well-field system

well-field system, the communal land organization supposedly in effect throughout China early in the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–256 bce). The well-field system was first mentioned in the literature of the late Zhou dynasty (c. 4th century bce), especially in the writings of the famous Confucian philosopher Mencius, who advocated it as an ideal to which the government of his day should return.

According to Mencius, each unit of the well-field system was divided between eight peasant families. Each family had its own outlying field around a central shared field, and all the families jointly worked a ninth central plot for their lord. Although it is doubtful that the actual system worked this smoothly, it does seem to represent a time when land and goods were communally shared in China; new land was cleared when the old land became infertile or the population increased.

The name for the system is derived from the Chinese character for well (jing, or ching), which provides a graphic representation of the central shared field surrounded by eight outlying fields. The well-field concept was repeatedly referred to by later reformers to justify their own land redistribution systems or to criticize government land practices.