North to South: The Great Chinese Population Transfer

A History of Mankind (261)

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After Emperor Ming died at the age of 47, his eldest son, Emperor Zhang, continued similar policies. Like his father an educated man, the new ruler in December 79 AD convened the so-called “Consultations of the White Tiger Hall,” a conference similar to that depicted in the Discourses of Salt and Iron a century earlier.

As that previous conference, the “Consultations of the White Tiger Hall” only survives because of a report on the debates published later; an important point on which this latest conference was different is that it was less focused on specific policies and more on the role of classical texts and examples for the restored Han Dynasty¹. In this sense, the event did much to shape future discussions on what exactly is classic and traditional about Chinese culture and policy-making.