Ming Dynasty Corvée Labor System

Timeline

1. 1381–1393Nanjing · JiangnanThe Hongwu Emperor implemented lijia registration and yellow-register compilation, recording households, persons, land, and corvée items in registers, establishing the household-registration and tax-service basis for state labor conscription.
2. 1436–1480Prefectures of Jiangnan and North China · ChinaDuring the Zhengtong era, silver commutation of taxes began to be levied, and around the Chenghua era the equal-corvée method was implemented locally; some labor services were commuted to silver payments, easing direct conscription but intensifying the monetization of taxes and services and disputes over grassroots burdens.
3. 1471–1480Suzhou Prefecture · Southern ZhiliDuring the Chenghua era, lijia in Jiangnan rotated through corvée duties according to the yellow register for grain transport, river works, and labor services; local equal-corvée compilation and household-person responsibility allocation became the daily core of grassroots governance.
4. 1581–1644Ming dynasty nationwide · ChinaThe Wanli-era Single Whip Reform merged the land tax and corvée into a single silver payment, gradually dissolving the corvée system through monetization and laying the path for the Qing dynasty's merging of poll tax into land tax.