Chinese Provinces have always been known to have been enormously populated. The Ancient China Population was 13.55 million in 2200 BC during the Xia Dynasty. It was around 20 million in 221 BC which was during the rule of Qin Dynasty and 59.59 million in the Hans Dynasty. Later during the Song dynasty 76.8 million.
In the extreme ancient era, the population of China was not distributed evenly. It was only during the Qin Dynasty that Centralization first took place and the correct Ancient China Population seems to have been recorded. Main contributions of the Qin include the concept of a centralized government, the unification of the development of the written language, legal code currency of China after the tribulations of Autumn and Spring. Even something as basic as the length of axles for carts—which need to match ruts in the road — had to be made uniform to ensure a viable trading system throughout the empire
China was waged with a violence of different forms in the initial period of ancient era and it was after this era that farming, irrigation, technology, social stability started building up in China though at a very slow pace.
Thereafter the population reduced because around 40 million hectares of land was required to feed the population and a lot of deforestation and soil erosion took place. A lot of migration within the Chinese population also helped in reducing the population.
Efforts made by the people of China were not less yet the Chinese could not sustain a balanced population and because of its social structure today China is the most populated country in the world.
It is trying its level best to reduce its population by many methods like a One Child Policy enforced by the State. China should soon be able to balance its population the way it was done after the Qin Dynasty.