The Imperial Orphan of the Tang Dynasty

Due to the chaos in the world at the end of the Sui Dynasty caused by Yang Guang, the population of the whole country dropped sharply, and there were only more than 200,000 households during the reign of Gaozu Wude of the Tang Dynasty [209], and the household registration began to gradually recover after the unification of the whole country by Li and Tang. In the thirteenth year of the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the number of households recovered to 3.04 million, with a population of 12.35 million [210], and more than 1.2 million people were attached to the outside world[211], in the third year of Yonghui of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (652), there were 3.8 million households in the whole country [212], in the first year of Wu Zetianshenlong (705), there were 6.15 million households in the country, about 37.14 million people[213], and in the thirteenth year of Xuanzong Tianbao of the Tang Dynasty (754), the number of households reached 9619254 and the number of mouths reached **, which was the peak of official household statistics[214]. According to scholars' analysis, the population of the country was at least 46 million to 47 million in the second year of Guangde (764), and the peak population in the late Tang Dynasty reached about 60 million. [215] [164]

Modern scholars generally believe that the population peak of the Tang Dynasty occurred between the thirteenth and fourteenth years of Xuanzong Tianbao of the Tang Dynasty (754-755), because scholars have different views on the population peak of the Tang Dynasty, considering that tenant farmers, hermits, slaves, soldiers, monks, foreigners, and other people who are not included in the household statistics. [216-217] Tang Dynasty historian Du You believes that the peak number of households in the Tang Dynasty during the Tianbao period was 13.4 million[19], modern scholars Zhao Wenlin and Xie Shujun believe that the population of the Tang Dynasty peaked at 63 million in the 13th year of Tianbao (754)[218], and modern scholar Leng Guodong believes that the peak population of the Tang Dynasty was about 14.3 million to 15.4 million households in the 13th year of Xuanzong Tianbao (754), about 74.75-80.5 million people[219]; Modern scholar Wang Yumin believes that the peak number of households in the Tang Dynasty during the Tianbao period was 80.5 million[21], Ge Jianxiong believes that the peak population of the Tang Dynasty around the 14th year of Tianbao (755) was between 80 million and 90 million[220], modern scholar Chen Xulu proposed that the peak population of the Tang Dynasty was 92.54 million, and the Japanese scholar Hino Kaizaburo believes that the population of the Tang Dynasty peaked at 20 million households and the population reached 140 million.