Food and Money Essay

Why did Huang Tsung-hsi see the well-field system as a foundation of a renewed Chinese culture and a stable political state? The well field was the center of a plot of land divided into 9 sections. Eight families farmed the plot; each held one of the sections and the central one belonged to lord of the whole plot. Why? The well-field system is believed to be the most ideal arrangement between landowners and tenants. Under this system, the families occupying each of the eight fields will befriend each other, cooperate in guarding the crops, watch each other’s back in case of danger, and rescue one another in times of trouble and illness. This system promotes harmony and equal treatment by the landlord. The burden of taxation is also distributed evenly among the families. Huang Tsung-hsi saw this system as the foundation of a renewed Chinese culture and stable political state because, as a follower of Mencius, he advocated that rulers must rule their subjects justly and well. Huang Tsung-hsi abhorred selfish autocratic rule. If a ruler promotes equal distribution, people will not be afraid of getting poor. If the people are assured of their just treatment, there will be peace in a society. Once people are content, government will not fail. In Ibn Khaldun’s analysis of Islamic society, did â€Å"group feeling† function in the same way as the well-field system did for Huang? In Ibn Khaldun’s analysis of Islamic society, he defined group feeling as subordinating of an individual’s personal needs to that of the interest of the group. He argued that if an individual won’t prioritize the group, there would be no peace and social development. Comparing this with the well-field system, I should say that in a way they are the same. The same because both systems promote solidarity and cooperation to achieve a purpose. In the well-field system, it can be assumed that individual needs are secondary in relation to what is best for the group. Works Cited Swann, Nancy. Food and Money in Ancient China. Princeton, 1950.