著者

細野 浩二

出版者

東洋文庫

雑誌

東洋学報 = The Toyo Gakuho

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, no.3, pp.229-264, 1967-12

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In Mediaeval China a landlord generally had beside his tenants slaves to work on the field. At the time when agricultural productivity was still low, the master would keep his slaves in a more or less total economic dependence on himself. The relationship is termed as "chu p'u chih fen 主僕之分 (status distinction of master and slave)". Analysis of the late Ming and Ch'ing family rules reveals emergence of a new system of the economic interdependence between the master and the slave, termed as "hsiang tzu hsiang yang 相資相養 (mutual assistance and mutual support)", in which the former is under the obligation of favor (en 恩) to the latter to be reciprocated with loyalty (chung hsin 忠信) of the latter. This phenomenon is a reflection of a higher economic value of the slave in farm management as a result of increased agricultural productivity. The 1588 revision of the regulations concerning slaves in the Ming codes also seems to evidence this improvement in the slave's lot.