Analysis Of The Population Problem Of Hanan In The Ming Dynasty

As the central plains of China, Henan’s strategic position is very important in the history. In ancientChina, Henan is an area of dense population. From the Tang and Song dynasty, Henan’s strategic positionbecame weaker than before in terms of the economy and policy aspects, which cause the change ofpopulation in Henan area. The change of population has much effect on the society development, includingevery aspect in the society. In other words, the change of population can promote or hinder thedevelopment of the society. In modern times, with its economy development, Henan province becomes themost populous province in China. In this case, it is necessary and important to do research on population inHenan province.In the research, the research subject is the population of Ming dynasty in Henan province. And theresearch materials include veritable records, Zhengshu, Local Chronicles and collected works. Bycalculating and comparing, this research discusses the change of population in every prefecture in Henanarea in detail.As to the population’s increase in Ming Dynasty, there is always controversy in the academic fields.This thesis introduces the system of demographics in Ming dynasty firstly, which ranged from Hutie toHuangce and then Lijia. The system of demographics influences the results of population statistics. What’smore, based on a number of literatures, this research discusses the change of population in Henan area inMing dynasty. It provides reference data for related researches, even amend the results of data before. Forthe content, this research not only analyzes the change of population from three periods, but also fromdifferent prefectures. So, it provides data clearly from the time and space angles. It also analyzes its effecton economy development. The results are that the change of the population in Ming dynasty varies fromincreasing slowly to quickly. This change benefits the economy development in Henan area.Ming Dynasty is the key period in the population’s development of ancient times in our country. Thechange of population has an effect in all social aspects, such as politics and economy. The abundant andauthentic literatures and scientific research instruments are helpful for the results. By analyzing data, thestudy finds that the number of population in Henan area is2million at the beginning of Ming dynasty and5million in Jialong period. It has much effect on local economy development. After Wanli period, there werelots of disasters, causing the decrease of population. For the population flow, in the Hongwu period, thereare frequent and much population flow, but it decreases in the Yongle period. On the whole, in thebeginning of Ming dynasty, the population of Henan area increases quickly; from the Yongle period, thetotal number of population decreases, until the end of Ming dynasty.