The heyday of the little ice age was 1560 ~ 1890. During this period the climate was the coldest and fluctuated violently,and the natural disasters occurred frequently,so it had a great influence on the social and economic development of the Ming and Qing dynasties. We explored the heyday of the little ice age climate change and its social responsiveness from five stages,they were the Manchuria entering the Shanhai Pass,the demise of the Ming Dynasty,the revival of Kangxi,the Daoguang depression and the decline of Guangxu. The results show that: (1) The low temperature in the north of the Ming Dynasty and the frequent snowstorms had seriously affected the production and the nomadic life of the Jurchens. The livestock deaths and the shortage of food had accelerated the pace of the Jurchen entering the Shanhai Pass. (2) The serious drought during the Chongzhen reign resulted to crop failure and famine,the peasants staged uprisings constantly,leading to the demise of the Ming Dynasty. (3) In Kangxi period,the cold climate seriously affected the social production. But Kangxis good governance, to some extent alleviated the social and economic losses caused by natural disasters. (4) In Daoguang years,cold winter occurred frequently. Serious natural disasters made the original sharp social contradiction more volatile. The society began to decline. (5) The serious drought during Guangxu reign led to population reduction and production stagnation,society was completely decay. Therefore,in the ancient agricultural society,the climate change easily damaged the social production due to the low level of productivity.