Northwest agricultural development and economic structural change in the Qing Dynasty

In the Qing dynasty, agricultural development in northwest China depended on such measures as immigration, irrigation construction, tools transfer and agricultural technology and superior crop varieties extension to provide manpower and material resources. The paper estimates the agrarian area according to the local chronicles and suggests that the northwest agricultural development not only resolves the food supply problem for the garrison and local people, but also greatly affects the local traditional economic structure and establishes the leading position of agricultural economy in the social economical life.