2010–2011 China drought
natural disaster in China
The 2010–2011 China drought was a drought that began in late 2010 and impacted eight provinces in the northern part of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was the worst drought to hit the country in 60 years, and it affected most of wheat-producing regions in the PRC.
Drought
Cause
The drought began as early as September 2010 in some regions, though widespread lack of rain and snow began in October. The lack of precipitation caused lower than normal snow cover, putting wheat crops at risk of being killed by frost as well as reducing the amount of moisture in the ground.
Effects
The provinces of Anhui, Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Shandong, and Shanxi were impacted by the drought. As well as destroying wheat crops, the drought caused water shortages for an estimated 2.31 million people and 2.57 million livestock. Within the eight provinces, 20% of the farmland and 35% of the entire wheat crop was impacted. By February 2011, the drought hit a total of up to 7,730,000 hectares (19,100,000 acres) of winter wheat that had already been planted. Some lakes, including Lake Hong in Hubei province, dried up significantly, with the Hubei lake shrinking to one-eighth of its normal surface area and one-fifth its usual depth, forcing 3,234 local residents to relocate.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the potential of damage to China's wheat harvest was likely a factor in an increase of worldwide wheat prices in early 2011.
By the start of June, the drought had affected 35 million people, including 4.2 million facing a drinking water shortage.
“2010–2011 China drought” enters the record as natural disaster in China. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what China, drought and natural can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“2010–2011 China drought” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, China, drought and natural provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4620139. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2010 and 2011.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “2010–2011 China drought”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 2010–2011 China drought primary sources, 2010–2011 China drought archive and China research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “2010–2011 China drought”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “2010–2011 China drought” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.