In the reign of Emperor of Gao in the Tang Dynasty part of the landaveraging farmers started to go bankrupt and differentiate. Down to the reign of Emperor of Rui in Wu Zetian’s court of Zhou, the bankruptcy and differentiation of landaveraging family economy became so serious as to threaten the state’s financial income and social security. Up till the reign of Emperor of Xuan, most the landaveraging families had gone bankrupt and the economic situation was narrowly out of the court’s control. After the outburst of An Lushan and Shi Siming’s Rebellion, the landaveraging family economy went bankrupt sharply. In the first year of the imperial title of Jianzhong in the reign of Emperor of De, the court declared the unmaking of the landrenting system and the imposing of a system of double rent, which actually indicated the repealing of the landaveraging system. The course of decline of landaveraging family economy basically agreed with the turn of the state rule of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline.

economy of the Tang Dynasty; landaveraging family; individual household economy