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Water-rich rice fields were newly developed in Jiangnan since the Five Dynasties period in China. They were created by building strong levees around the river and lakes and enclosing the areas within them to create rice paddies. Both lake-rich rice fields and enclosed rice fields have the same structure. Large rings (levees) covering several dozens of miles were also constructed, and a large household within the ring was selected as the ring chief and supervised the construction and repair of the ring banks. Irrigation channels ran through the middle of the ring, and sluice gates were installed on the upper and lower banks, allowing irrigation and drainage to be freely adjusted, making the rings resistant to both floods and droughts, and bringing about a dramatic increase in rice production in the downstream delta region of the Yangtze River. Bureaucrats and landowners created large-scale rings, monopolizing the water from the river and lakes and hindering the water use of private fields in the lowlands. Orders were repeatedly made to open the levees, but these were not carried out, and the rings developed further from the Southern Song dynasty onwards. Manors were managed on the rings by cultivating land for themselves.

[Setsuko Yanagida]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国で五代以来、江南に新しく開発された水利田。江湖の周辺に強固な堤防を築き、その中を囲い込んで水田としたもの。湖田、囲田も構造上は同じである。方数十里に達する大圩（堤）も構築され、圩内の大戸が選ばれて圩長となり、圩岸の興修を監督した。中には用水路が通じ、上下の堤防に水門を設け、灌漑(かんがい)と排水を自由に調節できたので、水害、干害両方に強く、揚子江(ようすこう)下流デルタ地帯の米生産に飛躍的増大をもたらした。官僚、地主層は大規模な圩田を造成し、江湖の水を独占、低地の民田の水利を阻害したため、たびたび堤防の開掘が命じられたが実行されず、南宋(なんそう)以降ますます発展した。圩田では佃戸(でんこ)耕作による荘園(しょうえん)経営が行われた。

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