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China’s extraordinary population expansion and its determinants during the qing period, 1644-1911

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  • Deng, Kent
  • Shengmin, Sun

Abstract

It has long been puzzled why and how China’s population was able to multiply four-fold from circa 1750 to 1850. Descriptions/explanations as well as reservations/suspicions vary widely and the debate can be energetic and uncompromising at the same time. This research aims to settle some aspects of the debate both qualitatively by looking at the interplay between China’s resource endowments (e.g. farmland), technology (new crops), institutions (landownership, aided migration, disaster relief and so forth) and exogenous shocks (wars and natural disasters) on the one hand, and quantitatively by deploying empirical test on correlations between populations growth and factors that influenced that growth. Our key findings indicate that China’s demographic upsurge during the Qing Period (1644-1911) was achieved with a synergy of positive factors and mainly by the non-market sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Deng, Kent & Shengmin, Sun, 2019. "China’s extraordinary population expansion and its determinants during the qing period, 1644-1911," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100921, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:100921
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/100921/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruixue Jia, 2014. "Weather Shocks, Sweet Potatoes and Peasant Revolts in Historical China," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(575), pages 92-118, March.
    2. Shuo Chen & James Kung, 2016. "Of maize and men: the effect of a New World crop on population and economic growth in China," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 71-99, March.
    3. Li, Bozhong & van Zanden, Jan Luiten, 2012. "Before the Great Divergence? Comparing the Yangzi Delta and the Netherlands at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(4), pages 956-989, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Exogenous shocks; Living standards; New technology; Population growth; Resource endowments; Tax burden; Urban food prices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General
    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook

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