University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XIII

PARKS AND PONDS

a. The Lord Grand Secretary: The feudal lord, whose fief can
be considered as forming but one household, has his concern limited to
his manor. The Emperor, whose domain has as its boundaries the
Eight Extremities,[1] has concerns extending far and wide. It is
clear that under the small manorial roof the expenses are trifling,
in comparison with the great expenditure necessitated by the immense
undertaking [of ruling the Empire]. Herein lies the reason for the
Government's opening up of parks and ponds, and its concentrating
under one hand the mountains and the seas, to secure profits that
could be used to supplement tribute and levies.

b. We improve canals and sluices, promote various kinds of
agriculture, extend farm and pasture lands,[2] and develop national
reservations.[3] The offices of the t'ai-p'u, the shui-hêng, the shao-fu,
and the ta-nung,[4] compute annually the revenue derived from farm
and pasture, and the rentals from farming out pond and weir. Up
to the limits of the Empire in the north, supervisors of fields have
been appointed;[5] and yet with all these efforts to provide for the

different items of expenditure, there is still a deficit. Now you desire
to abolish all these measures, to stop the fountain of income and
the source of revenue, with the result that the people, both high
and low, will be in dire need, devoid of means of subsistence. Even
though we would like to save effort and cut down expenditure, how
can we do it?

c. The Literati: The Ancients managed to control land so that
it would suffice to nourish the people, and the people would have
ample means to satisfy demands from above. In a kingdom of a
thousand chariots, or in a district of a hundred li, duke, marquis,
count, viscount and baron[6] each filled his want and satisfied his
desire; while Ch'in, who consolidated the territory of the Myriad
States and possessed himself of the wealth within the Four Seas,
remained yet with longings unsatisfied. There was no question here
of the trifling expenses under the small manorial roof, but of lust
for so many things that the people below could not suffer his
exactions. The prince's kitchen stuffed with rotting meat, says the
adage, while people hunger in the provinces; the prince's stable full
of sleek horses, while starvelings walk the highways.[7] As now going
on, is it not true that raising hound and horse, and rearing reptile
and beast, even exceed in expense "the wastage of rotting meat and
horses' fodder?" With offices superfluous, activities irrelevant, ever-changing
fashions for prodigalities and vagaries, those unwarrantedly
feeding and clothing at the expense of the Government are so
numerous that it is no wonder we have deficiency above and poverty
and distress below!

d. Yet the present policy is to strive to make ends meet[8] without
making an attempt at rigid economy at the source. All kinds of
devices are put up to obtain capital:[9] farming, and rearing of animals,
are taken up; the government competes with the people in fodder
production, and with the merchants in the matter of market profits.[10]

Such a policy will never help you to make illustrious the Ruler's
virtue, or become real gerents of the Commonwealth. Now that men
should till and women should weave, this is the "Great Vocation"
in the Empire. So the Ancients subdivided the land[11] to settle the
people, and made farming profitable to give them an occupation;
as a result, for every occupation there was a plot of land assigned
to the individual,[12] and there were no unemployed in the country.

e. At present, we see on the other hand the Government opening
up national reservations, public fields, ponds, and marshes; but the
result is that while the Commonwealth enjoys in name the rentals
from the dykes, all the profit derived from them reverts to the
plutocrats.[13] The Metropolitan District,[14] hemmed in by rivers and
mountains, is greatly overpopulated. With the people flocking to
it from all quarters of the Empire, the supply of grain and fuel
falls short; but with the public fields rented out, the mulberries
and elms, vegetables and fruits fall in production, and the land is
not tilled to full capacity.[15] It is our humble opinion that this was
not the purpose of the late Emperor[16] in opening up parks and

reservations, ponds and weirs. They could be turned over to the
people in return for certain levies; the Government should get nothing
but rents and taxes. Though lease and tax[17] are different terms,
they are identical in substance. With such an arrangement the
male population would exert themselves in working in the southern
fields,[18] while the women would spend all their effort in the
production of woven goods. With fields and fallows worked to
capacity, and the production of linen going at full speed, both rulers
and subjects would have plenty, and what deficiency and distress
would there be?

Silently the Lord Grand Secretary regarded the Chancellor and
his Secretaries.