Abstract
From the epidemic that struck Kaifeng, then capital of the Great Jin State, in 1232, killing 900,000 people according to dynastic history, to the terrible epidemic episodes of the last years of the Ming dynasty (1639 to 1644), I will review the major health, economic, social and political traumas caused by the recurrent outbreaks of plague. I will also outline the current historiographical debates on this subject, based on primary sources and the most recent research.
