Changes

==Demographic & Economic Expansion==

==Demographic & Economic Expansion==

The population of China roughly tripled over the course of the Qing Dynasty, going from roughly 125-150 million at the beginning of the period, to around 400-450 million in the 19th century.<ref>Benjamin Elman, ''A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China'', University of California Press (2000), 130.</ref> By the 19th century, there were roughly six times as many farming families in China as in the 14th century. This dramatic population growth was supported in large part, as it was through the Ming Dynasty, by considerable increases in the food supply. In the Qing Dynasty, this came chiefly from expansion of the amount of land under cultivation, and from improvements in fertilizer, irrigation, and strains of plants. The introduction in the late Ming of new crops from the Americas, including maize, sweet potatoes, and peanuts, also contributed to the expansion of the food supply.<ref name=craig101>Craig, 101-103.</ref>

The population of China roughly doubled over the course of the 18th century alone, from roughly 150 million in 1700 to around 300 million by 1800;<ref>Lloyd Eastman, ''Family, Fields, and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China's Social and Economic History, 1550-1949'', Oxford University Press (1988), 3-4.</ref> the population roughly tripled over the course of the Qing Dynasty taken as a whole, going from roughly 125-150 million at the beginning of the period in 1644, to around 400-450 million in the 19th century.<ref>Benjamin Elman, ''A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China'', University of California Press (2000), 130.</ref> By the 19th century, there were roughly six times as many farming families in China as in the 14th century. This dramatic population growth was supported in large part, as it was through the Ming Dynasty, by considerable increases in the food supply. In the Qing Dynasty, this came chiefly from expansion of the amount of land under cultivation, and from improvements in fertilizer, irrigation, and strains of plants. The introduction in the late Ming of new crops from the Americas, including maize, sweet potatoes, and peanuts, also contributed to the expansion of the food supply;<ref name=craig101>Craig, 101-103.</ref> since many of these crops could be grown in places and soil types unsuitable for more traditional crops, they did not displace more traditional crops, but truly supplemented them. The expansion of the amount of land under cultivation also contributed significantly to supporting population growth.<ref>Eastman, 7-8.</ref> The implementation of a smallpox vaccine in the 16th century (during the Ming Dynasty), along with a number of other developments contributing to a decline in the mortality rate, likely also were key elements in this unprecedented demographic growth. Some scholars, noting similar demographic trends in other parts of the world simultaneously, have suggested that climactic variations, including the end of the Little Ice Age, may have played a significant role as well.<ref>Eastman, 5-6.</ref>

The Jiangnan region (south of the Yangzi, and including the cities of [[Hangzhou]], [[Suzhou]], and [[Shanghai]]) continued to grow increasingly densely populated and urbanized over the course of the period. The vast majority of the agricultural land in the region was used for growing cash crops such as silk and cotton, and by the beginning of the 19th century, the region needed to import food in considerable quantities in order to support itself.<ref name=craig101/>

The Jiangnan region (south of the Yangzi, and including the cities of [[Hangzhou]], [[Suzhou]], and [[Shanghai]]) continued to grow increasingly densely populated and urbanized over the course of the period. The vast majority of the agricultural land in the region was used for growing cash crops such as silk and cotton, and by the beginning of the 19th century, the region needed to import food in considerable quantities in order to support itself.<ref name=craig101/>