Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions. Yu Hyongwon and the Late Choson Dynasty - James B. Palais

280 LAND REFORM

that although Chu Hsi and Lii Tsu-ch'ien also praised Lin's plan, it was too far

a departure from the well-field model because it allowed for the temporary pur-

chase and sale ofland. 12 In similar fashion Yu also noted approvingly the remarks

of the late Kory6 land reformers Cho Chun and Yi Haeng that the chansikwa

system of early Kory6, which Yu had thought was a replica of the T'ang equal-

field system based on state ownership of land, was undermined by the conver-

sion of public land to private ownership.13 In short, when Yu summarized his

main conclusions from his research, he wrote that private landownership was

the main feature of the post-Chou age of decline: "In the later age the land sys-

tem broke down and there was private occupation of land without limit, so that

there were problems in all affairs and everything was contrary to this [the per-

fection of ancient China]."14

THE CHOU WELL-FIELD MODEL

The Nine-squares: The Lord's and the Peasants' Plots

Private ownership was thus the antithesis of the well-field model, but an inves-
tigation of its content is necessary for an understanding of the principles Yu
derived from it. He began his Pan' gye surok with a paean of praise to the beau-
ties of the well-field system in its time:

In ancient times the well-field system reached the limit [of perfection]. The lay-

ing out ofland boundaries [kyonggye] was all rectified, all affairs were

completed, and all the people had a firm basis for steady occupations [hangop].

In military atJairs there were no problems attendant on finding and recruiting

men for service Isuhwa]. Among the noble and base [in society], there was no

one who did not have his proper job [chik]. For this reason men's minds were

firmly established and the customs of the people were harmonious. This was

why things were firmly established and maintained for several hundreds and

thousands of years in ancient times. The fact that rites and music flourished

was because of this root and foundation. 15

Even as described in classical sources like the Mencius and The Rites of Chou,
however, the well-field system was not the sole method of land tenure and dis-
tribution during the Chou; its use was purportedly confined to fiefs assigned to
those feudal nobles (kyang and taebu) in the service of the Chou king or the chief
vassals of the king who ruled over the feudal states of the period. There are sev-
eral descriptions of the well-field system in classical sources, but the most impor-
tant one is in the Mencius, which states that farmland under the control of certain
feudal lords was divided into squares of 900 my a in area, defined in terms of a
specific number of square feet, and each of these squares was further subdivided
into nine equal squares of 100 my a each. Eight peasant families occupied eight