| 14-19 century is a transitional period for human society from the agricultural economy to the capitalist economy.As an important phenomenon in the process of agricultural and economic development,land rent has undergone significant changes in the process of transformation from an agricultural society to a capitalist society,and has important influence on the transformation of agricultural management mode.We conduct comparative study to the changes of the land rent and the form of land rent during the 14 th to the 19 th centuries.It is beneficial to deeply understand the differences between the changes of the rents between the two countries during the process of violent social change and to reveal the different causes and manifestations of the social developmental path of the two countries in modern times.In the form of rent,both China and England include labor rent,material rent and currency rent,and the proportion of labor rent is relatively small.Although in the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty,the currency rent has appeared in China,the material rent remained the dominant position.In the same period of England,the currency rent is the main form of rent.There are several special types of land rents in China,such as foregift rent and pre-rent with the additional rents and the various types of geld.All these indicate there are various form of exploitation of land owner towards farmers.In terms of land rent changes,the two countries have developed a higher form in terms of paying land rents.With the development of commodity economy,the rents of land per unit area for both countries have increased,and the rent of currency has also developed greatly.The difference is that China’s main form of rent is still physical rent,but there emerges a change from sharecropping rent to fixed rent,the proportion of fixed rent in physical rent has also increased.In order to cope with the tenant’s anti-rent struggles,there also emerged rent and re-rent.The remarkable feature of England is that the proportion of currency rent was increasing and the land lease was also extended.In terms of regional differences in rent between the two countries,China is more vivid and diversified because of its larger area.Looking at the rent of per unit area,we can find that the basic characteristics is the low north and high south.Looking at the form of the rent,the northeastern and southern regions of the Qing Dynasty had a higher proportion of currency rent and fixed rent,while in the Yellow River basin and northwest China,material rent has more advantages.In the southwest region,there is still more labor rent.In England,regional differences are smaller than China.Because of terrain,land development and other factors,areas and cities in Britain where there have a more economically developed economy,the currency rent remained an important position,with a relatively high land rent per unit area.In Wales and the northwest areas economy where the economy is relatively backward,the rent is relatively small.Both China and England increased the rent during the 14 th to 19 th centuries.China’s rent is increasing from north to south,while England rent is is increasing from northwest to southeast.China’s land rent rate is about 50%,about a half higher than England rent rate 33% in the same period.This suggests that China’s landowners have a higher degree of exploitation for tenants.Similarly,in terms of the interest rate,China,with a land rate of 12%-15%,is about 6% higher than that of England.The differences in the form of rent and change of rent between China and England demonstrate their differences in natural economic conditions and social management patterns.It also shows that commodity economy has different impact on the agricultural economy of the two countries,and affects the level of living and consumption of agricultural workers in both countries,and has further impact on the on the socio-economic transformation of the two countries. |
