In the Han Dynasty, only eligible unmarried women were subject to the heavy “five levies” surcharge; single men were not additionally charged a head tax. What was this policy like?

《Book of Han》（《汉书》） preserves a record: “In the sixth year of Gaozu… women over fifteen and up to thirty who do not marry, the five levies.”

By the time of Emperor Hui of Han, this edict was carried out even more strictly. The so-called “five levies” refers to five times the assessed taxes.

The assessed tax (算赋) was the head tax that the Han Dynasty imposed on adults—120 cash per person per year, called one levy. If a girl reached age fifteen and still had not married, and by age thirty was still staying at her parents’ home, then each year she would have to pay 600 cash in tax to the government.