Research On The Fengtian Provincal Offical Land Measuring Bureau In The Early Republic Of China(1912-1929)

In facing with the internal and external troubles,the government has completely lifted the ban of the Northeast at the end of the Qing Dynasty.The late Qing government has effectively resisted the border crisis by lifting the ban on land reclamation,recruiting people and relocating people.During this process,the agricultural development in the Northeast region has also been accelerated.At the beginning of the Republic of China,the central government and local provinces faced a serious of financial crisis.The central government had no capability to repay the external debt.And the local provinces were short of enough financial resources and the people had no way of making a living.Fengtian Province has a vast territory and abundant resources but were not fully developed,so the authority tried to help the province get out of the predicament as soon as possible by raising funds through land measuring and selling and then attracting more immigrants.However,the land system in Fengtian Province was so much complicated.For instance,the land consolidation couldn’t be effectively banned and the border between the official land and common people’s land was not that clear.All these kinds of shortcomings were difficult to clean up in a short time.In response to the above various situations,the provincial authority advocated the immediate establishment of a land measuring institution,aiming at clearing the land and setting up the boundary as well as raising funds,increasing the income and enriching the local finances.Fengtian Provincial Official Land Measuring Bureau was established in January1915.The bureau has played a huge role in raising funds,clearing the boundary and sorting out the field.Although there are some drawbacks and limitations in the working process,the land measuring and selling and the clarification of the ownership of the land have realized the uniformity of the land system in the province and have promoted local economic development.There are four parts of the article.The first part mainly talks about the background of the establishment of the bureau,mainly from the implementation of thecrisis of the northeast border and the immigration policy as well as the land release in the Fengtian area in the late Qing Dynasty.The second part mainly discusses the establishment of the bureau.This part will focus on the organizational rules and personnel composition of the bureau.The third part mainly discusses the main functions of the bureau,including measuring and selling the land,solving disputes and managing to raise funds.The fourth part mainly discusses the influence of the bureau in the process of land measuring.This includes effectively resolving disputes over the land measuring,filling local finances,returning debts owed to foreign debts and promoting the standardization of land.