英文摘要 |
There were many variations in the way the Li-Chia (里甲) system was implemented and operated in different areas during the early Ming dynasty, and the system developed along different trajectories throughout subsequent changes from the mid-Ming to late-Qing. This paper is essentially a case study. We concentrate on the configuration and operation of the Li-Chia system on the Jiang-Han Plain including in Han-yang Prefecture (漢陽府), Mian-yang Sub-Prefecture (沔陽州), Qian-jiang County (潛江縣), Jing-ling County (景陵 縣), and Jian-li County (監利縣) in order to analyze the characteristics of the system in each county as well as the changes it underwent. The Li-Chia system implemented on the Jiang-Han Plain in the early Ming dynasty was mainly concentrated in the low hills located at the edges of the developed plains and in yuan (垸, “enclosed embankment”) areas on higher hinterland ground. The fishermen distributed in low-lying lake areas, who were granted government leases to fish certain rivers or lakes, and who paid the fishing tax, were incorporated into the Yeh-Chia (業甲) system (organized by industry) that was controlled by the “Ho-po-suo” (河泊所, the Fishing Tax Office), and not the Li-Chia system. Most immigrants and fishermen, the two main agents of cultivation of enclosed fields on the Jiang-Han Plain, were not brought under the census register and tax system, or were only required to pay a small amount of fishing tax. In the middle to late Ming dynasty, local governments took many measures to control the enclosed fields, such as inspections of the fields and organization of fishermen and immigrants under the new household registration system. During this period, part of the enclosed fields upon which taxes had been levied and a few people who lived in enclosed fields were included in the Li-Chia system. From the early Qing, some counties gradually adopted new taxation measures that essentially entailed calculating the number of fields and collecting of land taxes based on this number. The enclosed field gradually evolved into the basic geographical unit for the official collection of land taxes. |