Fiscal Revenue or People's Livelihood:The Rights Controversy of Shoaly Land from Guangde Lake in Mingzhou Prefecture During the Song Dynasty
Guangde Lake(广德)was one of the largest lakes in the Mingzhou(明州)area of eastern Zhejiang(浙东)during the Tang and Song Dynasties.Its water conservancy functions such as water storage,water supply,flood control and drought relief promoted local agricultural development and urban prosperity.In 1117,that is,the 7th year of Zhenghe(政和七年)under the reign of the Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty(宋徽宗),the imperial court issued an edict,ordering that Guangde Lake should be blocked and transformed into official shoaly land,with its rents being used to support the Korean envoys.During the Southern Song Dynasty,a lot of shoaly land in eastern Zhejiang was abandoned and restored to lakes.However,the shoaly land in Guangde Lake was not included.Whether the shoaly land in Guangde Lake was kept or deserted,was related not only to the interests of the imperial court,the military officers and the local government officials,but also to the rights of the local lakeside households.On the one hand,the rice harvested from shoaly land with its rents were important national fiscal revenue.Initially,the land rents belonged to the emperor's treasury and the imperial court's treasury,which were not allowed to be spent by prefecture and county governments.But during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty(宋孝宗),the imperial court appropriated a large portion of land rents to the navy of Mingzhou Prefecture as its provisions,and also to the local governments for their expenses.On the other hand,as the shoaly land was official land,its rents were relatively low.Most of the tenants of the shoaly land were originally rich and powerful families and even official households who moved from western Jinxian(鄞西).They were unwilling to suffer losses from the abandonment of their shoaly land.In contrast with the unity between the scholar-officials in the village communities from Shangyu(上虞)and Yuyao(余姚)of Yuezhou(越州)and the local government officials who promoted the imperial court to make the decision on the restoration of lakes,the government officials,scholars and villagers from Jinxian(鄞县)formed a community of interests around the rights of the shoaly land.Therefore,the motion on the restoration of lakes,which would shatter the order of rights of shoaly land from Guangde Lake,was difficult to carry out effectively and even became invalid for a long time.
Song DynastyMingzhou Prefecture(明州)shoaly land of Guangde Lake(广德湖田)land rentfinance
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