Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.2, 2021

On the Land Order and System During the Northern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang

(Abstract)

Yang Jiping

The Land Edicts (diling or tianling) of the northern dynasties and the Sui and Tang were land laws and regulations. These were, however, only superstructure norms; they could not decide the nature of land ownership. The Land Edict of the northern dynasties contained clauses on the granting and receiving of land, but the adjustments it made were carried on within the scope of the household’s original land holding; this meant that in reality it did not touch on the granting and receiving of land. This was the inevitable result of the conflict between the rulers’ ideals of state land ownership and the realities of private land ownership. When the Edict was implemented, the Northern Wei and the Northern Qi dynasties followed a dual-track system: a universal land grant system for the Tuoba settlements in northern Xianbei area and a system of restricted land holdings and household registration for the settlements where the Han dominated. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the system for the Tuoba was cancelled as they were no longer the ruling class. There were no cases of officials actually being granted or receiving land according to the Land Edict during the Sui and Tang dynasties, but there were quite a few cases in which no land was granted or received. The Tang tianling was abolished between late Tang and early Song dynasties, not in the first year of Jianzhong (780).