A Review of the Prosperity and Decline of the West Han Dynasty's National Power by Examining the Change in the Population of Bing Prefecture

In an agricultural society,the size of population is one of the importance criteria to estimate the level of development of its social productivity.In the West Han Dynasty,Bing Prefecture on the northwest border was an area where farming economy areas and nomadic economy areas adjoined,therefore becoming the front where farming nationalities and nomadic ones communicated,clashed,and conflicted with each other.Its population was from various sources,and the size was unstable.This change roughly went through the process of rapid development,steady increase,and quick decrease,which is in fact a barometer of the thriving and declining of the West Han Dynasty's economy and frontier defense,reflecting the fact that the dynasty's national power was going from prosperity to decline.