The new household registration system of the Ming Dynasty - the household sticker system
preface
"Population is the source of national strength, the source of wealth. But population growth is limited not only by fertility, but also by factors such as geography, climate, transportation, and war.
▲ Continuous war
cause
After zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, ascended the throne, in order to make the officials and people's minds full of reverence for the rights of the king, he asked to return the number of household registrations at the time of sacrifice, and from then on, the household sticker system was implemented to verify the household registration.
▲Household stickers
outcome
After the establishment of the household sticker system, the Ming Dynasty established the yellow book system on the basis of the household sticker system, and since then the land tax system has been further improved.
▲Yellow book system
disposal
1. Implement the household sticker system
In 1370 AD, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, announced the implementation of the household sticker system, marking the official opening of the Ming Dynasty household sticker system. The person who first suggested that Zhu Yuanzhang decide to implement the household sticker system was Chen Ming, the shaoqing of Taichang, who was mainly responsible for the ceremonies of the imperial court's temple, and once Chen Ming played a song to the imperial court, saying that according to the Zhou rites, the emperor should tell the heavens the number of hukou in this country during the sacrifice.
Chen Ming's advice coincided with Zhu Yuanzhang's ideas, because Chen Ming played in the third year of Hongwu, that is, the ming dynasty had just been established three years ago, and the most important thing in this period was to win the hearts of the people before they could continue to develop, but how to win the hearts of the people made them think that the king was supreme.
Some measures must be taken to tell the people that their power in the country and mountains is predestined by heaven and that the heavens cannot be done, so that those people can truly submit to themselves. How is this measure developed? Zhu Yuanzhang felt that offering sacrifices to the heavens was a good way.
▲Chen Ming (stills)
2. The formation of household stickers
However, although Chen Ming's suggestion is good, there is an objective reality, that is, it is first necessary to grasp the detailed population of this country, which is a big project, and the Ming Dynasty has not yet completely consolidated the country, the war is continuous, and it is even more difficult to count the population. Soon after, the appearance of Chen Guan, the prefect of Ningguo, solved the problem of counting the population for Zhu Yuanzhang.
Chen Guan was a great contributor to the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and he was also one of the few Qing officials, and during Chen Guan's appointment, in addition to conscientiously engaging in local construction, Chen Guan often went to observe the people's feelings and asked how the local people were doing. Don't ask and don't know, when you ask, you find that there are many problems that cannot be solved, among which the things that make the people complain is that the local tyrants occupy their land, and When Chen Guan heard this, he immediately ordered that the magnates should not be allowed to bully and oppress the people, otherwise they would be severely punished.
Chen Guan felt that this was not enough, if the government did not have a clear land account book, in the future, Haoqiang would still occupy the people's land, and issuing orders could only cure the symptoms and not the root causes, so Chen Guan began to thoroughly liquidate the population and land area in the Ningguo area to prevent Haoqiang from occupying.
Chen Guan ordered officials to go door-to-door to liquidate, and to count the population, houses, land, and even the number of cattle cultivated by each family, and after the statistics were completed, they were confirmed by the government and the surveyed households, commonly known as household stickers. After the signature painting was sent in duplicate, it was handed over to the government and the people for safekeeping. In this way, each family's property has a clear number, and even if it is occupied by the powerful, the people can take the household sticker to the government to file a complaint.
▲Chen Guan
3. Implemented nationwide
Chen Guan's move can be described as killing two birds with one stone, not only effectively safeguarding the interests of the people, but also allowing the government to accurately grasp the two important data of the number of people and the land area. Soon Chen Guan's measures reached the ears of Zhu Yuanzhang, who believed that if chen guan's household sticker system was imitated and the household sticker system was popularized throughout the country, then not only could the number of people in the country be grasped, but also the land annexation in the whole country could be effectively suppressed.
Zhu Yuanzhang was well aware of the importance of land to farmers, comparable to a fish in the water. After much deliberation, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to implement the household sticker system throughout the country, and ordered officials in various Zhongshu provinces to follow Chen Guan's example and implement the household sticker system throughout the country. After the order was issued, the first thing to do was to make a household sticker, because this time the implementation was nationwide and large-scale.
In addition to the original few items, the new household sticker has also increased the number of slaves in the powerful family, and in order to be fair and just, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered all officials who make household stickers, no matter how big or small, as long as they have participated in the supervision process, must sign and draw on the household stickers, and the white paper and black characters prevent some officials from opportunistically.
▲New version of the household sticker
4. Use the army
Even so, Zhu Yuanzhang was still not at ease, and finally he also ordered the army to go to various regions to check the household stickers, prevent local officials from colluding with Haoqiang, and if they found that the number of household stickers did not match the actual number, they would severely punish the officials who counted the number.
The reason for sending the army to verify is that the army and the local government belong to two different jurisdictions, and they can play a role in mutual supervision, and not long after the introduction of the household sticker system, the population of all regions in the country has been counted one after another, and the population in Suzhou alone is as many as two million people.
▲Ming Dynasty army
5. The origin of the household sticker system
In fact, the household sticker system was not only implemented in the Ming Dynasty, as early as the Song Dynasty household sticker system was implemented in the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty also used the method of du tian and kuo hu to count land and population, but compared with Zhu Yuanzhang, they did not choose to use the army to implement the policy, and it was precisely because Zhu Yuanzhang did this that he was the only emperor who implemented the household sticker system the best.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang, who achieved results, did not feel complacent about this, on the contrary, he was more serious than before, Zhu Yuanzhang said that every year to conduct a census of the population, every ten years to re-make up the household stickers, to keep pace with the times, real-time grasp of the actual population and the amount of land.
▲Song Dynasty check hukou
brief summary
The implementation of the household sticker system was conducive to the Ming Dynasty's suppression of land consolidation, increased the tax revenue of the imperial court, and enhanced the economic strength of the country.
【References】:
History of the Ming Dynasty
"Those Things of the Ming Dynasty"
"Detailed Explanation of the Dynasty"