ABSTRACT
Two main types of feudal agricultural economic systems existed during the Middle Ages: the seignorial economy and the landlord economy. Seignorial economy, a system characterized by stratified landholdings, the exploitation of serfdom and manorial management in production, developed typically in medieval Western Europe. Landlord economy existed principally in China from the Warring States Period (475–221 BC) till early modern times prior to 1949. The main characteristics of landlord economy were: buying and selling land freely, a tenure system, and land rent in kind. In the early Middle Ages in China, the landlord economy shared certain features with European seignorial economy, especially in terms of relations between landlords and direct producers. It was only after the Song Dynasty (960– 1279), with the rapid development of agricultural production and the expansion of commodity output, that the landlord economy began to make headway. After further modification of every aspect of production, it achieved its characteristic, mature form in the early Qing period. In this paper, we will describe briefly some of the main aspects of these changes.
