Well-field system

Well-field system

Well-field system (井田制度 Pinyin: Jingtian zhidu) was a Chinese land distribution method since at least fourth century BC (late Zhou Dynasty). It is named after the Chinese character for well (井), which represents the theoretical appearance for a piece of land under such an organization: the eight surrounding outer blocks being private (私田), and the central one block being communal or public (公田).

The entire fields are aristocrat-owned, but the private fields' produce is entirely the farmers'. The communal farms are worked on by all eight families, and the produce went to the aristocrats.

The system was suspended temporarily during the short-lived Xin Dynasty, all renamed to the King's Fields (王田).

The practice was had or less ended by the Song Dynasty, but scholars like Zhang Zai and Su Xun were enthusiastic about its restoration and spoke of it over simply, invoking Mencius' frequent praise of the system.

Whether a pure well-field system ever existed is controversial.