﻿VOL. 47 1C P4 



Smithsonian 

 Miscellaneous Collections 



Vol. 2 Quarterly Issue Part 3 



INQUIRY INTO THE POPULATION OF CHINA 



By WILLIAM WOODVILLE ROCK1 IILL 



I 



From the earliest times of their history the Chinese have made, 

 every few years, enumerations of the adult population of the 

 Empire. The history of the census in China may be divided into 

 two parts : during the first, extending from the first recorded count 

 in the XXIII century p.. C, down to 1712 A. D., with a few excep- 

 tions, the number of tax-paying households alone was recorded. In 

 the second period the total number of individuals is purposed to have 

 been taken. 



In the first period the census was made solely for the purpose of 

 levying the taxes, and there is every reason to believe that the local 

 officials systematically kept the returns forwarded to the Central 

 Government below the real figures, so as to divert to their own use 

 as much of the taxes levied as they possibly could. In the second 

 period, that reason no longer existing (see infra p. 307), it became a 

 matter of pride with the officials, as well as good policy, to swell the 

 returns of population. 



There is much uncertainty as to the number of individuals con- 

 tained in each recorded " household," or hit, and whether by the 

 word " individual " (literally " mouth," k'ou) is to be understood 

 male adults, or both sexes, or persons of all ages — exclusive of in- 

 fants — who have never been included in the enumerations of any 

 period. In the time of Mencius (IV century b. c.) the "family" 

 (ehia) was supposed to comprise eight months (k'ou). This was the 

 number of persons whom 100 111011 (about 15 acres) of medium land 

 were computed to support. 1 Under some dynasties (as the Han) it 

 would seem that the " household " comprised from 4.8 to 5.2 in- 

 dividuals ; in others, the T'ang for example, it rose to 5.8. During 



1 Mencius, Bk. 1, Pt. 1, Ch. vn, 24. 



303 



