A research on:
"Levy by Acre"(初稅畝) and the Land Polic of the
Chou Dyn. It is basically an attempt to look at the fact of "levy by
acre" carried out in 594 B.C. during the mid Spring and Autumn period in
Lu kuao. The fact was not only connected with the land policy,but also with the
pol-itical,economic,and military system.The evidence from documentary and
archaeological sources proves that there were different requirements of
taxation and labor service to make the social administration distinctively
between the citizen clans and the slave clans. Benifits from the land policy
depended on the relation of noble or base blood as known. Citizens were free
and owned some estate,yet,slaves hardly had anything
The situation remained until those discriminations
got blurred gradually due to the reformation prevailing in every feudal state.
Then,the head of the feudal provinces especially felt it imperative to increase
his whealth and to consolidate his strength by asking for changeing.That
be-came an irrepressible tendency and occured just at the mid Spring and Autumn
period.It is obvious that a new law of "tax by acre" announced by Lu
Shyuan Kuong(魯宣公) in 594 B.C. merely for the reason to show his
authority of governing or to do the needful.As a result, the tax rate was even
of secondary importance.
The research proves that"levy by acre"did
not spoil the "Well-Field" system(井田制度) temporarily. Although the
feudal order with a hierarchy
of feudal classes, the structure of fiefs and clans declined latterly
owing to more other complex factors, but not such small change in Lu kuao.
Keywords: the Spring and Autumn period, land, tax, economy, the feudal
system.