The general introduction ( 总序)
Chapter 1: The historical development of population census the survey of land, and the creation of household record and the population record in Ancient World
According to the study of primitive societies and according to the archaeological findings, the
development of different societies were not balanced, and the knowledge of numbers were not at the
same level as well. Even today, there are some races can only count the number three or number
five, and they use the word 'many" to express number exceeds three or five. However, on another
hand, there were nationalities scraped, counting rods, knotting as early as in the late paleolithic or in
the Neolithic era. But, these methods were not suitable to calculate huge quantities of things. As a
result, symbols and diagrams were invented to represent larger numbers. These symbols were found
in the Fertile Crescent region （ Sumerian, Babylonian, etc ) and Egypt. There were clay tablets
discovered in Sumerian and Babylonia. Archaeologists found the accounting records of the temples
in these clay tablets. These findings indicate us the appearance of the numbers were earlier than the
invention of writing systems.
In addition, as early as 3,000 B.C. there were symbols to represent ten thousands, one hundred
thousands, and million. These writing system and algebra were so advanced in ancient Egypt, to
have a scientific record of the tide of River Nile.
When mentioned about the measurement method, ancient Babylonians adapted the' place value'
system, this system was not convenient, however. Only until around 1,000 B.C when the
Babylonians invented the symbol of zero， then this matter has been solved.
Only after the society evolved and had developed an advanced technology, then a more efficient
and scientific measurement method is established, In my acknowdgement ( although not so mature )
The origin of census was only to calculate the population, later on, census included the registered
household. The measurement of the land was to calculate the wealth. So, the calculation of the land
established after the creation of population census. I now examine these theories below:
This is a fact that most of us will realize: since the very beginning, there were nomadic races
wander around many corners of the globe, they only have the census of population, but did not
developed the census of household and land. Generally speaking, during the period of clans
unification in the primitive society , there were wars among different clans and stone young men
were selected to fight. However, during this period of time, before the participial society is formed, it
was not necessary to perform the a survey of census of registered household, and during the
time when there is plenty of land, it was also not necessary to participate the survey of land.
The Paller tablet also provided another example. According to the statements in the tablet, it stated
to have a detail survey of the people living in the four corners of Egypt. According to the historical
record of the second kingdom, there were more than ten times, the record stated that the population
census took placed in Egypt every two years.
The book: The history of Rome ( Ab urbe condita libr) ( written by Titus Livius ) stated that:
In the late period of Rex Services Tullius ( 578 BC--534 BC ), that was the very late stage of
clan system ( In Engels's opinion, Rome entered into the stage of military democracy,
in German: militärische Demokratie) Under the govern of Tullius, he practiced
military and political reform, Tullius also established the " census" system. Tullius stated:
The duties of daily life and the duties during the war, should depends on personal wealth. I
should make supplement here, initially, the population census of Roman only focus on the
" Populus Romanus" ( Roman citizens who enjoyed full political rights ). However, when Roman
entered into the end of clan system, after the population census system was established, it
categorized the wealth of Roman citizens ( both nobles and ordinary citizens ) into five classes,
and to set the military duty and the tax they should pay. The price of the wealth was based on the
land initially, until 312 BC, the tax for Roman citizens was based on 阿斯（as）( the name of
Roman coins ) This stated that the survey of land was appeared after the population census. The
reason is obvious: The ruling class obtained wealth from exploited the working class.
Chapter 2: The chronicle of China's registered household, the survey of land and the record of tax and land )
Last chapter I made some conclusion about the development of the survey of land, the survey of
Population census and the census of registered household. We now focus on the development of
China's survey of land, the population census and the census of registered household
1. The population census, the survey of the land and the survey of household before Han
Dynasty
There were population census and surveys of land long before Western Han Dynasty. For
instance, according to ancient historical record-- Yu gong( Chinese traditional: ＜禹貢＞）the
government did survey the land in Xia Dynasty ( 2000 B. C) although the record of the areas of
different administration areas no longer kept, however, the records of the physical and products of
different areas, the taxes of different regions were still kept. Then, a book called the chronicle of the
emperors ( Di Huang Shi Ji （Chinese traditional： ＜帝王世紀＞）had detail information of the
population, the information of the cultivated land, the uncultivated land of the Xia Dynasty ( 2000
BC ) , this book also consisted the information of land during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties.
We can have some knowledge of the population census of Shang Dynasty through the contents of
oracles, although not so complete. We understood the number of armies were between 1,000 to
10，000 during Shang Dynasty.
During the warring States period, the buying and selling of land became more frequent.
Traditionally, Chinese social hierarchy contained four classes: Scholars and famous persons ( 士），
farmers (農), craftsmen (工）and merchants( 商）these social rankings established during the
Warring States period.
Commentary of Zuo ( 左傳）described the government at this time would categorized the soil,
the physical landscape, location and the usage of the land, and organised the arrangement of horses,
the militants.
In conclusion, there are two points I will emphasise: 1. For a long period of time, people
concluded the four main social classes consisted of: 1. Scholars( 士）, 2. Farmers (農）;
3. Craftsmen (工）and 4. Merchants ( 商）
These four social classes were almost appeared during the Warring States period. Since the Warring
States period, officials were normally selected from scholars, scholars enjoyed privileges the ordinary
people did not have. Of course, scholars did not enjoy the privileges ( some kinds of tax exemption )
the royal families had.
From the Warring States period to Qing Dynasty, scholars always enjoyed some kinds of tax
exemption.
Secondly, we should noticed the change of social status of soldiers. Before the Warring States
period, only the nobles could became soldiers, and the other social classes did not have the right
to become soldiers. Nobles were hereditary, and the so-called ' scholars' were the lowest social
ranking of nobles. After the Warring States period, nobles lost their hereditary, and their wealth
gradually lost, too. Replaced by newly social classes such as militants, writers and the lobbyists.
Also, the way of war had changed, as the military vehicles war had declined, the cavaliers were
replaced by infantrymen during the war. As a result, soldiers were no longer hereditary, and
the central government adapted a Military Service system--all healthy adult males ( no matter
they were nobles or ordinary people ) had the responsibility to service in the military. And the
Military Service system became permanent. Since then, soldiers and farmers became two seperate
social classes, and Jun Fu ( Chinese: 军赋) (the duties of the soldiers ) and Tian Fu ( 田赋) ( duties
of the farmers ) became two separate concepts. Jun Fu ( Chinese: 军赋), the object of levy was
human beings, Tian Fu ( 田赋), the object of levy was objects. Before the Warring States period,
only the nobles had the right to owe land, it was very difficult to distinguish the differences
between Jun Fu ( Chinese: 军赋) (the duties of the soldiers ) and Tian Fu ( 田赋) ( duties of the
farmers )
In the later era of Warring States period, the scales of wars became extended, so, except the
military service, there were mercenary soldiers--usually recruited the farmers who lost their land,
and the craftsmen and merchants who were bankrupted. In some cases, some poor people and
deserters were absorbed as mercenary soldiers.
2. The population census, the survey of the land and the survey of household after Han
Dynasty:
This book consists of tables of. The population census starting from Western Han Dynasty
to the late Qing period. This era can be viewed as China's feudal period, except from 1911 till
ou fu ( 口賦) ( taxes collected from the
nowadays. I have made appendixes after each chapters of this book. Audiences can have a detail read.
I only make very brief explanation below:
There were surveys of land, local products in books such as Yu gong ( 〈禹貢〉）The record
of Li Ji,(. Chinese traditional: ＜禮記＞） we can have a clear understanding of the population,
land and the local products of Zhou Dynasty.
The oracles in Anyang provided us some information of the survey of population and the survey of
land, though the data was not so complete.
According to the historical materials, we understood the population census during the Western
and Eastern Han Dynasties ( 206 BC--220 AD ) classified into the census of the households and
individual persons. The sources of taxes included Kou Fu ( 口赋) ( tax for ordinary people )
ordinary people ) and Hu Fu ( 戶賦 )赋al population were missing.
( Refer to Table 1 of this book ) There might be two reasons for this tax system. One was
the difficulty of calculated the actual population, the other one was households of different social
classes paid same taxes. After Eastern Han Dynasty ( 206 BC--220 AD ), the powers of landlords
became more and more powerful, and there were farmers attach oneself to these landlords.
After the Eastern Jin Dynasty ( 317 AD--420 AD ), there were many Han people moved to the
Yangtsz River region, while there were nomadic races such as Xian Pei ( 鮮卑) migrated to
Yellow River region. Eastern Jin Dynasty was a chaotic period, In the late period of Emperor Yuan's
reign, many chancellors in the Eastern Jin Court coveted the throne and started rebellions. However,
all the rebellions were successfully suppressed by the court. Under these circumstances,
it was a difficult task for the governments to investigate the numbers of households.
3. From a world history perspective: The survey of China's historical population, survey of land and the survey of household
In the previous chapters, we have mentioned there were small scale of population census as
early as in the Paleolithic period . However, due to backwardness of the technology and the
backward of the socio-economic situation, it was only until the very late of period of
Paleolithic Age, then the larger scale of population census and the larger scale of
survey of land appeared. And until a slavery society was formed, then the record of population
census and the surveys of land, the surveys of households formally appeared.
Among many civilized countries, the records of population census and the surveys of land
in China was much more detail than other nations. In ancient China, the system of population
census and the survey of land was very efficient. I will compare China's historical
population census and the survey of land with the rest of the world.
In fact, China practiced its population census and the survey of land in depth and efficient
than other civilized countries.
According to reliable records, Egypt and Babylonian were the two earliest countries which
practiced their population census and the surveys of land. During the Third Dynasty of Early
Kingdom era ( around 3000 B.C ) there was regulation that every year the country should
practiced a population census for the entire country. Later on, during the New Kingdom period
( around 1600 BC-1200 BC ) in the Eighteenth Dynasty, the Nineteenth Dynasty and the Twentieth
Dynasty, there were census of population ( citizens ), animals, livestocks, and also the slaves, war
prisoners, the incomes of the temples, etc. these censuses were created into tablets. Among these
census, the census done in the Ptolemaic Dynasty( 323 BC--30 BC ) was the most famous.
The earliest population census done in Babylonian was took placed around 2200 BC. Later,
during the Achaemenid Empire period, there were estimation of population of Babylonian.
There were detail description of the methods of population census of ancient Egypt and ancient
Babylonian. However, the actual population census of these nations was not so complete. According
to the clay tablets still existed in Egypt, Babylonian and later on Assyrian, there were not sufficient
records of the actual population. There were population census and the related documents of the
survey of land of Egypt in 300 BC. However, these records were similar to Yu Gong ( 禹贡) and
the Di Huang Shi Xi ( 帝王世系), these documents were only the population census of some
particular regions, and did not provide us a whole picture of the entire country.
In ancient world, the Books of Samuel and the Books of Numbers of Bible consisted of
detail information of population of the entire ancient Israel. These books had detail
description of the several nationalities of ancient Israel. However, even those books only
registered the males who over the age of twenty, who could fought in the war field. And these
books only registered the numbers of Israel, Jews, Levi of ancient Israel--And the adult men
of Levi race did not go to war. So, they were not complete census of the whole population,
they were not an entire population census in modern time standard.
The situation remain almost the same during ancient Greece and Roman Empire. The
population census and the surveys of land performed in ancient Greece and ancient Roman
were similar to two earliest slavery countries ( Egypt and Babylonian ), the aims of
these census and surveys were for financial, war and elections. According to the laws of
ancient Greece and Roman, the citizens were divided into different social categories according their
wealth and incomes. Ancient Greece and Rman society did not classify slaves as human beings, but
viewed them as objects. Slaves did not enjoy any rights as Greece and Roman citizens had.
And foreigners who settled in Greece and Roman did not enjoy the full rights as
other Greece citizens and Roman citizens. Foreigners also did not include in the population
census, too. As a result, modern day scholars can only used materials such as the numbers of hoplite,
the numbers of imported food, to estimate the ratio of the population of citizens, foreigners and
slaves. The conclusions of these scholars are very vary. B.C. Ceprees塞爾格列夫教授: Scholars did
not have same opinions about the population of ancient Greece and ancient Roman. Although there
were opinions that some population census performed in Roman also included the numbers of
women and children. However, there were scholars disagreed with this conclusion.
Under the Euro-centered academic field, some scholars had good reputation of the population
census of ancient Roman Empire, and there are ideas that the population census in Roman Empire
were the most advanced and most efficient in the ancient world. However, as the population census
done in Roman Empire did not include the numbers of slaves, did not include the numbers of
foreigners who settled in Roman Empire, these census were not genuine census, but only
the calculation of regional population.
When Europe entered into the Middle Ages, the census of population and the survey of
land were almost stopped. There were some census such as Charlegmange's Breviary which
performed in the eighth century. Another essential census done in Europe was Domesday Book
ordered by Conqueror William in England in the year 1086, the aim of these census was to
collect taxes. The census was to make survey of the land owned by the landlords and the churches.
Conqueror William created policies and clarified the rights and obligations of the landlords and the
churches. This census had clear information of the wealth of the people of different social classes
of certain regions. We are quite certain is, this was not a national census, and it was not the
census for the entire population. It did not include the population of the far-north states of
nowadays England. and this census did not include the population of cities such as London and
Winchester. And for the two main groups of farmers--villami ( villagers ) and cottarii or
bodarii ( farmers who lived in the small cottages ) The census did not calculate the population of
the entire family, but only count their parents. According to the data of Domesday Book, the
population of England during that time was around 1,500,000 to 1,800,000. This population was
even fewer than Guan Zhou ( 兗州) during the Western Han Dynasty ( 206 BC--23 A.D )
This Domesday Book used until the year 1522, when a New Domesday Book created.
After many years of became a capitalist society, Britain set up an office of population census in the
year 1800. Britain started its first national population census in the year after. Since then,
although Britain held its population census every decade, every time when the nation organize
the population census, it needed the approval of the Parliament. Only after 1920, The population
census became a regular policy. Therefore, Britain set up its own national census very very late.
( This is the original writing ) The goal of modern day Britain is to protect the privileges
of the bourgeoisie classes, and those census contain the aim to hide the truth and ignore
the true picture of the society. Many data were not reliable.
During the Middle Ages, the population census in Europe had been stopped for a long period
of time. Due to the length of this article, I could not made clear description of the socio-economic
reasons. However, we should noticed there were obstruction from the Churches. The Bible stated
that after Israel performed a population census, God was angry and their state was being blamed
by God. This ' Gospel' brought a superstitious thinking to Europe--population census would created
bad luck to the society. Even in the year 1753, there were MPs from the House of Commons
used this excuse to opposite the country to done a population survey. There are Western countries
appointed staff and clergies of churches to operate population census. Throughout China's history,
there was not connection between the churches and the population census. Of course, Chinese
emperors emphasized they represented the God, and the population census was under the name
of ' God', during the Northern Wei Dynasty ( 386 AD--534 AD ), Tang Dynasty ( 618 AD-907 AD )
Northern Song and Southern Song Dynasties ( 960AD--1279 AD ) and Yuan Dynasty ( 1279 AD--
1368 AD ), there were government departments to make separate census for the Buddhist monks and
the clergies of Taoists, however, generally speaking, when fulfilled a population census, the
influences from the religious groups were much more lighter when compare with European and
some Western countries.
After the fifteenth century, Europe entered into the very late stage of the Feudal system society,
the population censuses become more frequent than the previous centuries. For instance, there were
some small scale of population censuses took placed in some major German and Italian cities for
particular purposes. There was population census in Nurenberg of Germany in the fifteenth century.
Its task was to calculate how much food should be prepared when the city was under siege and
the inhabitants had to leave the city. Many of these censuses were only temporary , and so they
were not so meaningful.
There were scholars of bourgeoisie background stated that the population census occurred in
Sweden in the year 1748 ( The thirteenth year of Qian Long Emperor ) was the earliest genuine
population census in the Western world. Followed by Austria ( 1754 AD ), Norway ( 1769 AD ),
Denmark ( 1769 AD and 1787 AD ) and the United States ( 1790 AD ). In recent time, there are
scholars emphasized the census took placed in Virginia in 1624 AD, and the census in French
speaking territories of Canada in 1661 AD were the two censuses even earlier than Sweden.
However, these censuses were too small scale, the land size and population scale of these
nations or territories were so small, furthermore, the calculation methods were too rough,
they were not genuine censuses by modern time standard. If we want to have more understanding of
how rough the calculation methods were, we can have a closer look at the examples of Britain and
France. Britain started its national census in 1800 AD, while France performed its national census
in the year 1801. However, it was only in the year 1841, the ages of the population listed in the
contents of the censuses. The census method in Britain and France during that period was even more
simple and crude than Tsar Russian censuses from 1720 AD to 1860 AD. In Tsar Russia, for
example, its censuses did not cover the entire population, but only the taxable residents. Tsar Russian
censuses did not count the actual population, but only counted the so-called 'privileged' population.
The 'privileged' population ( landlords ) only concerned about how to pay fewer taxes, therefore,
this would harm to the reliability of the censuses. When history entered into the year 1897,
Tsar Russia operated its first ' national census' , this census included the entire population.
However, this census did not include essential information such as occupations, Only the
socialist states could provided a scientific population census. What we should notice is
ancient China's population censuses were among the most advanced population censuses
in ancient world, and in some aspects, ancient China's population censuses were even more
advanced and scientific than the modern capitalist countries.
Firstly, our motherland ( China ) established a truly national census system in Qin Dyansty (
221 BC-206 BC ) and Han Dynasty ( 206 BC--220 AD ), There were detail information of the
numbers of households and the population in Historical records such as < Records of Grand
Historians > ( < 史記> ) and < Book of Han > ( < 漢書> ), < Book of Han > not only consisted
the numbers of the households and the total population of the whole of China, but also had
the numbers of households in each administration region, and there were records of some essential
counties--such as Changan ( 長安), Changling ( 長陵), Muoling (茂陵), Yangdi ( 陽翟) , Chengdu
( 成都) etc. < Book of Han > also included some population data of Zhou Dynasty ( 1066 BC--221
BC) . < Book of Han--Records of the Western countries > ( < 漢書--西域傳> ) also consisted the
population and the numbers of soldiers who could used weapons of nowadays Xinjiang Uighur
Autonomous Region, Central Asia and Western Asia.
According to Scholar, Lao, gan ( 勞榦), the population data listed in the < Book of Eastern
Han> ( ＜後漢書＞) was not only cover the entire population of the whole nation , but there was
also included the population of every social classes. The survey method of population census
during the Eastern Han Dynasty ( 25 AD-220 AD ) was very similar to the survey method in 1897's
Tsar Russian survey method.
During the very late era of Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the invasion of ethnic minorities,
and the frequency of rebellions, the country was in chaos, and the genuine population had huge
differences with the official records. When the Eastern Jin Dynasty ( 东晋) was established,
China was divided into two parts( There were kingdoms in the north of the Yangtz River, and the
Eastern Jin Dynasty ruled the south of Yangtz River ) Eastern Jin Dynasty created some new
administration regions and new counties to arrange for the inhabitants who originally from Northern
China ( North of Yangtz River ) During this time, the population census contained two categories--
Original Inhabitants and the New Migrants. Later on, the equal-field system ( 均田制) was
practiced by Northern Wei Government. The Northern Wei Government levied taxes from
every household. ( 計户受田征租) Since then, both the North and South governments practiced
the Levied tax system, as a result, they did not very much concern about the actual population, but
paid more attention to the numbers of households. In another hand, the government collected taxes
from each household, depended on how much acres of land they owned. Consequently, the
government of each administration region paid more attention to the taxable residents, but might
not provide the exact number of the local population, in addition, the regional government might
not provide the genuine number of households to the central government. Finally, the central
government might not grasp the real data of population of the entire country.
However, there were emperors wanted to recognize the real number of population. For example,
in the eras of Kai Yuan ( 開元) and Tian Bao ( 天寶 ) of Tang Dynasty, the central government
consolidated the finance, and it required the regional governments to provide the data of taxable
residents, non-taxable residents.
The above was the conclusion of development and history of China's population censuses,
the history and development of China's tax systems, and the history and development of China's
households. Please refer to the contents of the book to have a better understanding.
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