| In Ming and Qing Dynasty, a special tenancy system-Permanent Tenancy wasformed spontaneously by the lower-class farmers in the rural areas of developedprovinces in southern China and prevailed, which impacted the development of ruraleconomy and even the entire social economy at that time. This thesis believes thatpermanent tenancy system firstly appeared in the operation of official land in SongDynasty and was mainly adopted for the purpose of encouraging land reclamation andthen appeared in the operation of private land and gradually prevailed. From itsemergence till its forced abolishment during the land reform after the founding of newChina, seen from the angle of its evolution features, the permanent tenancy system wentthrough three stages: the initial stage, the transitory stage and the mature stage. In initialstage, tenant farmers owned an incomplete permanent tenancy right-permanent tillageright, namely the tenant farmers enjoyed permanent right of cultivating landlord’s landwithout back rent, but they did not have the right to sublease, mortgage, assignment andgrant the land. During the long-term development, initial permanent tenancy evolved totransitory stage in which the tenant farmers could exercise their tenant right after agreedby the landlord and then the tenant farmers could privately grant the land to others, andeventually to the mature stage, which is called the system of “One Field Two Owners”.As an important folk rule, the system played a big role in constraining and regulatinglandlords and tenant farmers. Under the system of “One Field Two Owners”, tenantfarmers had already owned complete permanent tenancy right, which means they couldfreely exercise permanent tillage right. At this moment, land property right was dividedinto two relevantly independent rights-land ownership and land usage right. Landownership belonged to landlords and was customarily called “Field Bottom” right or“Field Bone” right. Free exercise of the land usage right belonged to tenant farmers andwas called “Field Surface” right or “Field Skin” right. Landlords and tenant farmerscould freely and independently exercise their respective property rights. Along with thefrequent transactions of “Field Surface” right,“One Field Three Owners” system and even “One Field Multiple Owners” emerged. Studies on permanent tenancy system fromthe angle of history are fruitful and there are also some scholars who have studied thesystem by adopting institution change theory from the perspective of new institutionaleconomics, however, studies on the system using evolutionary game theory as analyticaltool on the basis of system evolution theory are rare. So the thesis chose this freshresearch angle to study the causes and tracks of the evolution of permanent tenancysystem, hoping to find a logical and consistent explanation for the entire evolution courseof permanent tenancy and by analyzing social and economical conditions that promotedthe evolution of the permanent tenancy system and property functions of the evolution ofthe system, provide certain inspiration for reformation of land system and add newcontent to the study of the new institutional economic history.The thesis consists of three parts. They are introduction, main body and conclusion.Chapter one is introduction, which includes subject selection background, researchpurpose and meaning, literature review, research method and innovation points.Chapter two to chapter six is main body of the thesis. Chapter two consists ofresearch question, theoretical basis and analytical framework and is the foundation of themain body. It mainly focuses on the research question and method. Research question isthe system evolution course of the permanent tenancy system from its emergence to itsabolishment. Research method is to study permanent tenancy system evolution usingevolution game theory as analytical tool on the basis of evolution theory. Chapter three isabout the expectation of stable profits from landlords and tenant farmers and theemergence of permanent tenancy system. Chinese permanent tenancy system emerged inSong and Yuan Dynasty (960～1368), firstly appeared in the operation of official field inSong Dynasty for the purpose of encouraging land reclamation and then prevailedgradually in the operation of private field. In initial stage of permanent tenancy, tenantfarmers owned an incomplete permanent tenancy right-permanent tillage right, but theydid not have the right to exercise freely their permanent tillage right. Seen from thespecific origins of permanent tenancy, there were also buying, improving and keepingpermanent tenancy origins besides tillage permanent tenancy. Before the emergence of permanent tenancy system, there were problems in the traditional tenancy system, such asthe uncertainty of tenancy right caused by frequent changes of tenancy and the viciouscircle caused by the decrease of profits for landlords and tenant farmers. The intenseman-earth relationship in Song and Yuan Dynasty is also a reason for the appearance ofpermanent tenancy system. The circumstance of fewer fields and more people stimulatedpeople to try every means to increase field profits and stabilize tenancy right. Givingtenant farmers permanent tillage right was a system innovation on the commonexpectation of stable profits from both landlords and tenant farmers. Meanwhile, therapid development of commodity economy at that time also created favorable externalenvironment for this system innovation. Chapter four introduces the evolution of initialpermanent tenancy system to the system of “One Field Two Owners”. During thelong-term development, initial permanent tenancy evolved to transitory stage in whichthe tenant farmers could exercise their tenant right after agreed by the landlord and thenthe tenant farmers could privately grant the land to others, and eventually to the maturestage, which is called the system of “One Field Two Owners”. Under the system of “OneField Two Owners”, tenant farmers had already owned complete permanent tenancy right,which means they could freely exercise permanent tillage right. The fewer fields andmore people circumstance also further pushed the tenant farmers to ask morerequirements on tenancy right, which include free exercise of permanent tillage right andmore profits. The compromise of the landlords made it possible for “One Field TwoOwners” system to be put in practice and as an important folk rule, the system played abig role in constraining and regulating landlords and tenant farmers. The continuousdevelopment of commodity economy still provided favorable external environment forthe evolution of permanent tenancy system. Chapter five concerns the self-enhancementof permanent tenancy system: prevail of “One Field Two Owners” system. In QingDynasty (1616～1912),“One Field Two Owners” system was commonly adopted ineconomically developed provinces such as Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian,Guangdong, Hunan and Taiwan etc. Various transfer modes of “Field Surface” rightturned up, such as assignment, mortgage, pawn, sublease and grant, etc. Along with frequent transactions of “Field Surface” right,“One Field Three Owners” system andeven “One Field Multiple Owners” emerged. Severe man-earth relationship is the causeof the prevailing of “One Field Two Owners” system. Potential profits existed in frequenttransactions of “Field Surface” right led to the generation of sub-landlords and thusbrought about “One Field Multiple Owners” system. Development of commodityeconomy continuously provided favorable external environment. In the long-term interestgame between landlords and tenant farmers, landlords continuously compromised andresulted in the trend of marginalization of their ownership and at the same time tenantfarmers’ permanent tenancy right gradually expanded. In the emergence and constantevolution of permanent tenancy system, feudal officials (or rulers) kept being silent andfollowed conventions when deciding cases, which provided a loose institutionalenvironment for the revolution of permanent tenancy system. Chapter six is about thechange of expected profits and the stagnation and decline. During the era of the Republicof China (1912～1949), man-earth relationship was still on a tight rope, but the invasionof foreign capitalistic economies and the development of national capitalist economystruck the feudal economy, so permanent tenancy system still existed in regions wherefeudal economy was strong and where the system used to prevail and gradually declinedeven disappeared in regions where capitalist economy was strong.Chapter seven is the conclusion. A commentary summary is given on the causes andexternal environment of the evolution of permanent tenancy system, the evolution gameprocess of the system, feudal official’s behaviors and decisions and the economicinfluence of the system evolution and the main arguments of the thesis are presented. |
PDF Full Text Request