Contract for fields from Mr. Hui 133rd (1740) (Text)

Contract for fields from Mr. Hui 133rd (1740)

This document from 1740 defines a gift of land to the main ancestral temple of the lineage, the Hall of Filial Devotion, so that the spirit tablets of their father and his wives and their mothers will be included in the biannual ancestral sacrifices.

Contract for fields from Mr. Hui 133^rd

We hereby set a contract for additional fields for assisting in the sacrifices.

Today, the Kuan 190^th of Zhixi and his brothers, following the fixed rules set by the joint discussion of the Hall of Filial Devotion, send into the ancestral hall the spirit tablets of our father Mr. Hui 133rd, the late mothers Mrs. Hu, Mrs. Ye, Mrs. Tang, and the birth mother Mrs. Xu, so that they can also be included in spring and autumn great sacrifices for the ancestors through the ages. For this purpose we voluntarily donate the following field our father left to us: one field in the size of .917 mu (about 1/6 of an acre:  nine fen, one li, and seven hao) located at the first que, #963, with the field name of Jingtang kou; one field in the size 1.446 mu (1 mu, four fen, four li, and six hao) located at the first que, #975 with the same field name. These total 2.363 mu (two mu, three fen, six li, and three hao) of fields, and have a rent in the amount of five dan (about 150 kgs of grain). We also donate four dou of wheat (one dou =1/100 of a dan). All are to be added to the amount of the rent collected by the Hall of Filial devotion to elevate the sacrifices. At every sacrifice, they [our father and mothers] shall receive five portions of cooked sacrificial meat and ten pounds of raw meat. It is not to be decreased. It is up to the ancestral hall to collect rents and administer the fields. Our descendants are not allowed to change their minds in the future, and the ancestral hall for its part may not make changes or fail to offer sacrifices. For fear of having no evidence in the future we set this contract as a record.

On XX day of the eleventh month of the lunar year, the fifth year of Qianlong reign (1740), we set this contract for additional sacrifices.

Contracted by Kuan 204^th

                       Kuan 197^th

                       Kuan 190^th

                       Kuan 210^th

                       Kuan 205^th

(from Zhiyan cun Chen shi zongpu 1996 ed.)

1 háo 毫 = 0.001 mu.  Is 2/3 sq meter or about 7 square feet

1 lí 厘  = 10 háo 毫     (0.01 mu)

1 fēn 分 = 10 lí 厘       (0.1 mu)

1 mǔ 亩 = 10 fēn 分    

The mu is the standard unit for land area. It was originally a strip 240 bù (paces) long by one bù in width. 15mu = 1 hectare; 6 mu just over 1 acre. A hectare is defined as 100x100m whereas an acre is defined as 220 yards by 22 yards (or 1 furlong by 1 chain).

1 gě 合            = 10 sháo 勺    (0.1 sheng)

1 shēng 升       = 10 gě 合       Changed to be same as 1 liter or 0.22 gallons

1 dǒu 斗          = 10 shēng 升  (10 sheng)

1 dàn 石          = 10 dǒu 斗     (100 sheng)

1 hú 斛= 5 dǒu 斗