288 LAND REFORMand noji"jn in Korean) could not bc privately owned, inherited, or bequeathed.
It was granted when the individual came of age (fifteen or twenty. depending
on the dynasty), and most of it was to be returned when the individual attained
an age exempting him from military or labor service obligations (usually sixty
years of age). If a recipient died before this time, the grant was to be returned
to the state for redistribution to someone else, with certain provisions for trans-
fer to widows and minor children. The individual (and his household) who
received the kou-fen-t'ien grant was also the subject of taxation, so that in addi-
tion to a land tax (tsu in Chinese, cho in Korean) able-bodied adult males were
required to perform so many days of national labor service as well as military
service, and the household was obliged to pay a household tax (tsu) equivalent
to local tribute.
Each individual also received a smaller amount of land in the form of per-
manent tenure (yung-yeh-t'ien in Chinese, yongopchiin in Korean) and house-
site land. He was required to plant mulberry trees on the )'llllg-yeh-t'ien, which
did not have to be returned to the state. It could be bequeathed to heirs and within
limits sold or otherwise disposed of.
Officials wcre granted either office land (chih-fen-t'ien in Chinese, chikpunjon
in Korean). or YUIIg-yeh-t 'ien or both, depending on the dynasty. Offiee land
was allotted from so-called public land (kung-t'ien in Chinese, kongjon in
Korean), which did not refer to the nationally owned land distributed to indi-
viduals either temporarily or permanently (i.e., the kou-fen-t'ien or yung-yeh-
t' ien), but to lands under the control of the state or the district magistrate that
was not subject to distribution. For example, in the Northern Ch'i land in the
capital province surrounding the imperial capital was set aside as kung-t'ien dur-
ing the reign of Emperor Wu-ch'eng (561-565) and allotted to men with offi-
cial rank.3S
It is, of course. possible that these kung-t'ien (kongj(ll1) allotments were preben-
dal tax collection rights on land that was distributed to individual peasants under
the temporary allotment system. In the Northern Wei kung-t'ien in local dis-
tricts was allotted to provincial officials and magistrates in amounts descend-
ing from fifteen to six kyong depending on the rank of the official. It is not clear
whether these were separate lands or prebendal tax rights over kou-fen-t'ien.^36
The description of the T'ang system states that officials of rank six and below
could fill their quota of yung-yeh-t'ien from kung-t'ien that had been returned
(to the state) in their local areas or from areas where there was a surplus of land.
In the latter case officials were prohibited by law from selling this office land
(chih-fen-t'ien) when leaving their posts,37
One source on the Northern Wei and Northern Ch'i dynasties noted that irreg-
ularities in the administration of the office and imperial award land grants sub-
verted the equal-field system and led to the expansion of private holdings. In
the Wei dynasty "office land was granted to people without regard to whether
they were nohle or hase in status," and Emperor Hsiian-wu began to make impe-
rial land grants in perpetuity and to tolerate purchase and sale of land. In the