How did Chinese imperial policy regarding settlement and colonization change the population landscape in China?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A. Imperial policy stimulated the southward shift of settlement
1. into regionswhere rice grew
2. far from the threat of steppeland invasion
3. effects on nutrition and therefore on levels of population were benign
B. New settlement and colonies
1. vagrant families were ordered tosettle in agricultural colonies under military discipline
a. proclamations often failed to produceresults
b. some colonies did take shape under this program
2. monasteries were considered good for settlement
a. effective colonizers that could kick-start development in underexploited areas
C. Population shifts and growth
1. by the mid-eighth century, a third of china's people lived in the Huai and Yangtze River valleys
a. by the eleventh century, over half of the population lived in this region
2. effects of colonization
a. Chinese villages replaced aboriginal populations, which were exterminated, assimilated, or driven into marginal areas
3. population had grown to 60 million by the year 1000