A Consideration concerning the Village System in Yuan (_??_) Period, observed through the Examples of the Form of the Contract

Abstract

In Yuan (_??_) period, there were two kinds of the encyclopedia of daily use : " Xinbian-shiwenleiyaogizhagingqian " (_??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??_) (51 vols.) and " Xinbianshiwenlei- jugizhaqingqian" (_??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??_) (10 vols.).The former was used from the end of the 13th century till the first half of the 14th century, the latter from the first half of the 14th century till the late Yuan (_??_) or the eary Ming (_??_) period.Each of these books describes the 16 forms of the contract; for instance, the contracts on the sale or loan of land and houses, the employment of labourers, and the sale of oxen and horses, etc.In view of these forms, the village system in the early Yuan (_??_) period was Xiang-Li (_??_-_??_) system, and Li-Du (_??_-_??_) system appeared in the later time and prospered gradually.Against the theory of Li-Du (_??_-_??_) system (system A), there are two other theories, that is, the theory of Xiang-Du-Cun (_??_-_??_-_??_) system (system B) by Dr. Yoshiyuki Sudô (_??__??__??__??_), and that of Xiang-Li-She (_??_-_??_-_??_) system (system C) by Prof. Li Dong-Fang (_??__??__??_).How can we understand these three theories?It is no doubt that the system B is the type of the village in the South-China, and the system C is North-China type.The system A contains both B and C Systems. In this case, Li (_??_) and Du (_??_) are not in the relation of the upper and lower sides, but they are on an equal level, for Li (_??_) and Du (_??_) are only the examples of the indication of a residence.