Few people in modern Western countries can understand what is going on in China' chaos. In fact, a simple review of Chinese oral history can tell what this concept is.
In the early Qin Dynasty, there were about 20 million Chinese, and from 209 BC after 8 years of war to 202 BC in the early Western Han Dynasty, only about 13 million were left.
In 156 (the 2nd year of the Eastern Han Dynasty), the national population was 56.49 million, and then from 184 onwards, the war began, and by the 265 years of the Three Kingdoms, the national population was only 7.67 million (of course, including some hukou occupied by haoqiang and not counted by the state, an optimistic estimate is that there were still 25 million people left at that time).
Cao Cao said, "White bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no chicken chirping for thousands of miles." The people are left behind, and the thoughts are broken", and it is not an exaggeration. The Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Chronicle of Emperor Huan contains that "the people who died of hunger in Yuzhou were shi 45, until there were those who destroyed the households". The Book of Wei and The Benji of Emperor Xuanwu records that "the four states were starving, and more than 200,000 people died." And so on, the list goes on. (I suspect that every such mass death in the West will be specially recorded and commemorated.)
Considering that after 221 years, in fact, the whole society has gradually stabilized, and the population reduction of about 30 million should be mainly completed in the 37 years from 184 to 221.
Since then, every time there has been a great chaos in the world, the population has decreased similarly. In 609 (the 3rd year of the Sui Dynasty Emperor Daye), the population was 46.01 million, and after more than ten years of war, by 624 (the first year of Tang Gaozu Wude), only 22.74 million were left, which was also reduced by 20 million.
In 755 (the fourteenth year of Tang Tianbao), China's population was 52.91 million, and after the Anshi Rebellion, the government-controlled population (760) plummeted to 17 million, and even considering the division of North China, the absolute population reduction should not be less than 10 million. This was followed by more than 100 years of relative peace, followed by 100 years of war (875-979), and by the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty (1080, the third year of Yuanfeng), with a population of 33 million.
Compared with the ShengTang Dynasty 300 years ago, the territorial shape is basically close (only Anxi, Beiting, Hexi, and Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures are missing), but the population is about 20 million less. Even considering that the demographics of the Song Dynasty are generally low, but considering the 979 (national unification) - 1080 century of recuperation, it can be considered that the population of the early Northern Song Dynasty will not exceed 20 million.
That is to say, the fruits of a century of recuperation in the Middle Tang Dynasty (763-860) were once again offset by the large-scale wars of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. It is worth mentioning that in May 879, Huang Chao killed about 120,000 foreigners (mainly Arabs) in Guangzhou, which is not found in the Arabs, but recorded in the history written by the Arabs.
The population of the late Jin Dynasty was 44.7 million, and the population of the Southern Song Dynasty was about 70 million (76.81 million in the sixteenth year of the Southern Song Dynasty in 1223), with a total of about 120 million (another optimistic estimate is 140 million), but in 1290 (27 yuan to 27 yuan) the population was only 58.83 million (optimistic estimate 75 million), and this figure was obtained on the more extensive territory that included Dali, Tibet, present-day eastern Xinjiang and Mongolia.
At this time, the war in the north had been quelled for more than fifty years (Jin died in 1234), and the south had been peaceful for more than ten years (Song died in 1276), and the population should have recovered considerably. In absolute terms, both optimistically and generally, the Mongol invasion cost China at least 70 million people, so much so that it took the Ming Dynasty 300 years to barely recover to its late Jin population.
The population at the end of the Yuan Dynasty was optimistically estimated at 90 million (1341, the first to the first year), half a century later, the population of 1393 (Ming Hongwu 26 years) was 60.54 million, optimistic estimates were about 70 million (note that the territory of the Ming Dynasty was slightly larger than that of the Tang and Song Dynasties), it can be seen that the late Yuan Dynasty 1351-1371 (Hongwu 4 years, Ping Sichuan, then Ping Yunnan (Hongwu 14 years) Ping Liaodong (Hongwu 20 years) are relatively small military operations) These 20 years of war have contributed no less than 20 million to population loss.
The statistical value of the population of the Ming Dynasty has always been only about 60 million, but in the later period it actually greatly exceeded this number. It is estimated that there were 160 million in 1566 (Jiajing forty-five years) and 190 million in 1630 (Chongzhen 3 years), but from 1627 when large-scale wars began in Mainland China, by the 17th year of Chongzhen (1644), it is estimated that the population was reduced by another 30 million to 160 million.
After that, the Southern Ming, Dashun, Daxi, Zheng and Manchu Qing fought for nearly 20 years, and by 1661 (the eighteenth year of Shunzhi), the number of people in the country was 19.13 million, equivalent to about 80 million, that is to say, the population of China in the Ming and Qing dynasties decreased by about 100 million, which was an amazing change.
The population of the Qing Dynasty grew rapidly, thanks to new crops (such as corn from the Americas, sweet potatoes, etc.) and tax policies that spread out into acres. In 1691 (Kangxi 30 years) about 110 million, in 1741 (Qianlong 6 years) 140 million, in 1790 (Qianlong 55 years) 300 million, in 1805 (Jiaqing 10 years) 330 million, in 1820 (Jiaqing 25 years) 380 million, in 1840 (Daoguang 20 years) 410 million, in 1851 (Xianfeng first year) 430 million, the population grew exponentially.
But then the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864), the Twister War, the Shaanxi-Gansu Rebellion and the Second Opium War broke out, and by 1874 (the 13th year of Tongzhi), there were only 360 million people left, a sharp decline of more than 70 million. It was not until 1910 (the second year of reunification) that it recovered to 430 million!