The Great Migration of Ming Dynasty

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang forcibly moved the rich people in Song and Jiahu areas of Jiangsu Province to Haozhou, the land of Longxing, and Nanjing, the land of Longju. After the Ming army conquered the metropolis, in order to strengthen the military strength in this area, a large number of private households in Shanxi or mountainous areas moved to the south of Juyongguan and Beiping. After Emperor Chengzu moved to Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, in order to make Beiping, the newly moved capital, prosperous as soon as possible, a large number of wealthy families and businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River were forcibly moved to Beiping. In the early Ming Dynasty, the economic migration activities aimed at developing economy and stabilizing society were the largest, most extensive and most planned in Shanxi. This immigration activity began in the second year of Hongwu and lasted until the end of Yongle. There were 18 large-scale immigration activities before and after, and the total population of immigrants exceeded one million. Today, the resettlement area involves more than 500 counties and cities in 18 provinces and cities.