明代人口之谜探析

Exploration of the Mystery of the population in Ming Dynasty

“明代户口之雾”一直困扰着后世学者，使人们难以看清明代人口的真实数字，由于当时史书均没有注明所统计户口是否包括男口和女口，所以，给后世学者带来诸多疑问。由于明代人口数一直没有定论，故现代人在著作中都将正史中所记载人口数作为全部人口数引用。通过对户口统计及记载资料的分析可证，明代户口统计是只计男口，不计女口，按自然生殖法则推算，明代人口数要比正史记载的多一倍左右。

The population statistics in Ming Dynasty is still a perplexity for today's scholars, because the historical records then didn't give clear indication whether the total population included both the male and the female. Since the total population in Ming Dynasty has not a final conclusion, the scholars today often quote the statistics recorded in the biographical style history books as the total population number of Ming Dynasty. Through the analysis of the recorded historical materials concerned, the author thinks that the population'statistics of Ming Dynasty was only based on the male, not including the female. According to the natural reproduction principle, the total population of Ming Dynasty should be twice of the recorded statistics.