect of Liang Ch'i-ch'ao's self-contradictions so as to further our understanding of Liang. Self-contradictory Liang Ch'i-ch'ao has been one of the most fascinating subjects in the study of modern China. However, since most studies concentrated one aspect of this complicated phenomenon, namely, Liang's intellectual self-contradictions, there has been little understanding of Liang's personality as a whole and the interactions between his personality and intellectual self-contradictions. Based upon Liang's personal correspondences in his chronological biography compiled by Ting Wen-chiang, I was able to piece together evidences about Liang's emotional development and to suggest that Liang suffered from emotional instability throughout his life. The emotional instability, characterized by periodical alternations between depression and elation, was very similar to a psychological disorder grouped as "cyclothymia". First of all, Liang's theory of journalism was analyzed to examine his intellectual self-contradictions in details. It was found that, although the summer of 1903 was indeed a watershed which divided Liang's political thought into two parts, that of a revolutionary and that of a reformist, his journalistic theory, particularly his attitude toward the journalistic responsibility of objective reporting, vacillated between pros and cons before as well as after 1903. This suggests that, in many aspects of Linag's thought other than his shift from revolution to reform, Liang's intellectual self-contradictions might be characterized by constant vacillations rather than by one big and clear shift in 1903. The constant vacillations corresponded to Liang's constant emotional swings as expressed in the ten cycles of elation and depression found in his biography. During the periods of elation, Liang worked so hard that he often could not sleep for several days. He had exaggerated confidence and thought himself equal to gods or saints. During the periods of depression, Liang was often struck by serious but unknown diseases which immobilized him. He lost confidence and thought himself lower than dogs or pigs. He overdrank, wept easily and became extremely dependent upon the emotional support of his relatives and friends, particularly his teacher K'ang Yu-wei and his daughter Liang Ling-hsien. The emotional dependency upon particularistic ties was in fact one of the most important factors in Liang's shift from revolution to reform in 1903. Intellectually, Liang was against particularism (men hu chih chien) at the beginning of his career. He often attacked particularism and advocated universalistic criteria to recruit revolutionaries for the cause of institutional change. However, due to his emotional dependency upon his own particularistic ties with reformists, Liang withdrew from revolution step by step and finally dropped it completely in the summer of 1903. The paper concludes that analyses of Liang's emotional development are very important for our understanding of Liang Ch'i-ch'ao. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large-scale reform movement launched at the end of the fifth century under the Emperor Hsiao-wen's rule, had a drastic impact upon the late development of the T'o-pa Empire. Some of the reform measures are considered to be landmarks reflecting the "sinicization" of the T'o-pa people from their traditional, nomadic cultural heritage, and are thus much studied by historians. One example is the move of the capital from P'ing-ch'eng to Loyang, and the cultural policies that followed. To better understand Hsiao-wen's reform movement, however, other less studied policies deserve our attention as well. This paper explores the issue of "bestowing commoners with rank" (...), one of these little discussed policies. Following an analysis of the content and implications of this policy, the author suggests that it was closely allied with another well known policy of "distinguishing hsing and tsu" (...), insofar as both were aimed at stratifying social classes. Finally, an investigation of contemporary social circumstances is undertaken in order to examine the factors leading to the ultimate failure of the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having studied Taoism in a mountain in his early years, Li Shang-yin kept close contact with Taoists all his life. His poems are full of allusions to Taoism and often surrounded by an aura of Taoism. Scholars, therefore, have focused their studies on his relation with Taoism. Li Shang-yin, as a matter of fact, had also close relationship with Buddhism. He showed strong faith in Buddhism especially in his old age. Papers up to the present, however, have scarcely discussed his motive in and his way of studying Buddhism nor have they treated the relation of Li's works and Buddhism. With this awarenese, this paper here not only traces Li's relation with Buddhism to his early years when he studied Taoism. It also probes his motive in studying Buddhism, attributing it to his desire for acquiring full enlightment. Besides, this paper also highlights some of Li's analysis of Buddhists' works with a view of adding something new to the annotations made on Li's poems by former scholars. Different from the traditional view which has used such external causes as the rise and fall of a man's fortune to interprete Li's behavior and works, the view in this paper uses the poet's internal desire to interprete his poems. It can compensate the limitations of approaching Li exclusively through Taoism while revealing to us some new aspects of Li's achievement in literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization trends in the Lower Yangtze region of China from 1500 to 1900 are examined. Data are from a variety of sources, including genealogies, local records, and other literature. An attempt is made to analyze the demographic characteristics of the urban population. "The demographic characteristics in respect to marriage, fertility and mortality found from the genealogies do reveal that there were dissimilarities between the rural and urban dwelling populations. Moreover, findings related to migration tend to support that rural to urban migration was an important factor that speeded up urbanization in the Lower Yangtze Region." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

This paper is concerned with the historical phonology of the Kan dialect. Three related problems are discussed: (1). the characteristic features of the Proto-Kan dialect; (2). the genetic relationship between Kan and Hakka dialects; (3). the historical development and variations of the Kan dialect. Among the views developed in this paper, it is emphasized that Kan and Hakka are originally two different dialects, a point which has significance for Chinese dialectology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper has always been a cheap and convenient substitute for more expensive materials or clumsy objects which are useful for other purposes and it is sometimes suitable for uses in which no better materials will serve. Today, paper and paper products have hundreds of uses in communication, business, industry, and household operations, as they are found everywhere in daffy life. Many of these uses can be traced back to centuries ago when paper was used as extensively and variously in China as it is elsewhere in the world during the modern times. Generally speaking, paper was used for wrapping and padding not long after its invention in the Western Han; for writing from the Later Hart; for cutting into designs, making stationery, fans, and umbrellas from the third or fourth century; for clothing, furnishing, visiting cards, kites, lanterns, napkins, and toilet purposes no later than the fifth or sixth century; for family ceremonies in the seventh; for state sacrifices and making replicas of real objects from the eighth; and for playing cards, for wearing as protective arms, and in lieu of cash as a medium of exchange from the ninth century. In other words, all these uses for graphic and decorative arts, for commercial and ceremonial occasions, and for household and recreational purposes existed in China before paper was introduced to the West in the ninth century. While the use of paper in writing, printing, stationery and decoration is discussed in a separate article, this study traces the origin and development of the popular and household use of paper and paper products as recorded in literature or found in recent discoveries of early specimens and artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of children has mostly been discussed in so far as it can affect fertility. The sex of children is a particularly important subject in this context. Because a child's sex is stochastically determined, Ben-Porath and Welch used the household production approach to identify risky decision points. The purpose of this paper is twofold. One is to simplify Ben-Porath's and Welch's model. The other is to use KAP data in Taiwan to examine the causes of preferring to have at least 1 boy and to test in what direction and the degree to which such preferences affect fertility. The results can be summarized as follows: 1) preferring to have at least 1 boy is significant in Taiwan; 2) the data support both the assumption of inelastic demand and mild learning; 3) concerning the dummy variable for the existence of at least 1 boy preference, it can be shown that the regression coefficients for each of family structure, wife's education, and husband's occupation were statistically significant at the .01 significance level; and 4) when the impact of "at least 1 boy preference" on completed family size is concerned, the regression coefficient for the existence of at least 1 boy preference is positive as expected and also the most significant variable included.

This paper reports the normal values of dermatoglyphics parameters of seven minority nationalities in Yunnan Province which are Bai, Blang, Yi, Hui, Lisu, Nu and Jinuo. The test of difference signification and cluster analysis show different parameters in several nationalities and the greatest most remarkable difference between Jinou and other nationalities. Han is very different from several nationalities. In each nationality, the symmetry pattern of same name finger or area is highly unanimous, the symmetry between left and right does not show random combination.

This paper reports the results of longitudinal surveillance of filariasis for 4 years in Jining City, Shandong, where the disease has been controlled. It showed that the microfilaremia rate dropped from 0.48% to 0.03% and no new case was found and the natural infective rate of the main vector mosquito Culex pipiens fell from 0.45% to 0.03% and no larva III was detected. The purifying measures should put emphasis on the management of migrating persons repeatedly examining and treating old microfilaremia cases, the border areas with high microfilaremia rate, as well as working out a plan to cure the advanced patients and mosquito control measures with special reference to construction of new village settlements.

This paper reported the results of epidemiological survey of middle-aged intellectuals in Tianjin university. The results showing the heritability factor in hypertension is 62%, and the pattern of heredity is somewhat associated with sex. There was significant positive correlation between the parents' blood pressure and the living environment with too close familial aggregation space. It seemed that environmental factor still played a role in adults' essential hypertension. There was a significant positive correlation between blood pressure and QI, but not between parents' figure and children's QI. No interaction was found between familial history of hypertension and QI. This indicated that overweight was mainly determined by environment and so it might be feasible to decrease one's body weight in controlling blood pressure by diet.

This paper deals with the identification of botanical origins of Asarum produced in Anhui. Two analytical keys to eight species and one variety of the original plants are given.

In this paper, the authors have described the morphological and histological character of the four herbs of Gynostemma spp. and their confused species from Guangxi viz Gynostemma pentaphyllum, G. guangxiense, G. laxum and G. longipes, and their confused species of four Hemsleya daxienensis, H. chinensis, Cayratia japonica and C. japonica var. pubifolia. The description is illustrated with line-drawings for comparative identification.

The author discusses urbanization in the People's Republic of China and problems in data analysis "due to the lack of standardized and well-defined terms for the urban settlements and urban population on the mainland. This paper clarifies the relationship between geographic units and demographic data, identifies the major types of urban population and their characteristics, explains the reasons for the differing levels of urbanization revealed in various data sources, and presents a comprehensive data series on mainland China's urbanization that best approximates reality." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

20 allergic alveolitis cases occurred abruptly within 10 days among teachers at a primary school in Shanghai. The cases make up 42.6% (20/47) of total staffs of the school. No patient discovered in pupils (137) though they had enough chance to contact with their teachers suffering the disease. Roentgenography and clinical findings were criteria of diagnosis. The findings of epidemiologic survey showed that the outbreak was caused by a single exposure of same agent, probably associated with sugarcane. The result of examinations in laboratory shows: 1. The content of IgE increased significantly in serum of convalescence patients. 2. Penicillium and Mucor were found as prevailing fungus strains benign isolated from the surface of sugarcane. 3. Did not find ascarid larva in sputum nor eggs in feces. In this paper we inferred reasonably that breathing of dust with fungus may be the cause of the outbreak.

This paper reports the first case of pseudotuberculosis in China. From the patient's stool, a strain of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis was isolated. The isolate has all the classical characteristics of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and belongs to serotype IV.

This paper gives an account of the classification, distribution and resources of medicinal plants, traditional Zang folk medicine and historical changes of some rare crude drugs in Ganzi district. Rational suggestions have been made with regard to the preservation, development and utilization of the natural resources that are medicinally and economically important.

In this paper the author has reviewed in retrospect the introduction of medicinal plants in China since the liberation in 1949. Ecological factors, biological characteristics and cultivation techniques involved in the introduction are analysed to provide proper reference for further introduction.

This paper reports epidemiological data of childhood leukemia in the 14 years 1973-1986 in Qidong county, Jiangsu province. Mortality of childhood leukemia was 1.74 per 10 million, taking first place among various malignant tumors of children. The annual mortality distribution of this disease and the age and season at death showed no significant difference, But finer age grouping of death rates revealed remarkable difference. Thus, in 0-4 age-group the mortality was 2.95 per 10 million higher than the remainder. Childhood leukemia mortality by space-Time Clusters analysis showed the significance of difference lobe P greater than 0.05, suggesting that childhood leukemia mortality in space and time clusters were random.

In this paper, Family Life Event Questionnaire and Children Behavior Questionnaire were applied to measure the 402 subjects between 3-15 years old from 301 rural and urban families. The results showed that family life events were accompanied with behavior problems in children. Six events, which can be concluded into the inappropriate management for parents to control the children, the harmful family atmosphere and the parents' inferior role, related with the behavior problems closer than the other events.

In this paper, we try to define the extent of antigenic variation between dengue-2 viruses from Hainan province, which had been isolated over a period of 3 years (1985-1987). The dengue-2 viruses were compared with the prototype New Guinea B strain and were subjected to antigen signature analysis. Eight strains of dengue-2 virus were analyzed by three monoclonal antibodies: flavivirus group, subcomplex dengue-2 type-specific reactive epitopes, over a range of antigen concentration. Five out of eight dengue-2 virus strains showed them to be antigenically homogeneous, and the remaining three strains showed them to be heterogeneous. Signature analysis provides a rapid and simple means to different strains derived from different sources, thus permit monitoring changes or introductions of hew dengue virus populations in certain geographic region.

A serotyping system for Vibrio cholerae non-OI was reported in this paper. With this typing system, 549 strains isolated from Guangdong province, Fujian province and Henan province were typed. The 55 serotypes were found in these strains. Among this, the dominant types were VBO 2, 7 and 9. The distribution of serotypes related with the different region. In our experiment, 19 serotypes were new types, different from sakazaki or smith strains. 83.79% tested strains can be typed with this VBO serotyping system.

This paper reports the general situation on medicinal plant resources of Ranunculaceae in Zhejiang. There are 13 genera and 51 species (including varieties). Suggestions have been made with regard to the preservation, development and utilization of the natural resources.

This paper analysed the affect of season on mortality in Shanghai County (a rural area) using the Moving Average Method. The advantage of the method is that it can balance the periodical change, long-term change and random change of mortality, so it can analyse the affecting of pure season factor on mortality. The results showed a relationship between mortality and season. The mortality of 0 years old was high in December, possibly due to the cold. The mortality of preschool children was high in summer, farm-busy-time, possible reasons were drowning and parents did not have much time to care for children. The mortality of middle-age, old people, and patients with cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease and disease of respiratory system, was high in winter and summer, possible reason was cold attacks. The mortality of accidental death was high in Summer, possible reason due to drowning.

This paper reports the dietary investigation (55 persons) and nutrient biochemical analysis of blood and urine (173 persons) among Yi and Han nationality farmers with low incidence of hypertension in Weinin, Guizhou. The results suggest that the three main nutrients as protein, fat and carbohydrate had no uniform relationship to the blood pressure, but high potassium and low sodium diet was intimately correlated to the low incidence of hypertension. The Na/K ratio of dietary intake and urine was more closely related to blood pressure. The relationship between calcium and blood pressure was quite complicated. The appropriate ratio of calcium and magnesium intake may be significant in the prevention and treatment of hypertension. It also indicates some intrinsic connection between lipid metabolism and blood pressure, while the degree of smoking is definitely correlated to blood pressure.