ABSTRACT
The “well-field” or nine-square system is a major system in Chinese history, and indeed a major type of landownership in world history. According to this system, a square of land was subdivided into nine smaller squares, creating a pattern like the Chinese character jing. This chapter examines it in relation to Karl Marx’s theory of the Asiatic mode of production (AMP). It considers the issue of Marx’s theory of the AMP and its relation to the well-field system in ancient China. The chapter examines historical references to the well-field system, including the village commune and the distribution and rotation of land; the distribution of ditches, fields, and paths; the boundaries between “public fields” and “private fields” and their disappearance; the quality and quantity of exploitation; and the status of laborers in the well-field system. The well-field system could only have been the amalgamation of imperfect communal property and imperfect royal and noble property.
