LAND REFORM: COMPROMISES 299distribution and taxation] and granted land to able-bodied males. Therefore, you
had the problem of an unequal balance between the number of people and the
amount of land. Even though this appears to be close fto the ancient or well-field
system], in fact it was not the same as the ancient system.7RYu's evaluation of the weaknesses of the equal-field system formed the back-
ground to his analysis of the essential elements of the well-field system, and he
assumed that the equal-field system had failed because it had not incorporated
all elements of the well-field model.
SUNG DYNASTY OPINION ON LAND REFORMThe Sung era (tenth through thirteenth centuries) was naturally important to Kore-
ans in the seventeenth century because Sung scholars and statesmen produced
a number of ideas about the problems of land and tax reform as well as their
contribution to Neo-Confucian moral philosophy. The central issue in their state-
craft thought was whether the well-field system could ever be restored, and if
not, what alternatives were possible?The Feasibility of a Well-Field RestorationYu traced the history of the debate over the feasibility ofrestoring the well-field
system in the age of centralized bureaucracy. He noted that after the establish-
ment of private property in the unified Ch'in dynasty, the well-field system was
held up as a model for reform, but few believed it could be restored. Hsiin Yiieh
of the Later Han dynasty preferred the adoption of the well-field system but
pointed out practical difficulties in its application. He felt that it was best suited
to a high man/land ratio, but during the middle of a dynastic period population
density was higher and private property rights were firmly entrenched and dif-
ficult to abolish. Although it was politically more feasible to attempt a well-field
restoration at the beginning of a dynasty when there was a low population and
a lot of available land, it was not really needed at such times because there was
plenty of land for everyone and not much prcssure for redistribution. He
cxpressed regret that Emperor Kuang-wu had failed to abolish the purchase and
sale of land to prevent the accumulation of excess property in later times when
he founded the Later Han dynasty in A.D. 25. Yet he still believed that at least
the principles of the well-field system could be adapted to the centralized state:
"Even though institutions in ancient times were different from the present and
the advantages and disadvantages differ in accordance with the time, still in terms
of their grand outline and major principles, they are one and the same."79
The famous poet-statesman Po Chti-i of the T'ang dynasty agreed generally
with Hstin Ytieh's point when he suggested that although the Ch'in ch'i'5nmaek
system was more suitable when population was low and land in excess, in a
time of population surplus and land shortage the well-field system was more