As the world's most populous country, China's number has been at the top of the world's population for thousands of years. The advantage of a large population is that the country has great potential and mobilization capacity, but it has created more crowded living space, food pressure, environmental protection and other problems will rise sharply as the population increases.
According to the World Bank, as of 2018, the world's population was 7.594 billion people, and China had a population explosion for a period of time, that is, during the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, from about 74 million people in the Shunzhi period to 400 million in Daoguang.
This number has more than fivefolded, and the period is less than a hundred years, so let's analyze why there is so much population during this period.
From 1636 to 1912, the last feudal dynasty in China lasted for 296 years, with a population of more than 400 million people, when the world's population was only one billion, and Chinese accounted for almost half of the world.
There are only two reasons that affect the population, one is food, and the other is war. Since ancient times, the staple foods of China have been rice and wheat, mostly produced in plain areas, and the yield is not very high. A person usually consumes 150 kilograms of rice a year. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the policy of closing the country was implemented for a long time, but in the late Ming Dynasty, there was a brief period of opening up the sea ban.
At this time, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and other food crops in the West and Africa spread to China through Southeast Asia, these crops contain high energy, compared to the rice that can only be planted in the paddy field in the south, more convenient to grow, potatoes and corn can grow in the cold north, and the yield is very high.
During the Qing Dynasty, these seeds were further vigorously promoted and became one of the main plants of farmers, and the abundance of grain directly led to the increase in population, and although the people were not well fed, they were at least able to barely eat. The output of food is also very important to the land.
China's landform is dominated by hilly plains, rich in water conservancy resources and convenient irrigation, and has a very good large area of arable land, so although there were more than 70 million Chinese at that time, the actual saturation of the Chinese at that time was still far away.
Another reason was the war, after kangxi Qianlong's southern expedition and northern war, in the light years of Shunzhi Dao, their ancestors had done all the things they wanted to do, the people had a long period of stability, the people were no longer wandering and displaced, there was no fixed place to live, and naturally vigorously multiplied the population.
In addition to these natural conditions, the feudal spirit of the Chinese also occupies a large part of the proportion, Chinese the traditional concept of "home" is very important. "Home and Everything". Passing on the generations is a top priority for Chinese. "Cutting off children and grandchildren" is also the most vicious curse in ancient China.
In order to let their descendants continue to have their bloodlines, Chinese desperately began to create a population in a unique and excellent environment, how can the old people be considered blessed? In addition to having money and food, they also had to "live together in the same house" and feel satisfied to see their grandchildren and even great-grandchildren bouncing around in the courtyard.
This is the main reason why the Qing Dynasty had such an explosive population growth.