--- Notes

1927•41. There were 560,000,000 farm households nationwide (including landlords); assuming an average of six persons per household, this amounts to 336,000,000 people. If we take 80 percent of this figure as the proportion of peasants, then China’s total population would be 411,000,000. Should this calculation be accurate, the aforementioned peasant count would likewise be correct (based on surveys conducted by Soviet comrades and foreign observers).

11. Only 15 percent of China’s total land area is currently under cultivation. In several southeastern coastal provinces, the population far exceeds the available arable land. Taking Shandong as an example, there are 600 people per bose (an English acre corresponds to more than forty Chinese mu), resulting in extremely high land prices and rents. Due to the combination of dense population, limited land, and exorbitant rents, peasants have barely enough income to meet their basic needs and pay for land, leaving them unable to invest in agricultural technology. Consequently, technological levels remain very low, signaling an imminent decline in agricultural productivity.

3. Of the 336,000,000 peasants: (1) those who own land—ranging from smallholders with one mu up to large landlords—number between 120,000,000 and 150,000,000; (2) tenant farmers without land amount to approximately 30,000,000, while vagrants, bandits, soldiers, and rural petty merchants without stable occupations together comprise about 110,000,000; (3) subtracting the 150,000,000 landowners and the 30,000,000 tenant farmers, plus the 110,000,000 vagrants, bandits, and others, from the total of 336,000,000 leaves 136,000,000 tenant farmers who rent land from others; (4) according to these statistics, the 150,000,000 landowners constitute 45 percent of the total peasant population, whereas tenant farmers, hired laborers, and vagrants—the group without land—total 110,000,000, representing 55 percent of all peasants; (5) it follows that the majority of peasants are completely landless and are demanding land. Moreover, many among the landowning peasants also possess insufficient land, and they too are calling for more land.

4. Among the landowning peasants (45 percent):  Number of Mu    Proportion of Total Land  (1) Poor Peasants   1–10 mu         44%              6%  (2) Middle Peasants  10–30 mu        10–30%          13%  (3) Rich Peasants   30–50 mu        16%              17%  (4) Small/Medium Landlords  50–100 mu       9%               19%  Large Landlords    Over 100 mu       5%               43%  Together, rich peasants, small and medium landlords, and large landowners account for 30 percent of the landowning peasant class, yet their holdings comprise 79 percent of all cultivated land.

5. Considering both landowning and non-landowning peasants:  (1) Poor peasants—those with very little or no land (from one to ten mu)—represent 10.755 percent of the total and are all demanding land; (2) Middle peasants owning 10 to 30 mu make up 111 percent; they have no need to struggle over land, do not oppose poor peasants obtaining it, and can even assist them; (3) Rich peasants, small and medium landlords, and large landowners possessing more than 30 mu account for 13 percent.

1. All land owned by local tyrants, reactionary gentry, corrupt officials, warlords, and other counterrevolutionary elements in the countryside shall be confiscated by the district and township land committees and redistributed to peasants lacking sufficient land.

1. Land shall be allocated to peasants based on household size, with the amount each person receives further differentiated according to age.

3. Land distribution will be carried out at the township level; however, in cases where the amount of confiscated land is substantial, distribution may be conducted at the district level.

4. The district and township land committees shall be staffed by personnel appointed by the peasant-led self-governing bodies of districts and townships, serving as part of these bodies, and shall be responsible for confiscating, distributing, registering, and managing the land referred to in Article 1.

5. Land committees should be established at the county, provincial, and national levels, with each level’s peasant association entitled to send representatives to participate.

6. Rent collected from land confiscated and distributed to peasants shall be remitted by the district and township self-governing bodies to the government. The rental rate will be determined through consultation between the National Government Land Committee and the All-China Peasant Association.

7. The sale or purchase of confiscated and redistributed land is prohibited.

8. The Ministry of Agriculture of the National Government shall immediately formulate and promulgate regulations based on this resolution.

O Jiaoluo Ting and Wuhan Regime: Biographical Literature Press, 1972. Annex to the Minutes of the 1927 Meeting of the Wuhan Central Land Committee