A Study On Household Of The Sui Dynasty

In the Han and Tang Dynasties household is the elemental unit making up the society. Not only is the agrarian production carried out on the basis of household organization but also the social control by the government is realized on the basis of household control. Since Wei-Jin Dynasties, feudal patriarchal landowners obtain their division of social control by ruling large numbers of households, forming relatively independent power centers. During this period, on one hand, the central government rules the existing of society cooperatively with the large land owners, on condition that it acknowledges their share of social controlling power, and on the other hand , it reinforces its social controlling power by constant scrambling for household ruling from large land owners and reducing their social controlling power . After the establishment of the government of the Sui Dynasty , the whole nation has quickly reunited on the basis of seizing household controlling and soon the central government nearly controlled the total of household s on the basis of the reunification . The quick growth of number of household and total population brings about unprecedented wealth as well as resources of soldiers and laborers for the central government. In an agrarian society with low level of production both labour force and wealth of grain ,silk and cloth were sources in short supply . The central governments unprecedented possession of these sources suffocated agricultural production on which the ground of the society relied . As a result the whole society has broken up . Following the Sui Dynasty, the central government of the Tang Dynasty slowed down the speed of seeking control over households and population . It was this lesson learned from the Sui Dynasty that enabled Tang society to march gradually toward entire prosperity.