How is the population problem solved?

Since Kangxi put down the San Francisco rebellion, the population has been increasing, and the problem of cultivated land and food supply brought about by population expansion has been sharply placed before the rulers of Qing Dynasty.

The crisis of population explosion.

The first census of the Forbidden City around the Qing Dynasty was 14 million (eight years after Shunzhi) and 18 million ten years later. In the fifty-first year of Kangxi (17 12), the registered population was 24.6 million. The above statistics are only the number of people who pay for grain, not the total population, not the total population. During the Yongzheng period, after the integration of land and soil, it was meaningless to edit and review personnel every five years. Faced with the pressure brought by the sharp increase in population, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty urgently needed to master the actual population in order to adjust food and reserve relief materials. After six years of Qianlong (174 1), the first census (including "men and women") was 1.434 1 billion, which broke through any previous official statistics. The statistics of Qianlong eight years (1743) are164.45 million. Since then, the population has been growing at a rate of nearly 13%. In the thirty years of Qianlong (1765), the population exceeded 200 million, and in the sixty years of Qianlong (1795), it was close to 300 million, and the population exceeded any time in history.

Faced with the "annual household registration fruit" and the rise of folk food prices, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty have been "anxious". Behind the rising food prices are a series of social problems caused by rising land prices, "expensive things" and a small land and a large population.

Reward recovery.

In the fifth year of Qianlong (1740), imperial edicts were issued to encourage the reclamation of odd-edged acres. The imperial edict said: "The provinces are increasingly rich in teeth, and the land is not expanded. The poor have no choice but to make a living. There is still a lot of idle soil on the top of the mountain in the mountainous and farmland-less areas of Xiangwenbian Province, or it is suitable for crops or miscellaneous planting. " "Later, I learned that people in this area are trained to avoid their promotion. It is strictly forbidden to compete for the first place, so as to inspire the people and there is no wasteland in the wild."

In order to ensure the implementation of the "promotion-free", with the approval of the inpatient department and Qianlong, the standards for collecting money and grain were promulgated:

Zhili (now Hebei Province) is not a hilly land below two acres; Shandong, the central land is less than one mu, the lower land is less than two mu, and scattered land on the mountains and rivers; Henan, first-class land below one mu, medium land below five mu; In Shanxi, the barren land is insufficient 10 mu; Hubei, the dry land is less than two acres, and the paddy field is less than one acre; Ridges and ditches in Jiangsu, barren hills and wasteland and hilly areas; Anhui, paddy field below one mu, dry field below two mu; Fujian, scattered land below an acre; Zhejiang, a barren land without hills; In Hunan, paddy fields are less than one mu, and dry fields are less than two mu; Sichuan, the first-class land is less than five points, and the medium land is less than one acre; Shaanxi, the barren land on the top of the mountain, the land with no hills in the corner; Gansu, the barren land at the top of the mountain; Guangdong, barren hills; Yunnan, moraine thin land; Guizhou, there is a strange Shan Qi Cape; In Guangxi, paddy fields are less than one mu, and dry fields are less than three mu.

Reclamation of border areas.

The vast border areas provide a new shelter for the rapidly growing population. Although from the early Qing Dynasty, the rulers of past dynasties banned the northeast, the birthplace of Manchu, in fact, it prohibited Han people from migrating to the northeast. Farmers who lost their livelihood in Shandong and Hebei entered Kanto either from the sea or from the land (northeast, east of Shanhaiguan). During the Qianlong period, the Qing court was forced by population pressure to further relax the ban. Qianlong issued an imperial decree for this purpose: "Shengjing (referring to Liaoning) has a lot of cultivated land, and there is no job and no poverty. Married people have become educated, settled down, and become indigenous after a long time. Although it is hindered by the simple local customs, it has been peaceful for a long time, and there are many accounts to support countless poor people. Therefore, there are prohibitions, but they are not strict. " In the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong (1792), Qianlong reiterated: "Although Shanhaiguan and Shengjing have mixed flags and people, the land is vast and fertile, and the poor and their families can feed themselves, that is, there are many people and they will never make trouble." In the seventeenth year of Jiaqing (18 12), according to official statistics, the cultivated land in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang reached 22.9 million mu, an increase of 20 million mu compared with the early Qing Dynasty.

Mongolia also has a large influx of Han people. "It is very beneficial for people along the mainland to plant, get married and have children." Mongolian princes "either recruit people to farm in Iraq or hire helpers"; The Qing government gave officials room to recruit people to cultivate seeds, "one point for every five hectares, one point for each capital, one point for each household to recognize seeds, or one point for several people to plant together", which further stimulated the Han population to make a living outside. "Or businessmen, or fields, to thousands of people." By the middle of Qianlong, the number of Han people had increased to more than 500,000. In the early years of Daoguang, it increased to 880,000, and Inner Mongolia became a semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral area where Mongolian and Chinese lived together.

In the 22nd year of Kangxi (1683), after the Qing court recovered Taiwan Province province, people from Fujian and Guangzhou crossed the sea privately to make a living in Taiwan Province province, which lasted for nine years (1744). The Qing court made it clear that anyone who went to Taiwan Province Province would be included in Garbo, and those who had property in Taiwan Province Province could be brought up by their grandparents, parents and descendants in the mainland. "Zhangzhou people, Quanzhou people and Cantonese people are in droves with each other", and Han Zhuang appears everywhere, "Dingdian Mountain visitors in Gezhuang account for nine times out of ten", "Calling friends, even suffering" and so on.

Since the Yongzheng period, after the implementation of the reform of entering the stream, "all the new pioneering chieftains, provincial people have moved into their homes, and cultivated mountains as ridges and planted each other." "Chu people, Shu people, Qian people and Cantonese people have all come with their wives and concubines and slept in the open air", "Take their families to the village of Shan Ye to open up wasteland" and "Report to open up some vacant lots". Strike the arrow furnace, "it is the only way to enter Tibet, with complete department stores and prosperous business." "perennial trade, no less than a few thousand dollars, customs are named after Xiao Chengdu." After the pacification of Jinchuan, there is130,000 mu of land for Han people to cultivate.

During the Qianlong period, with the encouragement of the Qing government, more and more Han people went to Yili, Urumqi, Hami and other places to reclaim land after the exploration in the northern and southern Tianshan Mountains. According to the regulations, "every household who cultivates land will be divided into 30 mu of land, and agricultural tools, seeds and horses will be promoted for six years. If they can train more, they will take care of themselves forever. " "The mainland people are competing for beauty, the villages are connected, the fireworks are on the other side, the horses and cattle are in groups in the lanes, the skins, horns, carpets and brown are all out, and the merchants are focused. As for Shaoxing wine and Kunqu opera, they are all' running together'. " Shop size, row upon row, spacious city streets, mixed crowds. " The migration of mainland residents to border areas has not only basically solved the land pressure brought about by the sharp increase in population, but also eased the crisis brought about by land merger and farmers becoming refugees. It has also accelerated the economic development of the border areas and strengthened the economic and cultural ties between the border areas and the mainland.

Promote high-yield crops.

In order to solve the problem of feeding nearly 300 million people, corn and sweet potato, two high-yield crops from America, were popularized during the Qianlong period.

Sweet potato has strong vitality, drought resistance, waterlogging resistance, salinity tolerance, insect resistance, disaster resistance and high yield. "An acre on the ground is about 10,000 kilograms, with seven or eight kilograms in the middle and five or six kilograms underground." In the early years of Qianlong, sweet potatoes spread from Fujian and Guangxi to the north, and Fujian native Chen Shiyuan came to Shandong. Seeing the drought and poor harvest, he "donated money to transport seeds and used plows, hoes, iron harrows and other equipment" to spread planting techniques in Jiaozhou, Shandong Province. "In autumn, the mother and son are hooked together, like fists, but they are all amazed and enjoy the seeds." Before long, Chen Yun, Chen Shiyuan's son, transported potato seeds to Zhuxian Town and Beijing for planting. Huang Kerun, the magistrate of Wuji County, Zhili, brought potato seeds from his hometown of Fujian and tried them in the local area. "There are many potatoes."

Li Wei, the envoy of Shandong Province, summed up the experience of planting sweet potatoes in the north and wrote Twenty Rules for Planting Sweet Potatoes (seventeen years of Qianlong). Lu Yao, the Shandong provincial judge, published "Sweet Potato Records" and introduced the planting methods in detail. After seeing Lu Yao's "Sweet Potato Record", Qianlong made Zhili Governor Liu E and Henan Governor Bi Yuan widely spread the book, and made it "one of the methods to prepare for the famine, to immediately turn to the genus, to persuade the people, to plant and feed the people widely". With the vigorous promotion of the Qing government, sweet potato was widely planted in Shandong, Zhili, Henan, Shaanxi and other provinces, which was "quite effective" and "edible".

Corn suitable for planting in mountainous areas has been widely planted in the north and south of the Yangtze River under the impetus of the decree encouraging the reclamation of hills and corners. Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Anhui and North China all grow corn, and the locals call it Liugu. Spring vegetables are no different from rice, so they are food for life. After the mid-Qianlong period, corn and sweet potato became the main foods, "poor mountains and deep valleys" and "all depended on corn, potato taro and miscellaneous grains for a living".

Import foreign rice.

In order to solve the food shortage caused by the population explosion and stabilize the food price (which has been high since Kangxi), the Qing government encouraged the import of rice from Siam (now Thailand) and Annan (now Vietnam). In the seventh year of Qianlong (1742), Fujian and Guangdong merchant ships returned with more than 66,000 stones of rice. In order to encourage foreign cargo ships to sell rice into the country, Qianlong issued an order: "From the eighth year of Qianlong. From now on, foreign cargo ships coming to Fujian, Guangdong and other provinces will be exempted from the goods tax of five tenths of silver. Those who carry stones more than 5000 meters are exempt from the goods tax of three ten thousandths.

According to the market price, rice is fair. If the people have a large amount of rice, they don't need to buy it, that is, officials buy warehouses to supplement formal cooperatives, or distribute them to coastal pacesetters for consumption, so that foreign businessmen can benefit and there will be no difficulty in selling them. "At the same time, it also encourages Chinese businessmen who go to Siam to build ships and buy rice for shipment back to China, killing two birds with one stone.

In the imperial edict, Ganlong clearly pointed out: "Siam produces a lot of rice, and has always benefited little from the original quasi-trade, and few businessmen." Today, businessmen and others hear that Siam's wood is cheap and easy to build ships. Since Qianlong nine years ago, those who bought rice and shipped it back to China have been receiving assistance. "From the 16th year of Qianlong (175 1), businessmen were allowed to bring their own capital and buy rice into the country, and it was stipulated that" those with less than 2,000 stones were rewarded by the governor respectively; If the stone is transported more than 2000 meters, it will be given to prisoners and people's livelihood according to the number, and the top belt will be awarded. "

With the encouragement of the Qing government, rice from Southeast Asia was continuously imported into Fujian and Guangdong.

Although the Qing dynasty encountered unprecedented population pressure, the development of the frontier provided a new livelihood for the rapidly increasing population, which not only solved the crisis caused by population pressure; It also made the Qing dynasty avoid the impact of the refugee problem brought about by land annexation. The popularization of high-yield crops and imported foreign rice made the last feudal dynasty in China bear the pressure of population expansion.