How barbaric was the enclosure of Manchu aristocrats in the early Qing Dynasty: a naked plunder of Han people’s land

In the early Qing Dynasty, the nobles of the Eight Banners of Manchuria could enclosure their lands.

Details:

In the early Qing Dynasty, the Manchu aristocrats' large-scale activities to occupy Han people's land were a maladministration in the early Qing Dynasty. After the rulers of the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, in order to satisfy the greed of the Manchu nobles for land and win over the Eight Banners soldiers, they sent officials to encircle the land, which had three climaxes. In December of the first year of Shunzhi (1644), an order was issued: "All the people in the counties and counties near Beijing who have no owner and abandoned land, as well as the Ming emperor's relatives, consorts, dukes, marquises, uncles, eunuchs, etc., who died in the bandits' rebellion, will have no owner's land." There were so many... that they were all distributed to the kings, ministers and soldiers from the east. "(Volume 12 of "Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty") In September of the second year of Shunzhi, the area of ??encirclement was expanded to include Hejian, Luanzhou and Zun. Hua and other prefectures and counties in Jingdong and Jingnan. In the first month of the fourth year of Shunzhi, an order was issued to enclose land in 42 prefectures and counties including Shuntian, Baoding, Hejian, Yizhou, Zunhua, and Yongping. After that, large-scale land enclosures stopped, but sporadic land enclosures, land exchanges, and "land investment and charging" continued to occur. The land enclosure lasted for decades, and the Communist Party occupied 224,982 hectares of Han people's farmland. The enclosed area mainly covers 6 prefectures, 2 prefectures and 1 county in Zhili, totaling 77 prefectures and counties, covering a vast area of ??more than 2,000 miles. A small number of them are in Taiyuan and Luzhou in Shanxi, and Dezhou and Xuzhou in Shandong. The enclosed land was initially ownerless wasteland, and then the land with and without owners was encircled together; the enclosed land also included cottages and farms, causing a large number of Han landowners and farmers to suddenly lose their land, property, cottages, and livelihoods. The Manchu aristocrats used the enclosed land to set up imperial palaces, reward princes and ministers, and draw soldiers under the Eight Banners. Rewards for princes and ministers include different amounts of farmland and young land according to the rank of the clan, princes and officials and the number of young men they belong to. The soldiers of the Eight Banners were allocated a certain amount of land in accordance with the principle of "according to the principle of "granting land to each individual". They relied on these fields to meet their daily needs and military equipment for expeditions. The flag land of the Eight Banners officers and soldiers is about 140,000 hectares, accounting for most of the enclosed land. Land enclosures in the early Qing Dynasty were barbaric plunders that left more than a million people bankrupt, unemployed and displaced, intensifying national and class conflicts. At the same time, it also destroys agricultural production and hinders social progress. Due to the flight of young men and the constant resistance of the Han people, an edict was issued in the eighth year of Kangxi (1669) to stop land enclosures.

Development:

Eight Banners

The Eight Banners Enclosure generally refers to the issuance of the Enclosure Order on November 22, the first year of Shunzhi (1644). , Dorgon ordered the enclosure of land three times. But broadly speaking, enclosure is a movement with a long history, and the so-called enclosure movement emerged in Europe from the twelfth to the nineteenth century.

In the early Qing Dynasty, Dorgon led the Qing army to enter the customs. A large number of Manchu people poured into the vicinity of Beijing. In order to accommodate the Manchu kings and ministers and solve the livelihood of the Eight Banners officers and soldiers, a large number of Manchus invaded the Gyeonggi area in December of the first year of Shunzhi. Enclosing land was called an enclosure order in history. In September of the second year of Shunzhi, the Qing government issued the second land enclosure order, which expanded to Hejian, Luanzhou, and Zunhua. In the first month of the fourth year of Shunzhi, the land was enclosed for the third time, and 42 prefectures including Shuntian, Baoding, Hejian, Yizhou, Zunhua, and Yongping were included. Three rounds of land encirclements occupied about 2,335,477 acres and nine acres (more than 160,000 acres, about six acres per hour). “Wherever the land was enclosed, the landowners immediately evicted them. Everything in the house belongs to him. Those who want to keep their wives and children will not dare to take them with them. Those who have no livelihood will be used to cultivate the land. The land received by the officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners is not allowed to be sold beyond the flag price or privately sold to the people." Violators will be punished according to the law. With the convenience of Dorgon's regency, most of the fertile lands in eastern Hebei fell into the hands of Zhengbai Banner. After the land enclosure, many farmers' fields were occupied and displaced. Some landlords or farmers moved to the Eight Banners Manor or fled to other places, resulting in the emergence of a large number of refugees and beggars.

Ended

In the fourth year of Shunzhi, large-scale land enclosures had stopped, but sporadic land enclosures and land exchanges were still heard from time to time. In the early Qing Dynasty, there were frequent wars, and the acres of land they received were not cultivated carefully. "As a result, the farming industry was lost, and the land was often deserted." In the fifth year of Kangxi (1666), Obai proposed the request on the grounds that the land in Xianghuang Banner was sparse and barren. Exchange land with Zhengbaiqi. In May of the eighth year of Emperor Kangxi's reign (1668), he wisely captured Obai, announced the end of land enclosures, and allowed young men to "serve the people with their banners." In April of the 24th year of Kangxi's reign, he ordered that "there will never be any enclosure in the future", and the enclosure officially came to an end.

As the Qing Dynasty entered the middle period, the children of the Eight Banners were in great hardship and began to privately sell their flag land. The move to sell land had already been heard in the early years of Yongzheng, and in the 31st year of Guangxu: "There are many black lands without food, especially everywhere. In terms of more than 80 prefectures and counties in Kinki, the Eight Banners, princes, officials, soldiers, etc. The original amount of the banner land was more than 150,000 hectares. In addition to the more than 39,000 hectares that have been rented by the Eighth Route Banners and the more than 10,000 hectares of land owned by princes and princes, which have not yet been lost, there are probably ten thousand hectares that are currently in the hands of the bannermen to pay rent. 23. Over the years, the land was turned into black land without food, about 70,000 to 80,000 hectares." Jiang Taixin believed that "the flag land is privately owned." ization, steadily delivering fresh blood to the team of homesteaders.

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