Qing dai Qianlong jin zhongtian qi "qi wei" shi li. (Chinese)

A land contract (tian qi) is used for all direct transfer of land and property in traditional Chinese society. These contracts are reflections of the evolution in official policies on land transfers and property management system. They also provide vital reference for land and taxation system in China. While recent scholars have made tremendous progress on documenting land contracts during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the author points out that limited progress has been made on contracts in the Shanxi region. Since the system of including attachments to land contracts (qi wei) underwent changes in the Yongzheng period in the 1720s, and there are well-preserved archival documents from Shanxi province from this time to the end of the Qianlong period. The authors draw from these primary documents to trace their characteristics as well as the land taxation system.