we speak of such a small dimensional unit as a Mu, we must not compare the economic value of this unit with our desjatine, since the Chinese cultivate their land by the most intensive methods, and a smaller area thus possesses a correspondingly greater economic value. As early as the time of the French revolution the Chinese methods of agriculture were recognized by economists as being the most intensive form of land cultivation.
Some of the Chinese provinces are to a great extent in the hands of large landowners. It must be emphasized that precisely the province in which Canton and Kwantung are situated is more divided up into large estates than the other provinces of China. 85 per cent of the total land in the northern, western, and eastern Yangtse valley belongs to large landowners. In the province of Hunan, in the Tschiante district, one third of the whole district belongs to the family of Yuang Schi Kai. I need not enumerate all these great land-owning families, but I may tell you that there are categories of landowners whose domestic servants alone, in the private service of the family, number more than a thousand persons. There are other tracts of land in the possession of the church, and the extent of this territory frequently exceeds that of the largest farming estates.
You will thus see that the peasant question is inevitably bound up with the agrarian. Thus we cannot say that in China there is no land question at present, and that this question may be struck out of the agenda of the Chinese revolution, since China is a land of small holders. This attitude would be entirely wrong.
The second question, closely affecting broad strata of the Chinese population, is the taxation question. At the present time the chief burden of taxation is borne by the broad masses of the workers, that is by the peasantry and artisans. I may here mention the fact that with respect to taxation China beats the record
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