中世纪中西财产继承的差异对人口发展的影响

    摘要：本文着重探讨中世纪中国和西欧不同的财产继承形式对家庭结构、婚姻状况、迁移流动等基本人口行为所产生的作用, 从而对中西人口变动的特征进行分析, 并进一步从财产继承与人口的关系角度来剖析中国和西欧近代社会发展过程的差异。
     
    Influence of the Differences in Chinese and Western Inheritance of Property on the Growth of Population in the Middle Ages
    Abstract： Abstract In the Middle Ages in the West,family property was inherited generally without partition.Family property was bequeathed only to one of the children,usually the eldest son.In normal case,other children could not inherit property from the family,nor could they get married at their parents’ home.They had to go out to make a living and to accumulate fortunes for the expense of marriage.This,encouraging the movement of population,late marriage and late childbearing,was a great reason for low birthrate.But in China in the medieval times,family property was usually inherited equally by the children who could get married and continue to live at their parents’ house.This kind of system encouraged early marriage and early childbearing,contributed to the rapid growth of population,and obstructed the movement of population.
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    文章出处：史学理论研究，1999年第2期