The Study Of Household Registration In The Tang Dynasty

The household registration system is an important one of political & economic systems in ancient China. As an organic part of the entire system, the compilation of household registration booklet is not only the need of population management but also the basis for land allocation and taxes-corvee. In the development of ancient household registration, Tang’s system inherited and deepened the accomplishments from the former dynasties, and stand at the mature stage. According to historical books and unearthed documents, the characteristics of Tang household registration system were as follows:household registration statutes constantly making & adjustment, the wide variety of household registered documents, the specific practice in documents compilation and impact on the future generations & ancient Eastern Asia and so on.The dissertation sketches out the overview of Tang’s compilation in household registration booklet. The period of Wude-Zhenguan (618-649A.D.) is an initial stage in the household registration statutes issuing and the emergence of household documents, and these new things then regressed to normal state during the Emperor Gaozong & the Empress Wuzhao (650-704A.D.). The time that followed reached the peak of Tang household registration system, namely Kaiyuan-Tianbao period (713-755A.D.). In short, in spite of regional & time differences, the compilation of household registered booklets had been always implemented widespreadly in the Tang’s early phase.An Lushan-Shi Siming Rebellion (755-763A.D.) changed greatly Tang’s normal development, the systems of land and taxes-corvee also had been disturbed. Along with this profound change, the compilation cycle of the household registration, the hukou rank validation and compilation policy etc. had been dramatically altered. In the meantime, the compilation work in the Middle-Later Tang was entrusted with more political connotations.These changes were inherited by Five Dynasties, which strived to do population statistics and household registration.Based on the outline of the compilation, the dissertation takes two case studies. One is about hukou holders’ age,Jinian籍年),which the conception and how to count is paid a big attention. The household registration booklet is the unique legal document of hukou holders’ age recording. Jinian not only keeps deep relationship with Ding-zhong system (丁中制)& taxes-corvee but also plays an important role on the other sectors such as officials selecting & criminal judgments. Another study is about the special household registration system, monks’ household registered booklets & demographic census. This is one of Tang’s major measures for non-agricultural population control. In brief, two case studies reveal the achievements of Tang household registration compilation both on vertically &horizontally.The conclusion is that the institutionalization in household registration compilation and demographic census is the fundamental safeguard to Tang’s national prosperity and economic boom. And, the surviving household registration statutes and documents is the valuable legacy of Tang state management system.