Pre - Qin Population Study

This text mainly studies on population of the Pre-Qin period, including the primitive society and the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasty, in addition, some points of view is put forward on the Pre-Qin population theory. The article is divided into seven parts:Introduction as the first part, including six sections, is trying to ascertain the Character of the Pre-Qin society, dealing with the course system and research method of historical demography, in addition, the range and the course character of the Pre-Qin population research are also involved. At the end there is a review on the research condition of the Pre-Qin population.The text divided into six chapters, respectively studies population distribution, population quantity, population structure, population quality, population management and population consciousness in the Pre-Qin period.Chapter 1, population distribution mainly studies on the trend of distribution and migration of the Chinese population. The Chinese population distribution and migration in historical periods mainly introduced and discussed including the Old Stone Age, the New Stone Age, the Xia, Shang and Western Zhou dynasty and the Spring-Autumn and warring States Period. At the end, original population condition of Tibet, of Xinjiang and Taiwan is introduced.Chapter 2 is population quantity. Firstly, the summary is carried on to the population scale of various social organizations including blood relationship organizations such as the clan, tribe, and small village, city etc. the population scale of the settlement and the population scales of the administrative area are also summarized. Secondly, it is the estimation on the population quantities of China in each historical stage in the Pre-Qin period. Thirdly, the analysis is given towards various social and natural factors in population quantity.Chapter 3 is population structure including age structure, sex structure, occupation structure, the rank structure and city-country structure. At first, it is a calculation the age and the sex structures of the Pre-Qin population on the basis of analysis on archeology result and the ethnology materials .The second part deals with the origin of the occupation and the trend that the division of labor within or between the clans or tribes turned to the household occupation in the Western Zhou dynasty and the Spring-Autumn and Warring States period, and introduced the main social service professions in the Warring States period. At last, the definition to the city- country structure is given on the angle of the archeology, and quantitative analysis given on the records about the Guo (Castle) and Ye (Countryside) system in the Pre-Qin period.Chapter 4 is population quality. The population quality of the Pre-Qin period and various factors are involved. The population quality here is including three aspects as life span, height and the level of occupation technique. The factors to population quality mainly are divided into three aspects as natural environments, social milieu and the living condition.Chapter 5 is population management. The using of population resource and the population reproductions are two main contents and purposes of population management. The characters of population management in various historical stages are discussed including the band society, the clan society and the early state, while as the form of the population management, the course how the pedigree system developing into the household register system is analyzed.Chapter 6 is population consciousness including the consciousness of population distribution, population quantity, population structure, population quality and population management, etc. In this chapter, the population consciousness in the Pre-Qin period, especially in the Spring-Autumn period and the Warring States period is described and analyzed, while, how the original thinking method turned into civilized thinking method is studied.