LAND REFORM: COMPROMISES 311land units of constant size marked by fixed boundaries as the basis for both dis-
tribution and taxation, and these bounded squares provided a powerful symbol
of stability and constancy.
The well-field system also included the principle of using publicly owned land
for providing stable economic support, not simply for incumbent officials, but
also for a sadaebu type of ruling class that transcended the nan-ow definition of
officeholding. In the well-field system this was done by the ch 'aeji, a cross
between a prebend and a fief, but in the later age of centralized bureaucracy,
another device had to be found to approximate this principle. 108
As mentioned in the previous chapter, Yu believed that the equal-field system
ofthe T'ang and Koryo [sic] had succeeded in approximating the well-field model
by replacing private ownership with a public ownership or kongjon system and
by providing plots of equal (or relatively equivalent) size to the peasant culti-
vators and their families. It failed, he added, because the use of individuals or
able-bodied adult males as the criteria of land grants, taxation, and military ser-
vice broke down under the pressure of population movement. and the natural
tendency of bureaucrats toward conuption and maladministration permitted the
reappearance of private property. Similarly, the intent of the limited-field con-
cept to check the growth of private estates was admirable, but the system was
flawed because it tolerated the existence of private property, thereby violating
the requirement that some form of kongj6n or public ownership of land was
necessary.^109 If the defects of the equal-field and limited-field models could be
overcome, then the essence of the well-field model could be transposed to a post-
feudal centralized, bureaucratic environment.
Yu did not intend to recreate the total Chou historical context, let alone the
well-field system in every feature, because the feudal age belonged to an irre-
trievable past. For example, one objection to the use of the well-field model was
that it required broad expanses of flat land to layout nine-square grids, but he
argued that this kind of fundamentalist literalism was misguided and unneces-
sary. A system of equal plots of land could readily be adapted to terrain like
Korea's. where alluvial plains were inten-upted with hills and rocky outcrop-
pings, a point that he had learned from the Ch'eng brothers and Chang Tsai.llo
A literal restoration ofthe well-field system was not necessary, only a succcss-
ful adaptation of the essence of the well-field model to his own time.
If we could in accordance with prescnt circumstances take into consideration thc
intention of the ancients and put it into practice. we would have a method. With
regard to thc shape of the land, it would not be necessary to have broad (and Hat)
fields. and the system would still be all right. It would not be necessary to set up
the lord's fields [kongj()nj, and we could still tithe the land. It would not be nec-
essary to establish ell lleji [prebendltlefs for the sadal'hu], and j yct j cvcry one
[among the sadal'iJuj would still obtain support.
If it were in accordance with the principles of nature [chariin ji riJ and if
changes wcre adapted to present-day circumstances, then all people would