Agriculture Under the Ming Dynasty

Name
Prof
Course
Date
Agriculture Under the Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty ruled China between 1368 and 1644 A.D. The era saw the Chinese population double, trade expansion to the outside world, and proliferation of Chinese art and literature (Editors). Emperor Taizu was born into poverty, and therefore, the founder had a different approach to land policies (compared to other dynasties) that helped to realize expansion in agricultural activities. The expansion of the population and spread of art and literature would not have been possible without a reliable food supply.
Land Policy
Coming from poverty, the first emperor of the dynasty knew the predicaments of the peasant population. His efforts were to ensure that this population was taken care of. Earlier, scholar-bureaucrats and wealthy individuals had encroached on peasant lands and bribed government officials to burden the poor with taxes. The Ming dynasty solved this through the introduction of the Yellow Records and the Fish Scale Records (Cheng 1244). The two systems worked to secure land for peasants and protect government taxes. People were forced to migrate to more minor dense areas where they could have land for agriculture. Further, the emperor ordered officials in Anhui and Hunan to give land to young farmers that had attained adulthood as a way of preventing landlords from seizing lands. Lastly, the emperor decreed that farmers who brought fallow land under cultivation could own the land without paying taxes.
Shift in Markets
Besides the policies, the state also embarked on extensive investments to build canals and reduced taxation on agricultural output to 1.5% (Cheng 1245). The investments resulted in innovations like water-powered plows and new methods like crop rotation. As a result of these policies, investments, and innovations, there was increased and surplus agricultural production and a market shift. The first fundamental change was the rise of the commercial plantation. Under the dynasty, tea, fruits, rice, and paint were produced on an industrial scale in ...