Ming Dynasty Yellow Register Household Registration

Timeline

1. 1368–1369Prefectures and counties of Jiangnan · East ChinaWarfare in the late Yuan caused household registers to be lost and populations to flee. After Ming forces pacified Jiangnan, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered local officials to survey households and verify landholdings in preparation for compiling the Yellow Register, and initially restored the lijia grassroots household organization.
2. 1370Ministry of Revenue, Yingtian Prefecture · East ChinaIn Hongwu 3, the Ming court formally promulgated the Yellow Register system: registering persons, land, grain taxes, and corvée duties primarily by household, with registers bound in yellow covers; the Ministry of Revenue kept the original while provincial administrations and prefectures/counties kept copies. Together with the lijia and the Fish-scale Registers, it formed the basis of Ming tax and corvée collection.