Land Reform in Free China

CHINESE-AMERICAN JOINT COMMISSION ON RURAL RECONSTRUCTION LAND REFORM IN FREE CHINA By Chief of Land Reform Division joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction TAIPEI, TAIWAN, CHINA OCTOBE 954Room SOCTOBER 954, Copyright, 1954, by the Chinese-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, Taipei, Taiwan, China. No part of this book may be reproduced without the written permission of the Joint Commission. For sale by the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, 25, Nanhai Road, Taipei, Taiwan, China. Price: NT$ 30.00 US$ 2.00 PRINTED BY CHINA ENGRAVING & PRINTING WORKS TAIPEI, TAIWAN, CHINA TAIWAN (FORMOSA), YANGMINGSHAN NINA ADMINISTR~O K-IEELUNdGCITY 25* TAOyUANHSIEN -,TAIPEI CITY TAIPEI HSIEN * HICUHSIFN 0 / 1YILAN HSIEN IMIAMIHSIEN '* 'Jk AIEN MEN21 24* CHANGHUA . 140~YUU HSIEN N)O SE 00 N TAINAN HSIN "E IEI ID' TANA TAIUN ITIA CIT 23 __ .E . ICALE FOREWORD; The thoughtful student cannot fail to be impressed by the cyclical changes from peace to anarchy and again from anarchy to peace, which mark periods of Chinese history, as if it were a set pattern. What, he is forced to ask, is the reason for such a peculiar phenomenon? Man has to live upon focd which comes mostly from land. But as land is strictly limited and population tends to keep on increasing, a struggle for existence naturally ensues. Maladjustments in social institutions and unfair distributions of wealth have led to c;ies fur redress-to conflicting claims, struggles, and chaos. That land reform is an efficacious means to forestall social discontent was fore seen by many of our foremost thinkers and statesmen. The first one to advocate the limitation of farm lands was Tung Chung-shu, who was contemporary with Emperor Wu (140-86 B.C.) of the Jlan Dynasty. Tung once observed: "Though the ancient system of common cultivation (i.e., the ching fie* system) could not be revived over night, we should try to follow the ancient ways as much as possible. Let us set a limit to the amount of land an individual may own, give the excess land to those who really need it, and put a stop to the concentration of landownership in the 'ands of a few." Unfortunately, he did not work out any concrete measures for the realization of his ideal. On the advice of Imperial Counsellor Shih Tan, who proposed a scheme of land ownership limitation whereby individual landholdings of officials, high and low, and of the common people would be limited to 30 ching (QjI) as the highest maximum and all lands in excess of this maximum would have to be disposed of by the owner within the next three years, Emperor Ai (6 B.C. - I A.D.) of the Han Dynasty handed down this proposal to Prime Minister Kung Kuang and Lord Chancellor Hio Wu for consideration. However, nothing came of it because powerful influences at Court were opposed to it. Later on, Hsun Yueh of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.), Su Hsun of the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.), Chao Tien-lin and Cheng Chieh-fu of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368 A.D.), Liu Tung-sheng of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), and Ku Tsung of the Tsing Dynasty (1644-1911 A.D.) all advocated the limitation of landownership in one way or another. The system of "Crown Lands" under Wang Mang (9-23 A.D.) and the theory of equal distribution of land experimented with in * Under the ching len system in ancient China, according to Mencius, every 900 mow of land was divided into nitic tracts of i00 mnow each like this pattern .-t. Eight farm families, to each of which the gov ermnent gave one of the outer tracts to till for itself, cooperated to till the ninth and centrally located tract for the government in return. It has been called the ching tien system, because this pattern 4- looks like the Chinese character fur a well (cling). Tien means field(s). the Northern Yuan Wei (386-535 A,D,), Sui (581-618 A.D.), and Tang (618-907 A.D.) Dynasties were, each in its way, a forra of land nationalization in the spirit of the ancient ching tien system. The history of land reform from Tung Chung-shu down to the present day is a long tale covering a span of 21 centuries. When Dr. Sun Yat-sen organized the Tuing Meng Hi in 1905, he proclaimed the equalization of land rights as one of the four planks of his political platform. In 1924 he went a step further by advocating a land-to-the-tiller policy as an effica cious means for the solution of the agrarian pioblem and the attainment of the equalization of land rights. By the land-to-the-tiller policy is meant one which per mits the farmer both to have ownership of the land he tills and to enjoy the fruits of his labor. It is an ideal which our ancictit philosophers and statesmen had evi dently in mind when th-y proposed the linmitation of individual landholdings to fore stall concentration of landownership in the hands of a few great landlords. After the retrocession of Taiwan to China, the Chinese Government undertook to carry out land reform in this province in order to achieve the equalization of land rights and ensure peace and stability. With these ends in view three successive steps were taken: farm rent reduction in 1949, sale of public farm lands in 1951, and land to the tiller in 1953. Especially significant was the use of public enterprise stock shares to pay for the lands compulsorily purchased from landlords by the Government under the land-to-the-tiller program. Such a method of compensating the landlords had the effect of converting investments in land into industrial assets and laying the foundation for the industrialization of Taiwan. It is the function of the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction to help the Chinese Government increase agricultural production and achieve a fair and just distribution of farm products in order to raise the standard of living for the broad masses of the farming population. JCRR has done everything in its power to promote lap I reform in Taiwan and has worked in close coordination with govern ment agencies and departments to make a success of the various reform projects. We take pleasure in presenzing in this volume a summary review of the reform programs together with tne more important relevant laws and regulations. It is hoped that the measures and results of land reform in Taiwan as summarized in the following pages may be of some value to those who are interested in the promotion of land reform in other countries of the democratic world. This work is compiled by the Land Reform Division of JCRR under the editorship of Mr. Hui-sun Tang, Chief of the said Division. The collection of materials, map ping out of the general outline, and drafting were divided among Messrs. luang Tung, Hsiung Ting-shen, Chen Jen-lung, Lin Si-dang, and Huang Chin-chili, with Mr. Hsiung Ting-shen carrying a heavier share of the burden than any of his colleagues. Mr. Huang Tung was also responsible for the preliminary editing of the first draft. The English version is written by Mr. Durham S. F. Chen in cooperation with Mr. Pao Te-cheng who has translated some of the laws and regulations contained in Part I. Thanks are due to Miss Lillian Wu who has carefully typed all the English manus cripts in preparation for the press. It has taken the above-mentioned members of the Land Reform Division a little over one year from the initial drafting down to the publication of the Chinese and English texts. To every one of them I wish to ex press my personal appreciation for the time and energy they have devoted to the task. October 10, 1954. Chiang Monlin Chairman, JCRR LAND REFORM IN FREE CHINA PART I LAND REFORM IN TAIWAN- PART !1 LAND REFORM LAWS AND, REGULATIONS APPENDIX I TABLES APPENDIX II FORMS PART I LAND REFORM IN TAIWAN CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. THE LAND PROBLEM AND LAND REFORM IN TAIW AN ................................................................... 9 1. NEED FOR LAND REFORM IN TAIWAN ..................................... 9 II. STEPS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF LAND REFORM IN TAIWAN ........................................ .............. 14 IllI. JCRR AND LAND REFORM IN TAIWAN ..................................... 19 CHAPTER 11. THE 37.9r-FARM RENT LIMITATION PROGRAM.... 23 I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION .......................................... 23 I. Evolution of the Land Tenure Sys n in Taiwan ............................ 23 2. 25% Farm Rent Reduction and 37.5/o Farm Rent Limitation ......... 28 II. ESSENTIALS OF THE 37.59/ FARM RENT LIMITATION PROGRAM ...................................................32 I. Limitation of Farm Rent ..................................... 33 2. Protection of Tenant's Rights ................................................... .... 34 3. Establishment of Farm Tenancy Committees ................................ 36 III. ENFORCEMENT OF THE 37.5V5 FARM RENT LIMITATION PROG R A M ............................................... ........... ............... 38 1. Supervisory Agencies and Training of Staff Workers ........................ 38 2. Appraisal of Standard Amounts of the Total Annual Main Crop Yield... 40 3. Revision of Farm Lease Contracts ............................................... 42 4. Field Inspection and Rechecking .............................. 45 5. Number of Beneficiaries and Area of Farm Land Affected ............... 46 IV. PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN THE POST-RENT REDUCTION PER IOD .............................................................................. ....... .... 47 I. Readjusting Land Categories and Grades ............................. 48 2. Termination of Leases and Tenancy Disputes .............................. 50 3. Establishment of Farm Tenancy Committees .................... 56 V. ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE 37.5% FARM RENT LIMITATION PR OG R A M ....................................................................................... .. 59 1. Improvement of Tenant Farmers' Living Conditions ...................... 60 2. Increase of Agricultural Production ............................ 1.... 3. Decline in the Value of Farm Land ........................... 62 4. Purchase of Land by Tenant Farmers ...........................

Load more