The Influence of the Tenant System on the Development of Agriculture in Ancient China

Looking at the tenant relationship in China in the past dynasties, in terms of the form of land rent, the rent in kind was relatively common in the early days, and there may be a considerable proportion of labor rent, such as the "division of land" during the Warring States period and the "thousands of servitude envoys" of Ningcheng in the Han Dynasty. During the Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties, the rent in kind increased. In the Tang Dynasty tenant contract, monetary rent also appeared.

However, servitude, in-kind and monetary rent are sometimes intertwined. There is a fixed amount of rent, such as the Suohei slave land lease contract stipulates that the rent per mu is one stone and two buckets. There are split-rents, such as the bi-cent, four-six, three-seven, and two-eighth.

There are also mortgages as guarantees, gifts given to landlords during the New Year, small rents, etc. The personal dependence of the tenants was strongest at the time of labor rent, and gradually eased later. The Northern Song Dynasty promulgated the "Huangguanzhuang Customer Escape Law", which stipulates that only the customer himself can be enslaved, and his family members cannot be enslaved; Those who cannot be forced to sell land and owe debts are customers; After the death of the customer, the wife is allowed to remarry, and the customer is allowed to marry the daughter by himself.

This is an express provision for the weakening of the dependency of tenants. However, the development was uneven, and there were still tenants and the like who were highly dependent in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In short, China's tenant system is similar to the general nature of feudal production relations in other countries in the world, but also has different particularities, and its content is complex and varied.

This kind of tenant system continued for a long time in the old semi-colonial and semi-feudal China.

It can be said to be a milestone for ancient China.

Historical Background: Land annexation has become increasingly serious since the middle of the Tang Dynasty; The Song Dynasty's policy of "not suppressing annexation"; With the development of the commodity economy in the Song Dynasty, land sales were frequent.

Features: Tenant relationships are more common; feudal personal dependency was loosened (the status of tenants increased); Tenants and landlords form an interdependent relationship.

In feudal China, landlords leased land to peasants, thus exploiting the peasants. It is a form of feudal production relations that has emerged with the feudal mode of production since the Warring States period. This system lasted for more than 2,000 years from the Warring States period to the Ming and Qing dynasties, and continued to develop and change in the past 2,000 years.

In the Song Dynasty, there was another phenomenon of "withdrawing tenants" and "tenants". "Tenant withdrawal" is the acquisition of a certain piece of land by a new landlord who can evict the original tenant "Tenant" is the tenant who is willing to increase the rent in order to obtain the land that another tenant originally cultivated. The landlord class used these methods to oppress the tenants and raise rents.

The establishment and dissolution of the tenancy relationship is freer than in the past. At this time, the relationship between the landlord and the tenant, as Su Xun said in "The Field System": "The home of the rich people, the land is wide and wide, and the fields are connected, recruiting floating customers, dividing the cultivation among them, whipping and driving servants, treating them as slaves, sitting around and directing them."

And the people who serve are for it, for it in summer, and for it in autumn, and no one violates his moderation to play. And where the field enters, half of it has been obtained. "So the tenants grew poorer and starving, while the landlords became richer.

Produced: Spring and Autumn Period.

The landlord class has a system of wells.

Carry out reforms, innovate in land management, and create a tenant system Development of the Wei and Jin dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties produced the tuntian system, the Tang Dynasty appeared the tenant system, and the Song Dynasty appeared the phenomenon of "withdrawing tenants" Impact: Forming a self-sufficient natural economy that lasted for thousands of years.

form, the agricultural economy has strong stability but no development vitality.

Tips: The tenant system was born in the Warring States period in China, and became more and more common in the Song Dynasty, and the tenant relationship was further developed in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Under the tenant relationship, the personal control of the state and landlords over the tenant farmers gradually weakened; Under the tenant system, the main tenant and the tenant enter into a contract, and the tenant farmer obtains the right to permanent tenancy, which is conducive to increasing the production enthusiasm of the tenant farmers and promoting the development of the agricultural economy.

At the same time, the above factors have also promoted the commercialization of China's agriculture.

Whether it is the well field system or the famous field system, they all occupy the field house according to a certain status level. Zhou Jue to Shiqing Shilu as the principle, Qin Jue to eat hard work and Lu meritorious principle, correspondingly, the well field system under the Lutian can be enjoyed for the same family generations, so it is relatively stable, the famous field system under the field house, due to the title of the descendant inheritance and have greater mobility. Although there was no division between public and private fields, the labor rent still existed for a long time in the form of "concubines" and "raccoon dogs" until the Han Dynasty, when it was replaced by wage labor and tenant systems.

Although the Han Mingtian system is very different from the Qin Mingtian system, its household-based and title-based standard of the field house is in the same vein as the Qin Mingtian system in terms of basic principles.