Linking Late-Imperial and Early Modern Population Dynamics in the Lower Yangzi Valley
Abstract
This chapter presents a reconstruction of mortality, nuptiality, and fertility dynamics in the Lower Yangzi Valley from the early nineteenth to the second quarter of the twentieth century. Principal data are compilations of 'faithful widows' constructed for the Qing dynasty, and other genealogical sources. This substantial body of information requires interpretation in terms of distinctive forms of marriage, differential survivorship of kin categories, contemporary events, and health conditions. Pre-modern life tables show that in the countryside of the Lower Yangzi Valley, the traditional pattern of age-specific mortality hardly changed before the Japanese invasion of 1937. The pattern is also shown to be true for nuptiality and for the variable annual fertility during the years of maximum childbearing. Significant demographic variations between local regions are revealed, though far more in mortality and fertility than in nuptiality. The assumptions and logic of inference needed in reconstructing these populations are discussed in detail.