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Jinhua Population Table

Jinhua Population Figures

Wu Songdi 吳 松 弟  and Peter K. Bol

 

The population figures for Jinhua prior to 1820 were gathered in the context of systems for registering and taxing households rather than as part of a census aimed at counting the entire population. As such they are indicative of relative population size, the local government’s effectiveness in registering population, and the kinds of tax returns that could be expected from the place. The spatial extent of Jinhua changed very little between 696 and the 1950s, thus figures for Jinhua 金 華 (and its predecessors, Wu zhou 婺 州 and Dongyang 東 陽 ) from before 696 are not comparable because they pertain to larger areas.

 

The reestablishment of a centralized empire in the Sui and Tang periods resulted in rapid population growth in what was then called Wu zhou, the combined result of an inflow of colonists from the north and the registration of native inhabitants. Modern scholarly opinion discounts the figures from 806-820 and 980. Although population growth was affected by rebellions and civil wars in the ninth and tenth centuries, the lower numbers given for these years actually reflect massive under-registration. The could be due to the ineffectiveness of local government in registering taxpayers, and to under-reporting by local government in an effort to reduce its tax obligation to higher administrative levels during a period of weak central control. From this perspective the 1011 figure reflects increased effectiveness of local government rather than unusual population growth.

 

There was continued population growth in the twelfth century, for although part of Wu zhou was occupied and plundered by Fang La’s方腊 rebels in 1120, it was also well behind the front lines when the Jin dynasty captured the North China plain in 1126 and the border moved south; the region thus became a destination for refugees. Its proximity by river and road to the Southern Song capital at Hangzhou also brought economic advantages that allowed for greater population growth. Growth continued in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, despite the capture of Wu zhou in 1276 by the Mongol Yuan dynasty and by Zhu Yuanzhang in 1358. This growth stands in contrast to the empire as a whole, for which figures show a 40% loss in population by 1391.

 

Official population figures from the Ming dynasty after 1391 are not included here; the decrease and stabilization of the population they appear to show are in fact a shrinking and then fixing of the tax base. Population figures for Jinhua for the period between 1391 and 1820 must be estimated based on rates of growth. Reportedly, however, as many as 200,000 lives were lost during the Qing conquest in the 1640s. In the 1860s the Taiping rebels occupied Jinhua and there was again major destruction.

 

Date	Period date	Households	Persons	Rate of increase	source
280	西晋 太康初年	12,000			晋書·地理志
464	刘宋 大明八年	16,022	107,965		宋書·州郡志
609	隋大業五年	19,805			隋書·地理志
639	唐 貞觀十三年	37,819	228,990		旧唐書·地理志
713-741	唐 開元年間	99,409			元和郡縣志 卷 26
742	唐 天宝元年	144,086	707,152	23.5	新、旧唐書地理志
806-820	唐 元和年間	48,036			元和郡縣志 卷 26
980	北宋 太平興国五年	33,046[i]			太平寰宇記记卷 97
1011	北宋 大中祥符四年[ii]	134,985			金華府志 (1578) 5.9a-13b
1078	北宋 元丰元年	138,097		0.2	元丰九域志
1102	北宋 崇宁元年	134,080		-1.2	宋史·地理志
1131-1162	南宋 紹興中	154,329		3.2[iii]	金華府志 (1578) 5.9a-13b
1290	元 至元二十七年	221118	1,077,540	2.5	元史· 地理志[iv]
1368-98	明 洪武间	256,000+[v]			《明英宗实录》 卷 85
1391	明 洪武二十四年	226200	1,103,000		Wu Songdi estimate[vi]
1391	明 洪武二十四年	255,000	1,242,650		Bol estimate[vii]
1627	明 天啟七年		1,890,000		Wu Songdi estimate[viii]
1820	清 嘉庆二十五年		2,549,446		Liang Fangzhong, Zhongguo Lidai hukou tiandi tianfu tongji, p. 275
1953		622,950	2,362,007		National census
2001			4,479,400		Jinhua Municipal Gov’t. www.jinhua.gov.cn/jhgk/jhgk.htm

[i] Following Wu Songdi, Zhongguo renkou shi 中国人口史, vol 3: Liao Song Jin Yuan shiqi renkou shi, ed. Ge Jianxiong (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chuban she, 2000), 3.4 Table 4-2, note 21. The Taiping huanyu ji figure follows the 33046 figure in the manuscript copy edition rather than the obviously mistaken 3046 in the Jinling shuju edition.

[ii] Wu Songdi, Zhongguo renkou shi 3.11 Table 11-2, for dating to 1101.

[iii] The estimated growth rate is calculated based on the midway point of 1146.

[iv] The Yongzheng Zhejiang Tongzhi 雍正浙江通志 jn. 73 citing a previous edition gives 216,228 households and 1,088,569 persons.

[v] Cao Shuji, Zhongguo renkou shi, vol 4, p. 140, citing a report by the provincial official Huang Ze 泽的 in 1441. in the Veritable Records, Yingzong reign 明英宗实录, jn 85.                            

[vi] The prefectural gazetteer does not give a total for Jinhua population in 1391. Wu Songdi uses known population figures for five counties to arrive at this estimate. In 1472 and 1953 these five (Dongyang, Lanxi, Wuyi, Yiwu, and Pujiang) had 66.9-67.3 percent of the Jinhua population, thus arriving at 226,200. However, this estimate allows for a major discrepancy in the recorded figures for the Lanxi population. Lanxi xianzhi (1510 ed. Rpt. 1614) 2.39a, gives 59,427 households and 232,999 persons for 1391. Wu follows the 1606 edition which gives 39,527. However, in my view we should accept the 59,427 figure, although it represents a nearly fifty percent increase in population since 1290, because a) it is in accord with the Lanxi figures for 1403, 1412, and 1422, b) three other counties also show population growth between 1290 and 1391, and there is no reason to think Lanxi population declined, c) Lanxi’s location made it a possible destination for war refugees from Hangzhou in the 1350s and 1360s, which would account for a sudden increase in population and explain the low household/person ration of 3.9.

[vii] See note 6.

[viii] Based on the assumption of a growth rate of 2.3%.