LAND REFORM: COMPROMISES 307In the end Yeh believed there was nothing that could be done to put land in
the hands of the poor, and yet some kind of system could be devised so that after
a decade or so there would be no extremes of wealth or poverty and the con-
centration of land in the hands of a few would come to an end. But he failed to
make clear just what the nature of this system would be. IOI In the spectrum of
reformist thought in the Sung, Yeh Shih appears to represent the opposite pole
from Chang Tsai - pessimistic on the possibility of restoring the well fields,
favorable to the landlords, and optimistic about their capacity for moral improve-
ment. Yu's omission of his ideas, as well as the views of Wang An-shih on the
contribution of rich landlords, probably indicates that Yu's own prejudices biased
his selection of Sung views on reform.
Cadastral Surveys and Progressive TaxationDespite Yu's neglect of the subject, any discussion of land reform in the Sung
should not be confined to the theoretical expositions of scholars because Sung
emperors and statesmen did make repeated attempts to rectify inequities in the
distribution of land and the land tax. These measures pale by comparison only
with the equal-field system of the previous era, for they were restricted in type
either to some mode of efficient cadastral survey and registration under the square-
field model or some variant of land limitation usually imposed on the families
of officials. Unfortunately, Yu Hyongwon failed to include a discussion of these
practical reforms in his account.
The square-field system that was adopted in the Northern Sung in the era of
Wang An-shih between 1072 and [085 and reinstituted under Ts'ai Ching's spon-
sorship between I 104 and I 120 was a combination of two principles of orga-
nization used intermittently since the late Tang and Five Dynasties period in
the early tenth century. One of these principles, usually referred to as an equal-
tax system (chiin-shuifa), was nothing more than progressive taxation based on
accurate and periodic land registration and a variable tax rate graded according
to the fertility of the land.
The other principle was the laying out of boundary lines around cultivated
land in square or grid patterns. This was first attempted in the square fields estab-
lished along the northern frontier after 986 to provide food rations to soldiers
stationed there and to establish bases to interdict the advance of the Khitan
invaders. These military colonies were abandoned after the peace treaty with
the Khitan in 1004, but the two principles of organization were combined in
[044 with the creation of the thousand-paced square fields (ch 'iell-pujang-t'ien).
As before, land was laid out in squares and tax rates were graded according to
the fertility of the land, but in place of the previous system of self-reporting,
officials were now put in charge of surveying property and assessing taxes. It
was attempted only in a few districts and soon abandoned, but it established the
model for the system adopted by Wang An-shih.