The Tenant-Landlord Disputes in Chengdu Plain and the Implementation of the Tenant Protection Policy (1946–1948)

Abstract:

In recent years, there are many new academic researches about the tenant system, including many productive debates. Some debates are about experiential studies on various districts; other debates are about the application and interpretation on different materials. This paper intends to (1) analyze the tenant protection policy of the national government and how tenant disputes were settled in Chengdu Plain region; (2) observe, from the aspects of both policy and implementation, how the national government manipulated tenant-landlord relationship; and (3) explore the relationship among tenants, landlords, and nation. The article concludes that while it was traditionally regarded as siding with the landlord class, the GMD actually made significant effort to mediate the landlord-tenant relationship in order to guarantee and improve tax revenue.

Notes

Rural land tenure system as a kind of feudal exploitative system had long been an object of criticism. This opinion has faded in recent years thanks to numerous studies that has enriched our understanding on this topic. Gao Wangling’s book Zu dian guan xi xin lun—di zhu, nong min he di zu (Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, 2005) conducts new analysis on land tenure since Qing dynasty. Kathryn Bernhardt has analyzed rents, taxes, and peasant resistance in the lower Yangzi region and thus reconsidered the relationship between landlord, tenant, and government. See K. Bernhardt, Rents, Taxes, and Peasant Resistance: the Lower Yangzi Region, 1840–1950, Stanford University Press, 1992. Deying Li, the author of the present paper, has conducted an empirical study on land tenure system in the Chengdu Plain region in the Republican era to clarify a few issues that have long been misunderstood, such as the calculation and rental rate, land transfer and the management of tenants, the impacts of tax reduction movements, and etc. See Li Deying, Guo jia fa ling he min jian xi guan: min guo shi qi Chengdu ping yuan zu dian zhi du xin tan, Social Sciences Academic Press, 2006. Qin Hui’s “Ye dian” guan xi he guan min guan xi (Research Monthly, 2007.1) and Guan yu chuan tong zu dian zhi guo gan wen ti de shang que (China Rural Survey, 2007.3) have served a reconsideration on traditional society and tenure system. Li Jinzheng’s Jiao wang bu ke guo zheng: cong ji zhong ding xian kan jin dai hua bei ping yuan zu dian guan xi de fu za ben xiang (Modern Chinese History Studies, 2011) explores key issues such rental rate and landlord-tenant relationship to illustrate the complexity of rural tenure relationship in North China. In short, recent studies on tenure system have received tremendous attention and yielded rich accomplishments.

K. Bernhardt has delivered a brilliant examination on the relationship between landlord, tenant, and government in her book Rents, Taxes, and Peasant Resistance: the Lower Yangzi Region, 1840–1950. The development of rural commercialization in the late-Ming and/or early-Qing period, she argues, caused the owners of large land to migrate away from rural areas, which led to a weakened relationship between landlord, the elite class, and tenant, the ordinary peasant. This in turn gave government power a chance to step into the bottom of rural society. In order to secure the source of agricultural taxation, Qing officials had provided strong support on tax collection to make it more compulsory. Meanwhile, government gradually started to intervene into community matters such as irrigation projects and famine relief, which were projected originally led by rural elites. As a result of relevant government policies, a new direct relationship that did not involve landlord had emerged between the government and peasants. Government’s intervention in tenure relationship was further deepened after the fall of Qing. Government became involved in the collection of rents and the settlement of rental rates, which is most significant during the Republican Party’s rent reduction movement since 1920s. This rent reduction movement marked the climax of government’s intervention in tenure relation as government intended to make the tenure system more just and reasonable through the movement. However, the effect turned out to be the opposite. The more active the government was in the tenure relation, the more frequent a tenant resistance incident broke out. This rent reduction movement was resisted in all provinces in lower Yangzi region.

Zheng, Zhenyu, “zhong guo zhi dian gen zhi du yu dian nong bao zhang,” Monthly Journal of Land Administration, Vol. 3, 1933, pp. 301.

Ma, Yinchu, “zhong guo zu dian zhi du zhi yan jiu,” China Economic Journal, Vol. 1, 1931, p. 13.

Please refer to zhong guo zu dian zhi du zhi tong ji fen xi, zheng zhong shu ju (Chongqing), compiled by the Bureau of Statistics of the Republican government, 1946, p. 154.

Zhong guo zu dian zhi du zhi tong ji fen xi, zheng zhong shu ju (Chongqing), compiled by the Bureau of Statistics of the Republican government, 1946. p. 156.

Ma, Yinchu, “zhong guo zu dian zhi du zhi yan jiu,” China Economic Journal, Vol. 1, 1931, p. 13.

Zhong guo zu dian zhi du zhi tong ji fen xi, zheng zhong shu ju (Chongqing), compiled by the Bureau of Statistics of the Republican government, 1946, p. 163.

Zhong guo guo min dang di yi, er, san ci quan guo dai biao da hui hui kan, compiled and published by the Ministry of Propaganda, Central Executive Committee, the Republican Party of China, 1931, p. 43.

Guo, Wei compiled, Land Code, shang hai fa xue shu ju, 1934, pp. 47–48.

Ibid, p. 46.

Guo, Wei compiled, Land Code, shang hai fa xue shu ju, 1934, p. 46.

Ibid.

Guo, Wei compiled, Land Code, shang hai fa xue shu ju, 1934, p. 49.

Ibid.

Zhong guo zu dian zhi du zhi tong ji fen xi, zheng zhong shu ju (Chongqing), compiled by the Bureau of Statistics of the Republican government, 1946, p. 164.

Zhu, Caizhen, tu di fa shi yi, shang hai shi jie shu ju, 1931, p. 23.

Please refer to Zhang, Youyi, zhong guo jin dai nong ye shi zi liao, vol. 3 (1927–1937), SDX Joint Publishing Company, 1957, pp. 301–304.

Wan, Guoding, “er wu jian zu shu ping,” Middle Peasant Monthly Journal, 1946, vol. 2, p. 14.

Editorial, “er wu jian zu yu bao hu dian nong zheng ce,” Business Daily, Chongqing, Oct. 4, 1945, p. 1.

Ma, Yinchu, “zhong guo zu dian zhi du zhi yan jiu,” China Economic Journal, Vol. 1, 1931, p. 20.

Xiao, Zheng et al. “zhong guo di zheng xue ni qing xiu gai tu di fa yi jian shu,” Monthly Journal of Land Administration, 1935, Vol. 1–6, p. 9.

“Land Code,” Republican Government Bulletin, issued by the Republican government in Nanjing, 1946, Yu 947–1051, No. 1046, p. 16.

Ibid, p. 17.

“Land Code,” Republican Government Bulletin, issued by the Republican government in Nanjing, 1946, Yu 947–1051, No. 1046, p. 17.

Ibid.

In 1927, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang issued the rental reduction policy under the command of the Republican Party. However, in Guangdong, Hunan, and Hubei, the rental reduction movement soon failed after the coalition between the Republican Party and the Communist Party came to an end. Although the rental reduction movement maintained for a while in Jiangsu and its instructive principles were established in the December of 1927, the movement eventually failed. The “two-five rental reduction” movement only sustained for a period of time in Zhejiang. All these provinces published numerous measures to protect tenants when the rental reduction policy was issued. For example, Zhejiang province issued Zhejiang’s Temporary Plans on the “Two-Five Rental Reduction” (1929). Other regions also issued similar laws, such as the Tenants Protection Act of Beiping (1928) and the Shandong’s Regulations on Land Tenancy of Shandong (1945).

Zheng, Zhenyu, “yi nian lai zhi tu di xing zheng,” Middle Peasant Monthly Journal, 1946, Vol. 4, pp. 17–21.

Cao, Maoliang, “cong qin xian de zu dian qing xing,” Sichuan Quarterly Economics Journal, 1943, Vol. 1, p. 347.

This is from the victory speech of Chiang Kai-shek on September 3, 1945. Please refer to Liu, Zhongchi, shen me jiao “er wu jian zu”? (in written scripts) Sichuan Archives, quan zong No. 156, an juan No. 72, si chuan sheng nong di jian zu wei yuan hui.

Liu, Zhongchi, shen me jiao “er wu jian zu”? p. 1.

Information, “chuan sheng fu qing qiu zan huan jian zu,” Modern Peasant, 1946, Vol. 11, p. 17.

Bernhardt, Kathryn, Rents, Taxes, and Peasant Resistance: The lower Yangzi Region, 1840–1950 (in Chinese), translated by Lin Feng, Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, 2005, pp. 241–242.

Meng, Guangyu, “si chuan zu dian xi guan,” People and Land, 1943, Vol. 2–3, p. 35.

“wen jiang nong jia tian chang jing ying diao cha biao” (1937–1938), Sichuan Archives, quan zong No. 148, an juan No. 577, Bureau of Agricultural Improvement, Sichuan Province. Among the twenty-nine fields in this table, nine allowed for delay in rent payment.

This is quoted from the interview record of Huang He, a Master student of Sichuan University, on several old peasantsin Yuantong, Chongzhou, Chengdu. This interview was conducted on December 21, 2008. The interviewees were the following: Wen, Xueru, male, eighty-six years old, living in 51 Qilin St., Yuantong, always being a peasant. Huang, male, eighty years old, living in the Qilin community, Yuantong, ever attending school for one or two years. Xiao, Nengzhong, male, seventy-four years old, living in Jinhui village, Yuantong, mainly a peasant and kiln worker, ever attending modern school.

Scott, James C., The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia, Yale University Press, 1976. Chap. 6, p. 167.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, pp. 7–8.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, p. 6.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, pp. 42–43.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, pp. 55–56.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, pp. 17–18.

Cao, Maoliang, “chong qin xian de zu dian qing xing,” Sichuan Economics Quarterly Journal, 1943, Vol. 1, p. 347.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, p. 93.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, pp. 93–94.

Please refer to Li, Deying, “min guo shi qi cheng du ping yuan de ya zu he ya kou,” Modern Chinese History Studies, 2007, Vol. 1, pp. 95–115.

Please refer to Li, Deying, “cong cheng du ping yuan zu dian jiu fen ge an lun ya zu zhi de shuang chong yi yi,” Historical Archives, 2005, Vol. 1, pp. 97–102.

This was the so-called substitution between tax and rent “dai liang kou zu,” which was seen as a bad habit and officially prohibited by law. But this practice was still very popular across Sichuan. “When government went after the taxes, landlords commonly asked their tenants to pay for the taxes for them, then subtracting that part from their rents later.” This practice could easily triggered tenant-landlord disputes. See Meng, Guangyu, “si chuan zu dian xi guan,” People and Land, 1943, Vol. 2–3, p. 38.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, pp. 13–14.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, p. 12.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, p. 110.

Ibid.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, pp. 109–110.

This kind of contract was mutually agreed when the tenancy contract was signed, and this later became a custom, as well as an important principle in dealing with tenant-landlord dispute at another time. See Meng, Guangyu, “si chuan zu dian xi guan,” People and Land, 1943, Vol. 2–3, pp. 36. Some old peasants, in their memoirs on the return of deposit, also said: “If it were the landlord who proposed to withdraw the land, he had to return the deposit; but if the tenant proposed that, the landlord could choose not to return the deposit.” This is quoted from the recorded interview by Huang He on December 21, 2008.

Liu, Xinjie, min fa dian ru he shi xian: min guo xin fan xian si fa shi jian zhong de quan li he xi guan (1935–1949), China University of Political Science and Law Press, 2011, p. 26.

Guo, Hanmin and Meng, Guangyu, si chuan zu dian wen di, The Commercial Press, 1944, p. 15.

Meng, Guangyu, “si chuan zu dian xi guan,” People and Land, 1943, Vol. 2–3, p. 35.

“zu dian jiu fen juan” (min 38), wen jiang xian si ma chu, fa yuan, Chengdu Wenjiang Archives, quan zong No. 29, an juan No. 249, pp. 29–30.

Hong, Ruijian, “er wu jian zu wen ti,” Big Bulletin, Chongqing, October 17, 1945, p. 3.

See the official report from Shuangliu county government to the provincial government, Sichuan Archives, quan zong No. 156, an juan No. 50, October of 1949.

This was because the landlord also had a legal ground for “withdrawing the land for self-cultivation.” See the Land Code. Besides, the landlord was only withdrawing ten mu of land, which does not exceed the limit of restriction.

See the report from tenant Qiu Rongchang to Sichuan Provincial government, Sichuan Archives, quan zong No.156, an juan No. 50.

“gao yuan ji ben yuan guan yu min shi shang shu: wei fan huai zu ping wu” (two volumes, 1949.1–1949.11), xin du xian di fang fa yuan, Xindu District Archives, quan zong No. 23, an juan No. 13.

Zheng, Zhenyu, “zhong guo zhi dian gen zhi du yu dian nong bao zhang,” Monthly Journal of Land Administration, 1933, Vol. 4, p. 496.

Zheng, Zhenyu, “zhong guo zhi dian gen zhi du yu dian nong bao zhong,” Monthly Journal of Land Administration, 1933, Vol. 4, p. 165.

Bernhardt, Kathryn, Rents, Taxes, and Peasant Resistance: The lower Yangzi Region, 1840–1950 (in Chinese), translated by Lin Feng, Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, 2005, pp. 329–330.

Chen, Yixin, “chong xin ren shi min guo shi qi nong ye jing ji—dui zhong guo xue zhe jin nian zhu shu de pinglun,” China Scholarship, 2004, Vol. 1.

Smith, Adam, The Wealth of Nations (in Chinese), translated by Guo, Dali and Wang, Yanan, April of 2011, pp. 371.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Li Deying

Li Deying is a professor in the School of History & Culture at Sichuan University, China.

He Wumeng

He Wumeng received a master of arts from the Department of Economics at New York University, United States.