In
Ming DynastyChina, the "lijia" census registration system begun in
1371 is now universally imposed during the reign of the
Hongwu Emperor. The census counts 59,873,305 people living in
China in this year. This depicts a drastic drop in population since the
Song Dynasty, which counted 100 million people at its height in the early 12th century. The historian
Timothy Brook, in his "The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming
China", states that the Ming census was inaccurate, as
China in the late 14th century had at least 65,000,000 inhabitants, if not 75,000,000.ref name=brook 28Brook, Timothy (1998). "The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming
China". Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22154-3