title: [The people's mentality confronting plague in the Ming Dynasty].
abstract: The social influence of plague was not only confined to its pathogenicity, but also its close relationship with the people's mentality. According to the historical materials of the Ming Dynasty, there were 2 kinds of mentalities when confronting with the prevalence of plague: negative and positive. The former included fear, helplessness, depression and superstition etc., and the latter included intelligence, consolation, thanksgiving and vigour etc. The negative passive mentality didn't help to fight effectively against the plague, or might even aggravate its prevalence. However, the positive mentality helped ameliorate and control the plague, and also the rehabilitation of the order of production and living order after the plague.
authors.affiliation: College of History, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen