Structure And Transactions Of Landship In Five Northern Provinces From Qing Dynasty To The Republic Of China

The view has long been circulated in the academic circle that compared with the complicated land ownership structure and the various land ownership transaction methods in southern provinces,in northern provinces the land ownership structure is relatively simple,and the land ownership transaction methods are mostly a one-off sale.In recent years,the discovery of Shanxi contract documents and Taihang Mountain documents has provided the possibility to change the existing recognition in the academic circle.This article takes the published contract documents as the main historical materials.Most of these contract documents have a clear place of origin and can be located in specific counties,which meets the requirements of the academic circles for the use of documents.Auxiliary historical materials include historical inscriptions published locally,social surveys during the Republic of China,and litigation cases in the Qing Dynasty Criminal Division.Based on the land contract documents of the five northern provinces,this article proves that the division of land rights not only occurs in the southern provinces,but also in the northern provinces.The development of the land rights market comprises the differentiation of land rights and the diversification of land transaction methods.Its influencing variables mainly include the level of commodity economic development,the ratio of people to land,the types of crops grown,and the degree of land fertility.The ownership of land rights with sharing as the core exists in the land market in both the north and the south.Land mortgage,pawn,transfer of pawn,tenancy,rental deposit,sale and other transaction methods together constitute a continuous market transaction system,and farmers can apply them flexibly according to their own needs.The process of farmers losing their land is gradual: first mortgaging for a loan,then the pawn,and at last the foreclosure.The process of farmers losing their land is not one-way.When the economic situation improves,the process is also reversible.On the whole,the gradual process of farmer losing land rights is the same across the country.All in all,the land ownership structure of the whole China is the same.There is no regional difference in the land ownership structure between the North and the South,and the North does not have absolute particularity.The north has the same complex land ownership structure and diverse land transaction methods as the south.There is a land ownership division similar to the "one field and two masters" in the south.There are land transaction methods similar to those in the south,such as pawning and rental deposit.Academia believes that land rights are divided into "one field and two masters",and land "pawn" transactions are unique to the South;correspondingly,the structure of land rights in the North is relatively simple,and most land transactions are sold out at once.Similar recognitions are widely spread,but they are not correct.The majority of self-farming farmers in the north does not mean that land transactions are a one-off sale.Perhaps the development of the land rights market in the north is not as developed as in the south,but the logic that runs through it is the same.There are only quantitative differences between North and South,but no qualitative differences.