How did the Tang Dynasty attempt to balance landholding and taxation through the equal-field system, and what was its long-term weakness?

• A. Land allocated according to family size and labor obligations with exemptions for the elite; over time it broke down due to population growth and bureaucratic/corrupt practices.
• B. Land allocated equally to all peasants; it collapsed due to droughts.
• C. Land granted to nobles for life; it failed because of revolts.
• D. Land taxed under a fixed rate; it collapsed due to inflation.

Answer: (A)

At the heart of this idea is tying land, people, and state revenue together so land doesn’t become a private treasure for a few and the state still gets its grain taxes. The equal-field system kept land under state ownership but parceled it out to households based on how many people were in the family and how much labor they could supply. Bigger families received more land to farm, ensuring they could meet their obligations, including corvée labor, while the state collected taxes mainly in grain from those plots. There were privileges for the elite, which helped maintain legitimacy and social order as the system operated.

Over time, the plan proved fragile. The land available to each household dwindled as population grew, and land often passed down and split among heirs, making plots smaller and less productive. Officials and elites could maneuver within the system to gain more land or sidestep duties, which weakened state control and the fairness of allocations. The combination of growing population, fragmentation of land, and bureaucratic corruption eroded the equal-field arrangement, and it gradually broke down, giving way to more private landholding and different tax practices in the long run.