LAND REFORM: COMPROMISES 28rof the nine squares, which they cultivated for themselves. The ninth square, located
in the center and called kongjon (public land, or the lord's field) was cultivated
by pooling the labor from the surrounding eight families and the produce from
this square went to the lord of the land. The peasants paid no land tax on their
own land but were required to perform labor service on the lord's land to culti-
vate the crop for him. 16
Mencius was famous for insisting on the obligation of a virtuous ruler to pro-
vide for the economic security and well-being of the general population, and he
lauded the well-field model because it provided enough land to peasant fami-
lies for a standard of living somewhat higher than mere subsistence by guaran-
teeing a uniform sized plot. Although the Chinese word kyun, often translated
as equality, and the phrase kyunmin, making the people equal, was frequently
used to describe the principle involved in the distribution of equally sized plots
of land to peasant families, there are some problems involved in interpreting the
essence of the well-field system as one of equal distribution. 17
The only aspect of the system that was absolutely equal was the 100 myo (or
one kyong) plot. Since the number of people in a given household could vary
and productivity could depend on land fertility, labor, fertilizer and other inputs,
a fixed and uniform plot of land to peasant families would not necessarily guar-
antee complete equality of income on a per capita basis. It is obvious, however,
that the disparities of income among families could never be too great under
such a system, so that relative equity was obviously one of its perceived goals.
Equity or fairness defined as a guarantee of income above subsistence is prob-
ably what he meant by the term kyun. Nevertheless, it must be kept in mind that
although absolute equality of per capita or even familial income was not an indis-
pensable principle of the well-field system, the idea of a fixed plot of land of
uniform area defined in terms of a number of square feet was in fact regarded
by Yu and a number of his Chinese sources as absolutely essential to a successful
adaptation of the well-field system. It was of special importance to Yu because
Koreans were not using a standard linear foot or constant unit of area as part of
their land survey technique in the seventeenth century.
The concept of a fixed plot of land of uniform size was also related to another
classical term, kyonggye, or the establishment and regulation ofland boundaries.
Yu believed that one of the reasons why the well-field system was superior to
any that followed it was that the fixed squares of land were bounded by ridges
and dikes in such fashion as to leave an indelible imprint on the soil, impervi-
ous to the forces of time and change. Any land reform unaccompanied by the
laying out of these land boundaries was doomed to failure.
It might well appear that flexibility on the question of income equality and
distribution but rigidity on the matter of the permanently fixed, uniform plots
of land surrounded by physical boundaries signifies a reversal of proper prior-
ities and a rather simplistic literalism with regard to the sanctity of the c1assi-
cal literature and the models of Chinese antiquity. The idea of the fixed, bounded