Longevity And The Measurement Of Common People's Living Standard During 1471-1795

We built a unique population dataset of He Family born between 1471 and 1795 in Xin tian County of Hunan Province.The main variables including the members' lifespans,dates and places of birth,war and conflicts,and the number of wives.We use this data to study the life trend of the rural people.The main conclusions of this paper are: First,between Ming and Qing Dynasty,the conflicts occurred in Xin tian County did not make the villagers' lifespans decreased,which may be primarily attributed to its geographical advantage.Second,due to absence of family's income data,we employ the number of wives as a proxy variable.The results show that income has a significant positive effect on life expectancy.The more the number of wives,the longer the people's lifespans are observed.Specifically,the man who had more wives also lived 7 years longer than the bachelors'.Third,the villagers' lifespans did not show any obvious trend before 1721,but there was a significantly decreased between 1721 and 1795.The average life expectancy in 1721-1745 is about 4 years shorter than 1471-1495,while 1746-1770 is about 8 years shorter,and 1776-1795 is about 19 years shorter.The villagers' living standards were actually worsened in the period of Yongzheng which precede to the industrial revolution.