Boundaries-Prelims.indd

The Changing Landscape in Rural South Fujian 209

Prefecture Tang Song Yuan Ming

Jianning

建宁

22,770 hu

142,774 kou

197,137 hu

439,677 kou

127,254 hu

506,926 kou

122,142 hu

393,468 kou

Quanzhou

泉州

23,806 hu

160,295 kou

255,758 hu

358,874 kou

89,060 hu

455,545 kou

41,824 hu

180,813 kou

Zhangzhou

漳州

5,846 hu

17,940 kou

112,014 hu

160,566 kou

21,695 hu

101,306 kou

49,254 hu

317,651 kou

Dingzhou

汀州

4,680 hu

13,701 kou

150,331 hu

327,380 kou

41,423 hu

238,127 kou

43,307 hu

252,871 kou

Yanping

延平

—

—

157,089 hu

297,145 kou

89,825 hu

435,869 kou

63,584 hu

236,325 kou

Shaowu

邵武

—

—

212,952 hu

558,846 kou

64,127 hu

248,761 kou

39,644 hu

132,282 kou

Xinghua

兴化

—

—

64,887 hu

148,641 kou

67,739 hu

352,534 kou

31,687 hu

180,006 kou

Funingzhou^5

福宁州

—

—

—

—

—

—

20,359 hu
67,923 kou
5

Although the gazetteer from which the βigures are taken does not specify
any exact dates for the census, there is reason to believe that they were
taken during the early South Song period and during the Ming around

1502.^6 After the fall of the North Song capital, Kaifeng, into Jin hands in
1127 and the shift of the Court to the south, the Chinese population, as
stated above, poured into the region south of the Yangzi River. Therefore,
the sudden increase in the Fujianese population during that period is not
surprising. What does attract our attention is the general decline in the
population of the prefecture from the Yuan to the mid-Ming periods. The
following βigures show the tendency:^7
5. Funing Subprefecture was considered to be a part of Fuzhou prefecture during
the Song and Yuan periods.
6. The conclusion is arrived at after comparing the following sources: (1) A Song
gazetteer compiled between 1241–52, quoted in Quanzhou fuzhi 泉州府志
[Gazetteer of Quanzhou Prefecture] (1870 ed.), 18: 16; and (2) Wei Qingyuan’s
work (see fn 7). The Fujianese population in 1502 given in Wei’s work is about
the same as in Bamin tongzhi (506,315 hu and 2,046,604 kou).
7. Wei Qingyuan 韦庆远, Mingdai huangce zhidu 明代黄册制度 [The yellow-
registry system in the Ming Period) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), p. 248.