Throughout China's dynasties, population has always been a key factor shaping the course of Chinese history. It affected not only the size of armies, but also food production, tax revenue, and the number of corvee and other labor obligations:
The policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, in effect since the Qin dynasty, may seem old-fashioned, but its purpose was to ensure population growth. One important reason the Tang dynasty was able to create a golden age so quickly was that it absorbed millions of people from outside its borders. A population of over 100 million enabled the Southern Song to survive for 152 years between the Mongols and the Jin. The Ming dynasty's imperial clan, which numbered as many as 200,000, drained the treasury and hastened the dynasty's collapse. The nomadic peoples' repeated wars with the Central Plains ultimately stemmed from their need to capture prisoners of war and replenish their population...
The history of population is a condensed history of China, and population is a key to understanding the truth about the past. It shaped China's past and will determine the course of its future.
Open this book, and Professor Ge Jianxiong of Fudan University will guide you through Chinese history from the perspective of population.
Throughout China's dynasties, population has always been a key factor shaping the course of Chinese history. It affected not only the size of armies, but also food production, tax revenue, and the number of corvee and other labor obligations:
The policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, in effect since the Qin dynasty, may seem old-fashioned, but its purpose was to ensure population growth. One important reason the Tang dynasty was able to create a golden age so quickly was that it absorbed millions of people from outside its borders. A population of over 100 million enabled the Southern Song to survive for 152 years between the Mongols and the Jin. The Ming dynasty's imperial clan, which numbered as many as 200,000, drained the treasury and hastened the dynasty's collapse. The nomadic peoples' repeated wars with the Central Plains ultimately stemmed from their need to capture prisoners of war and replenish their population...
The history of population is a condensed history of China, and population is a key to understanding the truth about the past. It shaped China's past and will determine the course of its future.
Open this book, and Professor Ge Jianxiong of Fudan University will guide you through Chinese history from the perspective of population.
This book interprets Chinese history from the perspective of population, which is a very novel perspective. Moreover, the policies of focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce and the foreign population in the Tang Dynasty mentioned in the book gave me a new understanding of history. It turns out that population issues have such a big impact on the development of a country! I think this book is worth reading. It can help us understand Chinese history more comprehensively.
The changes in population are explained very clearly. Although I disagree with some of the views, it can be seen that the author has consulted a lot of information and deserves a five-star rating for this effort!
Population is the foundation of a country and society. Only by understanding the basic knowledge about population can we better analyze historical events from a historical materialist perspective.
A good book worth reading, it improves people's awareness and answers many questions about population.
In line with the current situation