Tang Registered Households and Persons, 754-764 CE (Tongdian via Wenxian Tongkao)

Registered households 754-764 and persons 755/760, transcribed from primary-source text read in session; illustrates the registration collapse around the An Lushan Rebellion; NOT deaths.

Data Summary

| year | households | persons |

|---|---|---|

| 754 | 9,619,254 | - |

| 755 | 8,919,309 | 52,909,309 (44,700,988 + 8,208,321) |

| 756 | 8,018,710 | - |

| 760 | 1,933,134 | 16,990,386 (14,619,587 + 2,370,799) |

| 764 | 2,933,125 | - |

• Source: Ma Duanlin, Wenxian Tongkao juan 10, quoting Du You, Tongdian (zh.wikisource.org, revid 1501681; read 2026-10-11).
• The source states a 755-760 loss of 5,982,584 households and 35,928,723 persons; simple subtraction of its totals gives 6,986,175 and 35,918,923: source-internal inconsistency, left unresolved.
• Ma Duanlin comments that Tang registers are unreliable; the drop reflects registration collapse, flight, concealment and deaths in unknown proportions. Do NOT cite as mortality.
• Secondary scholarship (Twitchett 1979; Pulleyblank 1955) not read by me for these figures.

Citations

• tongdian-via-wenxian-tongkao-10 [formal] Ma Duanlin, Du You (1308). Ma Duanlin, Wenxian Tongkao juan 10 (hu-kou), quoting Du You's Tongdian on Tang registered households/persons 754-764 (zh.wikisource.org, revid 1501681). Wikisource (Chinese). https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/文獻通考/卷十. Verified 2026-10-11 (resolves).
• twitchett1979-camb-hist-china-3 [formal] Denis Twitchett (ed.) (1979). The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589-906, Part I. Cambridge University Press. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL34637374W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
• pulleyblank1955-an-lushan [formal] Edwin G. Pulleyblank (1955). The Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan. Oxford University Press. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3119668W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).

Series values: see series.war-gap.json (ids prefixed tang registered population 754 764).