In ancient times, to judge whether a country was strong, population was undoubtedly one of the categories of consideration. China has been a country with a large population since ancient times, and in the case of low productivity in ancient times, population is the most important resource. Farming and military struggles all need to be supported by population, and how to ensure population growth during the change of dynasties has become a problem that the emperor must consider.
When Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, the population of the country decreased by 7 million due to the role of the peasant revolt at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the Chu-Han dispute. Most of the people who died in the chaotic world were the young adults, the younger generation needed to establish and consolidate the new dynasty. In order to ensure the development of the country, Liu Bang and his ministers tried every means to solve the population problem. At the beginning of the period, Liu Bang issued a government decree to encourage the people to give birth.
With a small population and the effects of natural disasters and wars, the populace was no longer able to raise more children. Shortly after Liu Bang's decree encouraging childbearing was issued, he also became aware of the problem. After much deliberation, he thought that encouraging the people to have children was a way, but it should be forced. So he issued another decree: women of the right age must marry, and when they are not married, they must pay taxes. The initial payment was 120 yuan.
When Emperor Hui of Han ruled, it was stipulated that women aged 15 to 20 years old would have to pay 5 if they did not marry. At that time, one was 120 yuan, and 5 was 600 yuan. Apparently, the fees paid by women of appropriate age for not marrying have been 5 times higher. In the Western Han Dynasty, the price of grain was 100 yuan per stone, and these costs could buy grain for 720 catties. Such a heavy tax makes the people miserable, but they have to pay more taxes without marrying their daughters.
Some women are also reluctant to marry in a hurry, how to find the right langjun, but the longer the time drags on, the amount of tax revenue will lead to the destruction of the family. This policy, which was strongly pursued in the early years of the Han Dynasty, finally increased the population significantly, and later reached 64 million at one point, exceeding the population of the Qin Dynasty by 20 million.
The policies of the Han Dynasty were later taken by Western countries to solve the problem of negative population growth. The United States stipulates that unmarried women are taxed more than married women at the same wage for the same work. Russia and South Korea have similar moves on the issue.