Ancient Population Policy: Baby Boom Prosperity
Today, we’ll discuss the historical efforts of Chinese authorities to boost fertility rates, which has been a key indicator of the nation's strength and vitality throughout Chinese history.
In 2022, China saw the birth of 9.56 million babies according to the National Health Commission’s report released in the middle of October. This marked a 10 percent decline from the previous year, and despite the government’s shift away from birth restrictions to encourage all couples to have three children, birth rates are expected to continue decreasing.
To be specific, the numbers of first, second, and third children all witnessed a decline in comparison to 2021, reflecting a decreasing number of women in their childbearing years and a lower fertility rate. In 2022, 46.1 percent of all births were the first child for a family, up from 44.1 percent in 2021. Meanwhile, the proportion of second children dropped to 38.9 percent from 41.4 percent. The percentage of third children or more increased to 15 percent from 14.5 percent. However, the absolute total declined from 2021, even after a policy change in May of that year was announced encouraging married couples to have as many as three children.
In recent years, both the central government and local authorities have implemented a range of supportive measures to increase the fertility rate. However, the impact has been limited, primarily because of factors such as skyrocketing housing prices, the high costs associated with child-rearing, and job instability among young people.
Many people argue that nowadays in China, a child is nothing but a tunjinshou, money-swallowing beast, which is in stark contrast to conditions in ancient times.
Ancient Chinese dynasties used different ways to boost the fertility rate to ensure they had enough taxes and soldiers. Families also believed that more children would bring wealth and power.
During the Spring and Autumn Period between 770 BCE and 476 BCE, regional powers in China fought against each other for supremacy. The Yue and Wu kingdoms were rivals in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In 494 BCE, the Yue army was defeated by the Wu. The king of the Yue, Goujian, had served as a groom for Wu king Fuchai’s horses for two years before he was released back to the Yue.
To take revenge, Goujian did two things. First, he tasted a bitter gall bladder (卧薪尝胆) every day to remind himself of the humiliation and sharpen his readiness to endure hardship. Second, he tried to create a large, strong population. He took measures so that people would marry young and give birth to more, healthy babies.
It was a breach of the law if parents didn’t arrange a marriage for their daughters once they reached 17, or sons if they were 30 or older. Matches between an old man and a young wife or vice versa, a young man and an old lady, were banned. A pregnant woman had to report to the government that she was about to deliver, then a midwife would be sent to help. A family who had a baby girl would get two pots of wine and a pig, while a baby boy got two pots of wine and a dog. Pigs were more valuable than dogs, as girls would become mothers and contribute more to the population increase. A wetnurse was provided by the government for the third baby if the family was too poor to feed it. In the meantime, men were trained hard to be good soldiers.
19 years after Goujian was returned to the Yue, his army smashed the Wu army. The Wu king Fuchai committed suicide. Goujian became the last major power in the Spring and Autumn Period.
This period was followed by an even more chaotic time called the Warring States period. Seven major powers fought fierce battles against each other. They all rushed to encourage and force people to have more children. The Qin kingdom was the most successful. A portion of the tax was collected on the basis of household assets. So, if a family had two sons, when they were adults, each had to live separately in an independent household. If he still lived with his parents and did not marry, he had to pay double taxes. Besides, a man who fought bravely on the battlefield was rewarded with promotion. It was the most important way for people to climb the social ladder. So, people had to give birth to more children and hope they were good soldiers.
The Qin defeated all its rivals and built China’s first imperial dynasty in the early 3rd century BCE. The emperor made all families register detailed information about each household, including the number of family members, their ages, names, heights and land ownership. Every five households made a “wu,” and every 10 households made a “shi.” If any household concealed information, all the other households in the Wu or Shi would be punished.
A poll tax, or head tax was also imposed on adult males. So only males in the family were registered in household records. Men who lived with their wives’ families were discriminated against, as they did not create new households or pay poll tax.
A census was conducted once every three years. The expansion of the population was a main indicator for the assessment of local officials.
Movements of people were banned. Only those on official business or on the way to military service were given letters of passage which proved the purpose of their trip. Traders, innkeepers, runaway persons and sons-in-law living with their wives’ parents were treated as criminals. They were sent to guard the borders or undeveloped areas. The Qin adopted this policy to encourage agriculture and repress business. As a result, peasants were tied to the land and lived in small families. All this made it easier for the imperial government to control the public. In addition, the Qin population was only about 20 million, making it possible for the Qin to impose the most stringent household control in China’s imperial history of more than 2,000 years.
But this strict control did not prevent people from rebelling against the cruelty of the Qin. The dynasty lasted only 14 years. When Liu Bang led one of the rebellion forces into the capital Xianyang, near today’s Xi’an, the first thing his aide Xiao He did was to take over all the household records left by Qin. Liu Bang had full information on the national resources of land, population, tax and troops. It was much more valuable than the treasures that his ally Xiang Yu looted from the city. It helped Liu Bang not only defeat Xiang Yu in their battle later, but also govern the new dynasty he founded, the Han.
But the Qin’s system of household registration and taxation was passed down to nearly all dynasties in the following 2,000 years. Having children at a young age and large families was encouraged, especially in the aftermath of a long period of social unrest and changes in dynasties.
Liu Bang, for example, imposed fines on families with unmarried daughters at or above 15 years old. His successor raised the fines by five times forcing young girls to rush into any marriage - even as a concubine.
The Northern Wei dynasty founded by the ethnic Xianbei tribes in the late 4th century was the first ethnic regime that ruled the north of China. Under its laws, a man had to divorce his wife if she did not have a son and he did not have a concubine.
During the reign of the second emperor of the Tang dynasty Li Shimin between 626 and 646, a man could get 100 mu, or about 6.7 hectares of land, with 5.3 hectares to be returned to the government after his death and the remainder to be inherited by his children. Women could also get 2 hectares of land which would be recovered by the government after her death. The government had the responsibility to find a new wife for a widower.
The Song dynasty, which started in 960 and included both the Northern Song till 1127 and Southern Song till 1279, was the richest dynasty in China’s history. It spent a lot of money to encourage the birth rate. Poor families could get subsidies from the government to raise their children. It was under the Song’s rule that China’s population reached 100 million for the first time.
But the poll tax always hampered people’s willingness and capability to have more children. Every adult male, no matter if he had land in his name, had to pay the poll tax.
In 1712, Emperor Kangxi of the Qing, China’s last imperial dynasty, announced that the poll tax would not be applied to males. Since then, the population increased quickly from tens of millions to more than 300 million over 150 years through the rule of Kangxi’s grandson Emperor Qianlong.
The rapid expansion of the population laid the foundation and was an important indicator of the so-called Kangxi-Qianlong Age of Prosperity. But Qing official Hong Liangji, who lived between the mid-18th century and early 19th century saw a problem. In one of his books written in 1793, he took an example of a well-off family with 0.66 hectares, or 10 mu of land, 10 rooms, and 10 servants. Then they had three sons and each of the three sons had three sons of their own. But while the family was getting bigger and bigger, their land and rooms remained the same. The third generation would be plunged into poverty. Hong drew the conclusion from his own observation of the period when the Qing reached its peak in terms of its imperial power and prosperity and its people were struggling.
In the same year Hong came up with his idea about population, a British diplomatic mission led by George Macartney arrived in China. He took the chance of celebrating Emperor Qianlong’s 80th birthday to propose that more Chinese ports should be opened to trade with Britain. Qianlong refused. But Macartney came to the same conclusion as Hong regarding the weakness and poverty under the ostensible prosperity.
History proves that the quality and well-being of a population matter much more than its size.
Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Song Yimin, translator Li Jia, and copy editor Kathleen Naday. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.