In 111, the population of the Song Dynasty reached 21 million to 25 million.

China scholars generally count the historical population of each dynasty based on five people per household (it may change slightly, only depending on the specific calculation of each dynasty, but it is basically 5). For example, the legend of Li Xin, a historian in the Southern Song Dynasty, said that when the registered permanent residence in the Western Han Dynasty reached its peak, the rate of ten households was 48, while that in the Eastern Han Dynasty was 52 days, and that in the Tang Dynasty was 58. The peak population of Han Dynasty: 12,233,612 households, with a total population of 59,594,978 "History of Han Dynasty, Geography"; The peak population in Tang Dynasty: 9,69,154 households, with a total population of 52,88,488. New Tang Book-Geography; Therefore, it is natural to count the population of the Song Dynasty with 5 as the base. According to the number of households in Daguan, Song Huizong in 111: 2,882,258 (History and Geography of the Song Dynasty) multiplied by 5, the peak population of the Song Dynasty is 1 million.

However, the question is, was the population base of the Song Dynasty 5? This paper will deny this absolutely wrong cardinal number. Considering the total population and the calculation base, we can ignore the statistics of the rich. We only need to analyze the situation of most poor people in the Song Dynasty to find clues:

In the Song Dynasty, the main households were divided into five grades according to the tax amount, and the first and second grades were the upper households; Third, it is a middle household; 4, 5, etc. are the next households; Therefore, we only analyze the poverty-stricken households in the fourth and fifth grades, and the households in the fourth grade occupy 3-5 mu of land; Fifth-class households occupy 1-3 mu of land. ..... the next household only has 3 to 5 mu of land, or 57 mu ... ("Long Edition" 168)

In terms of tax payment amount, the economic strength of the fifth-class household is to pay taxes of 1-5 articles, (Zhu Xi: "Collection of Official Documents of Mr. Hui 'an Zhu Wen" Volume 24, "Writing with Wei Yuan": the fifth-class household is less than 5 articles, and there are people who have a good time in it. ) At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, if the fourth-class households were counted, it was (tax money) dissatisfaction-the penetration was fourth-and fifth-class households (volume 2O of Continued Ancient and Modern Examinations). According to the shortage of metal currency in the Song Dynasty, which has always been roughly equivalent to about 75 articles, it can be seen that the 4-5 households as inferior households pay less than 1 article, that is, 1-75 articles. This purchasing power of buying a stone of rice in the Song Dynasty, which is 59.2 kilograms today, is basically less than RMB in 15 yuan today. To be honest, it is nothing for a household to pay 15 yuan a year. The amount of taxes represents economic strength. People who only pay 15 yuan a year are naturally poor, but we can appreciate their strength in supporting their families:

As the Shu people get older, they will have 3 to 5 acres of land, or 57 acres; And supporting a family of more than a dozen people, when they are unfamiliar, they turn to the ravine. ("Long Edition" 168) In this way, we can be surprised to find that under normal circumstances, households with such economic strength can support more than a dozen people.

An old nursery named Jisheng hoed 3 places, and was very ill. He told his descendants to warn them:' Isn't it surprising that this land of ten acres is the bronze sea (the sea of banknotes) (Tao Gu's Qing Yi Lu)? A gardener, who only needs 1 acres of land, is definitely a fifth-class household at the bottom of society, and can support 3 people! In the Song Dynasty, about 7% of the main households' fields were roughly like the possessions of this old flower farmer.

Jia Tai's "Wu Xingzhi" says: In this county and countryside, sericulture is regarded as the age, and a rich family bred silkworms with hundreds of foils. In the Song Dynasty, a rich family with three or more households can be called a rich family, while a rich family bred silkworms with hundreds of foils. What about a poor family? Only by borrowing silkworms to make a living, a family of ten raises silkworms and ten foils ... Based on this age, it is very accurate to give food and clothing, and a poor family with a level of 4 or below can still support 1 people.

in a trip to Hanzhong, Wu Yong: three people * * * a bowl of lamps, spinning clothes all night, eight people in the same room, and cooking L-shaped rice is often insufficient. This is an urban destitute family, with no clothes to cover, no food to eat, and crowded living. It can be described as extremely poor, but there are still eight people.

(Su Song) got a maid when he was in the library. Ask his family what is it? The cloud lives outside Cao's gate, but * ~ #% @? Shi Lian. Ask how many people in a family are doing. There are ten mouths in the cloud, and there is no other business. ("Prime Minister Wei Gong Tan Xun" Volume 1 "Miscellaneous Affairs") The whole family lives by processing fruits, belonging to the lower class of the city, but it can also be as many as 1 people.

Volume 12 of Records of Changshan Zhenshi provides the situation of Zhending Prefecture in Hebei Province, and the Inscription of Stone-making Incense Burners by Duan Pei and others also lists the population of six families: "Zhending Prefecture has 22 families, including Duan Pei, his wife Guo, male Duan Shou, Duan Li and Sun Duan Xihe. Zhang Shen, his wife Feng's family, male Zhang Cheng, and Zhang Ji have eleven family members; Zhang Si, his wife Dong Shi, male Zhang Li and Zhang Wen have sixteen family members; Zhang Kai, his wife Feng, male Zhang J and Zhang Liang have ten family members; "Zhang Cong, his wife Liu, Zhang Zhen, a male, and Zhang Si have 12 members, and Zhang F, his wife Xia Shi, Zhang Xiu, and Zhang Tai have 11 members. There are 6 families in this small village, with an average of 13.6 people.

Another large-scale immigration activity in Song Taizong left household registration information. After the northern expedition of Yongxi, the people from Yunying, Huanxian and Shuozhou, which were harvested from the expedition of Liao, were moved to Henan Province, Xuzhou and Ruzhou in the west of Beijing, with 8,236 households and 78,262 people, and more than 4, cattle, sheep and camels (Volume 27 of Long Bian), indicating that the average number of households in Liao area was 9.5, and the average number of households in Han area should be more.

There are thousands of coppersmith in Zhuzhou County, and there are more than a dozen families (Volume 173 of Yaolu)-all these poor blacksmiths, without exception, have more than a dozen families!

In the Southern Song Dynasty, there were 1,261 people who suffered disasters in Qingquan Township, and 43,964 people who suffered disasters by mouth (Volume 4 of Huanchuan Collection, Begging to Help Qingquan with Both Pipes and Collecting Zazi). There were actually 34 people per household! !

As Zhao Fan said, my home is like a cottage, and I have plenty of room for my childishness. Your family is also ten, so what can you get if you take it? ("Chunxi Draft", Volume 3, "Leaving a Father and a Brother as Five Poems with Poor Relatives as the Rhyme") Hong Yanyan: Begging for fields and asking for homes turns his head empty, and ten people are homeless and send chestnuts. ("Journey to the West" volume "Second Rhyme and Public Feelings") Another example is that when Zhou Xingji wrote to ask for the dissolution of the party membership, he said that there are nine clans in his body, a marriage party outside, and a good friend. There are ten people in one family and 1 people in ten families. ("Floating Collection" Volume 1 "The Book of the Emperor")

So, I can't help wondering how to count the population of the Song Dynasty? Is it still the same as the statistics of Han and Tang dynasties *5? However, if the population of 4-5 households in Song Dynasty is usually 1-15 or more, the average number of households in the first three middle-class households is only more.

However, I believe many people will scoff at this and think that those individuals belong to individual cases and are not universal. And there is sufficient evidence to prove that the average household registration in Song Dynasty can never exceed 5. Indeed, the Song Dynasty is rich in historical materials, which seems to be enough to overturn my point of view:

For example, Li Xinchuan once said: from Yuanfeng to Shaoxing, the household registration rate was 21 with 1 households, and it was unreasonable to stop at two with one family. It is also pointed out that although the rate of ten households in central Zhejiang is strange, the household registration rate in central Sichuan is weak, that is to say, there are 2-3 households or even 1.5 households in the Southern Song Dynasty, which is far lower than the general record of five households.

Furthermore, the number of households in Song Zhenzong in the fifth year of Tianxi (121) was 8677677, while the number of households was only 199332; In the eighth year of Song Renzong Jia V (163), the number of households was 12,462,317, while the number of mouths was only 26,421,651. According to the 26 th "Song Yao Hui Compilation Food" and "General Examination, Household Examination II"; According to Long Edition, the average number of households is less than three.

when I was in Song Ningzong, I knew Chen Fan's life saying: The land in this state is barren and the people are poor, and there are not many autumn seedlings. Last year, I apologized for the drought and copied it to 39, households, accounting for 185,69. ("Song Hui Yao Shi huo" 12 of 68) The average household is 4.7 people.

Tenants account for about one-third of the total number of households, and they are at the bottom of society, the poorest and have fewer family members. According to Fang Huiyan at the end of the Song Dynasty, in a family of five tenants in Xiuzhou, Zhejiang Province, people ate 18 stones a year during the solar eclipse (Volume 18 of Examination of Ancient and Modern Times, Income from Hundred Mu of Banguji Minefield), with an average of 5 people per household.

during Song Taizong, there were 3 people who broke the law in Qianzhou, Jiangxi Province, and 12 family members learned about Yi Que (Volume 22 of Changbian). There were 15 people in 3 families, with an average of 5 people in each household.

Huizhou, Jiangdong: among the residents in the county, there are 1,281 main road households with a population of 6,858 (Xin 'an Annals, Volume 1, Hukou), with an average of 5.3 people. During the Baoqing period, Fangkuo had 3,98households with a population of 14,175, with an average of 4.5 people. Fangkuo customers are 789, with a population of 3,527 (Volume 2 of Hongzhi Huizhou Prefecture Records) and an average of 4.4 people per household.

Zhenjiang, Zhejiang Province: During the Jiading period, there were 14,3 households with a population of 56,8. Jiangkou Town has 1,6 households and a population of 6,9. The average household in Fucheng is 3.9, and that in Jiangkou Town is 4.3. During the reign of Xianchun, there were 8,698 households with a population of 38,385 in the five corners of the city, with an average of 4.4 people.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhiyangzhou had the same saying: (Yangzhou) has more than 48, main customers ... with a large number of five, there are more than 24, people who are worried about death. ("Song Hui Yao Shi huo" 1 of 24) The average household is 5 people.

Another example is the article "A Preliminary Study on the Family Population in the Song Dynasty", which made a statistic on the family population revealed in Hong Mai's book "Yi Jian Zhi" in the Southern Song Dynasty. The book recorded the social life customs in the Song Dynasty, and the family population inadvertently revealed should be true. The author makes a simple random sampling survey on 23 cases of exact or relatively exact family population figures of urban and rural ordinary people (ordinary people only) in southern areas (all of which are southeast roads). The survey results are as follows: there are at most 1 people (counted as 15 people) and at least 2 people, totaling about 111 people, and the average household is about 4.8 people.

in Song Guangzong, there were 66,632 main customers in seven counties in Ezhou, Hubei province, with a population of 314,894 (Miscellanies of the Ruling and Opposition, Volume A, Volume 18, Jing 'e Volunteer Militia) with an average of 4.7 people.

In Song Lizong, there were 18,4 households with a population of 644,1 in Zhenjiang, Zhejiang Province, with an average of 5.9 people per household. When I was in Song Duzong, there were 72,355 households with a population of 397,344 ("Zhi Shun Zhen Jiang Zhi" Volume 3 "Hukou"), with an average of 5.5 people.

Therefore, the above evidence is basically 2-4 people per household, which seems to be enough to refute the evidence that there are more than 5 people per household in the Song Dynasty.

Combining with the records of the population in the north of the Song Dynasty:

According to the estimation of Ceng Gong's Yuan Feng Lei Draft (Volume 9) and Disaster Relief Proposal, there were roughly 1 middle households in the Northern Song Dynasty, including 6 strong ones and 4 young ones.

The following excerpt from Cheng Minsheng's article "A Preliminary Study on the Family Population in Song Dynasty" records the average number of households in North China:

The family population data of lower-class households are also relatively consistent. Shi Jieyan: JD.COM Xuanhua Army (later changed to Gaowan County, Zizhou) has 15 employees crossing the Qinghe River, and 15 people are 15, with a family rate of seven, making it 15. Clothes and food for 15 people are taken from the boat (Collected Works of Mr. Zhu Laishi, Volume 19, The New Bridge of Xuanhua Army). Those who make a living by ferry are inferior households, with an average of 7 people per household. Fu Bi said that there were about 89 households and 78 people in Hebei refugees on their way to the west of Beijing. It is also pointed out that these refugees are all from the towns, Zhao, Xing and Chang, and there is no third-class home. ("Memorials of Celebrities in Past Dynasties", Volume 244) The average number of households in Hebei is about 8.

Volume 39 of the 12th Collection of Stone Inscription Historical Materials Series A provides the situation of Weizhou in JD.COM, and the Record of Rebuilding Pingwang Temple in Changle Xinzhan, Weizhou in the first year of Xining, Song Shenzong, lists all the givers, either individuals or families, with 151 people and families. Because the inscription is old and incomplete, there are 53 families with clear family population or family members. The family population listed in the monument is 2 at least and 7 at most. There are 5 households with 2 ~ 4 people, 33 households with 5 ~ 1 people, 8 households with 11 ~ 15 people and 7 households with more than 16 people. Among them, there are about 33 households with 5 ~ 1 people, accounting for about 62% of the total, which is the most common, especially with 1 people. The total population is about 573, and the average household is about 1.8. Those who have the ability to donate property should be mostly middle-class households, and many of them are upper-class households, but in one or several villages, there will definitely not be many upper-class households. There will also be individual households.

Volume 8 of Factual Gardens in Song Dynasty quoted Wang Wei Bielu for eight years. There was a big flood in Hebei, and Han Qi tried his best to rescue the relief. The following year, the imperial court issued a letter of commendation, saying: Hebei was transferred to the company. Last year, Hebei suffered from poor food, people went into exile, and Qing Dynasty smashed paintings in many ways, and all the lives and 7 million were returned to the industry. Volume 13 of the Collection of Duke Wei of Han Dynasty, Biography, is similar, but the figures are vague: all lives and five or seven million. At that time, the number of households in Hebei was 75,7 according to Ouyang Xiuqing's five-year calendar (The Complete Works of Ouyang Xiu, Hebei Playing Grass, vol. On the Book of Times on Hebei Property). If 7 million people are counted, the average household is about 9.9 people; If we take 6 million out of 5.7 million, the average household is about 8.5. In fact, the affected population can't be the total population of Hebei, that is, the population of Hebei and the average household population are likely to be more than the above figures.

In the fourth year of Tianxi in Song Zhenzong, there was a famine in Xiangzhou, Jingxi. Xia Song, the year of the year, has a total population of more than 46, (Huayang Collection, Volume 35, Xia Wenzhuang and Tombstone). At that time, there was no record of the number of households in Xiangzhou, so it was necessary to use local records to calculate. According to Taiping Universe, there are 26,892 households in Xiangzhou. According to Yuanfeng Jiu Yu Zhi, the number of households in Xiangzhou is 9327. "Taiping Universe" records the situation from the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo to the second year of Duangong (98-989), and takes the interruption as 984; The Records of Nine Fields of Yuanfeng was written in the third year of Yuanfeng, and the data used should be the data of the second year of Yuanfeng (179). According to the 95-year interval between the two books, the number of households increased by about 66,135 in 1995, with an average increase of 696, which is based on the number of households in Taiping Universe, and the number of households increased by about 25,56 in the four years of Tianxi (12), which is about 51,948. The average household is about 8.8 people.

So traditionally, the average number of households in the north is 8-1, while that in the south is 2-4. However, why is there such a big difference in the average number of households in the north and south in historical records, but not many people delve into it? Therefore, the calculation of population base is divided by two, and it is concluded that the average number of households in the Song Dynasty is 5, but in fact this is wrong and not that simple.

first of all, we have to find out why there are fewer households in the south. To make a clear picture of this matter, we have to understand the social changes since the Tang and Song Dynasties. It can be said that in ancient China society until the Tang Dynasty, people were attached to the land, which constituted the foundation of a stable society. The advantage of this is that people can be controlled in the land, so household registration and household statistics are relatively simple and easy to operate, and the population can be counted clearly. (So it may be established to count the population of Han and Tang Dynasties with five people per household.). On this basis, the corresponding economic system and military system were formed, forming a breathable political ecology. Therefore, the stable relationship between people and land based on the equal land system gave birth to the system of "Rent-and-Rent" (Rent-and-Rent-and-Rent was based on the number of people, regardless of the amount of land and property, the same amount of silk millet was paid according to the amount) and the government-soldier system attached to the land, which ensured the stable and slow prosperity of the Tang Empire for a century and a half.