The well-field system () was a Chinese

land redistribution Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land surface ...

method existing between the eleventh or tenth century BCE (Western

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

) to around the

Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...

. Though

Mencius Mencius (孟子, ''Mèngzǐ'', ; ) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher, often described as the Second Sage () to reflect his traditional esteem relative to Confucius himself. He was part of Confucius's fourth generation of disciples, inheriting ...

describes examples from the Xia and Shang dynasties, these could be mythological or imagined, and credited

King Wen of Zhou King Wen of Zhou ( zh, c=周文王, p=Zhōu Wén Wáng; 1152–1050 BC, the Cultured King) was the posthumous title given to Ji Chang ( zh, c=姬昌), the patriarch of the Zhou state during the final years of Shang dynasty in ancient China. J ...

as one of the persons enacting the system. The name comes from

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

井 (''jǐng''), which means 'well' and looks like the # symbol; this character represents the theoretical appearance of land division: a square area of land was divided into nine identically sized sections; the eight outer sections (私田; ''sītián'') were privately cultivated by farmers, or nong in Chinese, one of the occupations of the four occupations system; and the center section (公田; gōngtián) was communally cultivated on behalf of the government, or in some cases, the landowning aristocrat or duke. While all fields were government- or aristocrat-owned, the private fields were managed exclusively by farmers and the produce was entirely the farmers'. It was only produce from the communal fields, worked on by all eight families, that went to the government for famine distribution or the aristocrats and which, in turn, could go to the king as

tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of lands which the state con ...

. However, in Mencius it is said that all people in office got 50 mu (about half an acre). As part of a larger fengjian system, the well-field system became strained in the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period () was a period in History of China, Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou (256 BCE), characterized by the gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject t ...

as kinship ties between aristocrats became meaningless. When the system became economically untenable in the

, it was replaced by a system of private land ownership. It was first suspended in the state of Qin by

Shang Yang Shang Yang (; c. 390 – 338 BC), also known as Wei Yang () and originally surnamed Gongsun, was a Politician, statesman, chancellor and reformer of the Qin (state), State of Qin. Arguably the "most famous and most influential statesman of the ...

and other states soon followed suit, though King Hui of Wei and King Xuan of Qi did think about restoring it after Mencius talked to them. They ultimately did not. As part of the "turning the clock back" reformations by

Wang Mang Wang Mang (45 BCE6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun, officially known as the Shijianguo Emperor (), was the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the ...

during the short-lived

Xin dynasty The Xin dynasty (; ), also known as Xin Mang () in Chinese historiography, was a short-lived Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty which lasted from 9 to 23 AD, established by the Han dynasty consort kin Wang Mang, who usurped th ...

, the system was restored temporarily and renamed to the King's Fields (王田; ''wángtián''). The practice was more-or-less ended by the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

, but scholars like

Zhang Zai Zhang Zai () (1020–1077) was a Chinese philosopher and politician. He is best known for laying out four ontological goals for intellectuals: to build up the manifestations of Heaven and Earth's spirit, to build up good life for the populace, t ...

and Su Xun were enthusiastic about its restoration invoking

's frequent praise of the system. It is mentioned in the

book of rites The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The '' ...

and it is said most anciently that the farmers only had to work the government fields 3 days a year; though it is unknown whether this is true, it is also said that the most ancient had houses given away, and 3 days was all that was required. In addition, it was stated the market of the goods would not be taxed; only a small fee for a stall, and travelers weren't taxed. It is later said in other texts that taxes were put on the market goods when a merchant was looking from side to side and people thought he was plotting.

References

Bibliography

* * *{{citation , last=Zhufu , first=Fu , year=1981 , title=The economic history of China: Some special problems , journal=Modern China , volume=7 , issue=1 , pages=3–30 , doi=10.1177/009770048100700101 , s2cid=220738994

External links

Encyclopædia Britannica
Agriculture in China Chinese inventions Economic history of China History of agriculture in China Ancient Chinese institutions

See also

References

Bibliography

External links