13
In antiquity eight families were [associated with] one ching-t`ien
[unit].[1]
A square li comprised one ching.[2]
A breadth of three
hundred pu and a length of three hundred pu made one [square]
li. Each field [contained] nine hundred mou.[3]
A breadth of one
pu and a length of one hundred pu[4]
made one mou. A breadth of
one hundred pu and a length of one hundred pu made one hundred
mou. The eight families made a neighborhood. One family
had a hundred mou, and each extra [adult] male[5]
had twenty-five
mou. Each family [tilled] ten mou of the public field. The remaining
twenty mou [they used] together for their [summer] huts,[6]
each having two and one half mou. The eight families protected
one another; they stood watch in turn over each other's movements;
in sickness they shared the anxiety; in difficulty and distress
they aided one another. Those who had, loaned to those
who had not; they invited each other to food and drink. They
planned marriages together; in fishing and hunting they divided
up the catch. They put into practice
jên and kindness. It was
in such ways as these that the people of that time were on good
terms and fond of one another. The Ode says,
[7]
In the midst of the fields are the huts,
And among the boundary divisions[8]
are gourds.
Today, however, it is not like that. The people are made
responsible in groups of five. When there is a crime they spy
upon one another; when there is to be punishment they inform
on one another. As a result of the resentments and enmity called
into being by such practices, the people injure one another to the
detriment of their [natural] feelings of friendship. Violence is done
to jên and kindness, while the reforming [capacity] of superiors
is vitiated.[9]
Those who are on good terms are few, while those who
want to destroy others are legion; by these practices the path to
jên is obliterated. The Ode says,[10]
How can [such methods] bring a good state of
things about?
You [and your advisors] will sink together in ruin.
