002 



INQUIRY INTO THE POPUI>ATION OF CHINA. 



Tlio following returns of the detailed censuses of 1393. 1401, and 

 1578 are taken from the Annals of the Ming." It must be noted 

 that that of 1393 has no returns for several provinces of the Empire.'' 



1393. 



House- 

 holds. 



Ssti-ch'uan 



Kian^-hsi 



Hu-kuang •. 



Che-klang 1 



Fu-kien 



Kuang-tung 



Kuang-hsi 



Shan-tung 



Shan-hsi 



Ho-nan 



Shen-hsi I 



Yiin-nau I 



Kuei-ehoii i 



Ching-shih ' . 



Nan-ching 1 



Total 



215, 

 .553, 

 775, 



i:{8, 



Slo, 

 675, 

 211, 

 753, 

 595, 

 ,S15, 

 294, 

 59, 



912,914 



9,318,078 



Individ- 

 uals. 



1491. 



House- 

 holds. 



Individ- 

 uals. 



10,755,948 



58,619,228 



253,803 



1,. 36:^,629 



.504,870 



1,. 503, 124 



.506,039 



467,390 



459,640 



770, .555 



575, 249 



.575,249 



306,644 



15,9.50 



43,367 



304,055 



1,511,853 



2,598,460 

 6,549,800 

 .3,781,714 

 5,305,843 

 3,106,060 

 1,817,384 

 1,676,274 

 6,7.59,675 

 4,. 360, 476 

 4,360,476 

 3, 912, .370 

 125,955 

 258,693 

 .3,448,977 

 7,993,519 



9,161,417 56,05.5,676 



1578. 



House- 

 holds. 



262,694 



i,:Mi,oa5 



.541,310 



1, .542, 408 



.515,307 



.530,712 



218,712 



1,. 372, 206 



596,097 



633,067 



394,42:^ 



l:i5,.560 



43,405 



334,691 



2,069,067 



Individ- 

 uals. 



3,102,073 

 5,8.59,026 

 4,398,785 

 5,153,0(15 

 1, 7:38, 709 

 5,040,655 

 1,186,179 

 5,664,099 

 5,319,&59 

 5,193,606 

 4,.502,(!(.7 

 1, 476, (ffi2 

 2VX), 972 

 4,2.58,453 

 10,41.5,861 



10,5;«,664 e:^,. 599,. 541 



Between the founding of the present Manchu dynasty (A. 1). 

 1644) and 1734 we have enumerations of the population by house- 

 holds for nearly every year. E. H. Parker has extracted them from 

 the Tung hua hi for the years between 1G51 and 18(50.'' From 1(551 

 to 1730 they are as follows for eveiy tenth year: 



« Ming Shih, Bks. 40 and 4'A 



6 It is intere.-^ting to note that nearly all European writers of the latter part 

 of the sixteenth and of the seventeenth centuries, such as Trigault, Matteo 

 Kicci, Ilerrada, Martin Martini, Seniedo, Mandelslo. and Osl)eek, give apjiroxi- 

 niately the figure of the census of l.">78 as that of the population of China in 

 tlseir time, some of tliem seating thai it included only adult males or "fighting 

 men." I c:in Hnd no authority foi- this in any Chinese woik. (iemelli Careri 

 ( Voy. Kouiid the World. I't. IV. .".2d) made out the itojiulation of China at the 

 end of the seventeenth century to he .">'.t.T.S,S.:!(;4 men. "exclusive of women. 

 children, jiaupers. officials, literati, .nrmy. the imperial clan, etc." He gives the 

 numlier of families as 11,002,872. The figures, hoth of individuals and of house 

 holds, are substantially those of the census of I.ITS. He cites no authority for 

 his statement concerning classes of the population not included in tiie census. 

 I am inclined to believe he took his figures and this statement bodily from 

 Athanasius Kircher or Father Martin Martini. b\it tlu'y in turn furnish no 

 authority for their belief that the recorded i)opulation was exclusively comi)osed 

 of male adults. 



(' K. II. Parker, A Note on Some St.-itistics Hegarding China, Journal Itoyal 

 Statistical Society, XII, i)t. 1. pp. l.".(i l.'.d. I>u Ilalde, Description, etc. IF. 

 p. 14. referring to the early enumerations of the present dynasty, states that 

 the taxpayers were the adult niales only between twenty and sixty years of age. 



