total population at the beginning of the
Ming epoch; about 1500 it is estimated to have been 53,280,000, and this
population had to provide some 266,000,000 _shih_ in taxes. At the
beginning of the Ming epoch the population and revenue must, however,
have been smaller.

The laws against the merchants and the restrictions under which the
craftsmen worked, remained essentially as they had been under the Sung,
but now the remaining foreign merchants of Mongol time also fell under
these laws, and their influence quickly diminished. All craftsmen, a
total of some 300,000 men with families, were still registered and had
to serve the government in the capital for three months once every three
years; others had to serve ten days per month, if they lived close by.
They were a hereditary caste as were the professional soldiers, and not
allowed to change their occupation except by special imperial
permission. When a craftsman or soldier died, another family member had
to replace him; therefore, families of craftsmen were not allowed to
separate into small nuclear families, in which there might not always be
a suitable male. Yet, in an empire as large as that of the Ming, this
system did not work too well: craftsmen lost too much time in travelling
and often succeeded in running away while travelling. Therefore, from
1505 on, they had to pay a tax instead of working for the government,
and from then on the craftsmen became relatively free.

4 _Colonization and agricultural developments_

As already mentioned, the Ming had to keep a large army along the
northern frontiers. But they also had to keep armies in south China,
especially in Yuennan. Here, the Mongol invasions of Burma and Thailand
had brought unrest among the tribes, especially the Shan. The Ming did
not hold Burma but kept it in a loose dependency as "tributary nation".
In order to supply armies so far away from all agricultural surplus
centres, the Ming resorted to the old system of "military colonies"
which seems to have been invented in the second century B.C. and is
still used even today (in Sinkiang). Soldiers were settled in camps
called _ying_, and therefore there are so many place names ending with
_ying_ in the outlying areas of China. They worked as state farmers and
accumulated surplusses which were used in case of war in which these
same farmers turned soldiers again. Many criminals were sent to these
state farms, too. This system, especially in south Ch