The Winner of the 12th Asia Pacific Research Prize (Iue Prize):
Dr. Almas

- Summary -

Management History of the Chinese Eastern Railway:
Russia and Manchuria, 1896–1935

This study examines hukoudi, farmlands provided by the Manchu Qing government to Mongolian soldiers in the Guihuacheng Tümed Banner area (now Höhhot, capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China) as salaries, using farmland contracts and litigation documents in Chinese, Mongolian and Manchu held by archives in Inner Mongolia and Japan. This paper consists of three parts containing ten chapters.

Part One deals with agriculture and hukoudi in this area. The chapter introduction discusses the local climate conditions and Chapter One outlines issues concerning a land system and soldiers during the Qing Dynasty. The main body of the paper starts with Chapter Two. Using materials from Chinese local chronicles, this chapter illustrates how tenant farmers from northern Shanxi Province introduced crop plants and farming methods to this area. Chapter Three shows through Qingshilu (the official chronicle of the Qing Dynasty) as well as Mongolian and Manchu official documents that the farmlands distributed in 1743 came to be called hukoudi after 1796.

Part Two compares forms of farmland contracts and ownership in this area and elsewhere in mainland China. Chapter Four clarifies that tenancy contracts with Chinese tenant farmers can be divided into three categories: open-ended (cancellable at any time), fixed-term (non-cancellable within a fixed term); and permanent. Mongolian landowners’ rights to their farmlands would become more restricted in the above order. Chapter Five shows that farmland pledge contracts signed by Mongolian soldiers can also be divided into the same three categories and that such contracts led to both Mongolians’ losing rights to receive farmland rents and the Qing Dynasty’s decreasing military power. Chapter Six examines farmland sales contracts signed by Mongolian soldiers, and Chapter Seven discusses the presence of irrigation agriculture and lease contracts for water and irrigation ditches concluded between Mongolian soldiers and Chinese tenant farmers in this area.

Part Three explores the origin of formats of contract documents. Chapter Eight shows that formats of farmland tenancy contract documents (written in Chinese) used in mainland China are the same as those used in the Guihuacheng Tümed Banner area. Chapter Nine shows that formats of farmland pledge contract documents (written in Mongolian) used in the Guihuacheng Tümed Banner area come from mainland China. Chapter Ten explores how formats of sales contract documents also come from mainland China. The final chapter provides a conclusion and discusses challenges for the future.