The Landlord-tenant Relationship of Su Chou (蘇州) in the Mid-nineteenth Century

Abstract

This article aims at' elucidating the landlord-tenant relationship in the nineteenth century through an analysis of rentals of a tsuhsien (租桟) in Su Chou. The author distinguishes three stages in the development of the landlord-tenant relationship : the pre-T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo period, the period of the occupation of T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo and the post T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo. The following are the distinct features of each period. (1)The pre-T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo period Before the coming of the army of T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo, there was in Su Chou a class of peasants called wan-tien (頑佃) who always refused to pay their rents. The occupation of Nan-ching (南京) by the army of T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo in 1853 made this refusal more widespread. The non-payment of rents had two distinctive features : (a)it was not caused by a natural calamity, but occasioned by social disturbances in the area ; (b)while refusing to pay their rents, peasants also demanded the reduction of rents. (2)The period of the occupation The landlord-tenant relationship of this period had three notable points, which were different from those of the preceding period : (a)landlords lost their grip of tenants and the latter became virtual owners of their own holdings ; (b)the system of "she-chu shou-tsu (設局収租)" was put into effect in order to secure the payment of farm taxes ; (c)the level of rent was much reduced. This reduction owes partly to the peasants' refusal of rent payments in the pre-T'ai-ping t'ien-kuo period, and it forced the local gentry to execute the reduction of rents. (3)The post T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo period In two years after the suppression of T'ai-p'ing tien-kuo, "tsu-chuan (租捐)" was brought in as a temporary measure by the coincidence of interests of the bureaucrats and the gentry. In 1865, the reduction of farm taxes was enacted and in the next year the level of rent was accordingly lowered. The Feng kuei-fen (馮桂芬) and the Su chou Fu-chih (蘇州府志) are inaccurate, but the Wu-chiang hsien hsu-chih (呉江県続志) etc. is correct in the description of the reduetion on this occasion. Peasants benefited most from this reduction, while under the early Ching dynasty landlords had taken more than half the benefit of tax reductions. From this fact, the author concludes that landlords yielded much to the peasantry. The latter, however, were not content with this reduction, because the rents were still far heavier than they were under the occupation of Tai-p'ing t'ien-kuo. The movement of rent stoppage, therefore, grew more violent than before.