Research On Agricultural Production Management In The Han Dynasty

As a combination of natural reproduction and social reproduction, agriculture is thebasis of the society and economy and also the decisive productive sector throughout ancienttimes across the world. During the Han Dynasty, in order to consolidate the centralizationof state power, the government strengthened the control over society and economy.Resource elements for the production and development of agriculture, such as theallocation of land, population shift, technology diffusion, the control and distribution ofironware, economic communication, the promotion of agriculture-oriented cultural,farmland exploitation and so on, took different forms and ways in different areas anddifferent times due to the restriction from the political and economic strategies andmanagerial mechanism for institution of the government. This paper discussed the steeringand inducing of resource elements for agricultural production of the managerial mechanismof government and described the overall situation of economy in the Han Dynasty, such ascauses for the development of family economy in the West Han Dynasty, unbalanceddevelopment of agricultural economy among different areas, especially Jiang-huai Regionwhich was backward in the West Han Dynasty, causes for the huge differences amongdifferent areas in terms of the development and diffusion of ironware, causes for thediffusion of agriculture-oriented culture and the environmental effect of farmlandexploitation. All these social phenomena were closely related to the various managerialmechanisms of the government. Because technology plays an important role in agriculturalproduction and development, this paper focuses on influences of the elements oftechnology, which include effects on the forms of resource exploitation, the positive andnegative effects on economy and on the economic performance of productive andmanagerial organization. This paper falls into six chapters.Chapter one is family economy and its development in the Han Dynasty. The familyeconomy system was established during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period.During the Qin and Han Dynasty, the family economy gained its legal status and was fullyimplemented. Individual family is the basis of family economy. The combination ofploughing and weaving is the basic unit of family economy. Grain production was givenpriority, and the production of mulberry, hemp, melon, fruit and vegetables were alsoemphasized. San Yang Zhuang houses and farmland site in the Han Dynasty was a proof ofsuch internal structure of family economy. Land was the basis for the existence anddevelopment of family economy. The ownership of private houses and land was crucial topetty farmers. It also embodied the ethic thoughts of the government that those who hadtheir own properties would behave properly. The government encouraged the developmentof family economy through various means. The ownership of private property was granted and corresponding responsibilities was described. However, the free flow of property rightstended to result in the losing of land ownership. Labor intensivism is a feature of familyeconomy. On one hand, technological advancement will lead to labor intensivism, on theother hand, the diffusion of techniques for cottage industry made petty farmers lead a plainlife.Chapter two is agricultural production management. Agricultural official system wasthe main part of finance system within the government of the Han Dynasty. The revenuewent to Danong or Shaofu, two departments in the central government. Danong was incharge of the land exploitation, water conservancy during the emperor Hanwu period.Agricultural official system was only in charge of agricultural tax collection but not socialmanagement. Local officials were responsible for social management and economicdevelopment. Their duties were to encourage agricultural production, to promoteagriculture-oriented culture policy, to promote technological exchange and to superviseagricultural production. It was essential for government to manage the agriculturalproduction in order to control the agricultural economy. The management focused on landexploitation, change in population, tax collection and diffusion of high yield crops andagricultural techniques. Small and medium Landowners, as an important force for thedevelopment of agricultural economy, became the spokesmen for the government. Theypromote agriculture-oriented thoughts in rural areas.Chapter three is the development and diffusion of iron farm tools, iron farm tools iscrucial for agriculture. And its advancement and diffusion embodied the level of agriculture.The policy of official in charge of iron refers to the monopoly of production anddistribution of ironware by the government. Ironware, as an important political andeconomic strategic resource, became an important means to adjust and control social andeconomic development. Under the policy, the production of ironware followed strictstandard. There was also a set of label system for the quality control and supervision. Inthis chapter, special attention was given to the so-called big tool mentioned in literature.This paper held that the so-called big tool is just a big iron plough with Li-Bi, which wasdeveloped for digging siol by the Da Nong department during the promotion of Dai Tianmethod. Due to its high price and big size, petty farmers were not allowed to own and use it.However, the invention of digging parts of plough laid a foundation for the futuredevelopment and improvement of the shape of iron plough. The diffusion of iron farm toolswas closely related to the three phases of the development of regional economy and politics.In the early West Han Dynasty, due to the blockage to the neighboring nationalities, thetechniques for ironware production were backward and the output was also limited. Duringthis period, wooden and iron farm tools were both used in many areas. In the middle andlate West Han Dynasty, due to the unbalanced development in terms of political andeconomic policy, iron plough and cattle ploughing were common practice in the basiceconomic districts. However, in Jiang-hui, Southwest and Lingnan regions, ironware washardly seen. In late Han Dynasty, iron farm tools were used in most part of then China. Thedifference of development of iron farm tools reflects the unbalanced development ofagricultural economy among different regions. Chapter four is farmland exploitation and its environmental effects. Farmlandexploitation was organized by the government. Farmland exploitation and waterconservancy projects greatly changed the original ecological system and had a certaineffect on the environment. Although farmland exploitation had resulted in increase infarmland areas and output, it also led to environmental disaster in some regions. Thedevelopment of pond irrigation works in Jianghuai Region optimized water resources thereand improved the agricultural environment as well as the living environment. This laid asolid technological and material foundation for the future development of economy inJiangnan Region. Negative effects of the farmland exploitation on the environment shouldserve as a warning for economic activities today.Chapter five is regional management and exchange of agricultural development.Policy concerning regional development of agricultural economy was gradually developedaccording to the political interests of the centralization of state power. The four regionaleconomic polices established during the Han Wudi period influenced the development ofregional economy in the late West Han Dynasty. Economic exchange among differentregions reflected the complementary among different regions. Economic exchange withforeign countries reflected the open mind of the Han nationality and the influences ofagricultural culture. Border trade with northern tribes and economic exchange with westAsian countries served not only as ties to preserve a steady relationship but also animportant channel for culture exchanges. The policy concerning the regional economicdevelopment and population shift promoted the diffusion of techniques among differentregions.Chapter six, the epilogue, is historical and realistic inspiration. Even today when wetry to develop the rural economy and reform the land ownership, we can still learn from theeconomic and ethic thoughts of the last 2,000 years that those who had their own propertieswould behave properly. The ways in which the agricultural economy developed in the basiceconomic districts were revealed. This paper held that governmental managerialmechanism and technological advancement and diffusion were not only important means todevelop agricultural economy in the history, its can also be adopted today to manageagricultural resources and to increase profits. Beeanse of the differences in resources andtechnology among different regions, regional economies are highly related andcomplementary. Through macro control the government can allocate resources effectivelyand optimize the profits so as to promote economic development in under-developedregions. Farmland ecological environment is an important part of the ecological system. Asound ecological system can ensure the sustainable development of agriculture. For thegovernment, great importance should be attached to the protection of both the farmland andthe ecological system.To sum up, relationship between managerial mechanisms and economic performance,namely the effects of governmental managerial mechanisms on the allocation ofagricultural resources, was described and discussed objectively in this paper. Positive andnegative effects of managerial mechanisms on economic performance in agriculture can beseen. Institution and its transformation are considered as important factors for economic performance and development in modern new institutional economics. Institutional reformand innovation is crucial to economic growth. The general situation of agriculturaleconomy in the Han Dynasty was described after the analysis of the basic socialmechanisms and its effect on economic performance. All this can be served as a referenceand also a warning when we now try to identify the present institutional obstacle of thereform and development of rural economy, to solve the san nong problem, or the problemof farmer, countryside and agriculture and to accelerate the building of a new countryside.