Yingtian jiyao 營田輯要

Yingtian jiyao 營田輯要 "Essentials of land management" is a book on agriculture written by Huang Fuchen 黃輔辰 (1798-1866), courtesy name Qindao 琴隝, from Guiyang 貴陽, Guizhou.

Huang obtained his jinshi degree in 1835 and was made secretary in the Ministry of Personnel (libu zhushi 吏部主事). In 1863, the governor of Shaanxi, Liu Rong 劉蓉 (1816-1873), planned to create agro-colonies (tuntian 屯田) in order to produce sufficient supplies for the military campaigns in the region and asked Huang to compile a handbook with instructions for this project. Huang compiled this handbook in a question-and-answer pattern, presenting solutions for twelve typical difficulties. The result was a book with a length of 4 juan. As an acknowledgement of his efforts, Huang was made salt inspector (yanfadao 鹽法道) of Shaanxi. The final version of the book was printed in 1866.

The largest part of the text consists of quotations from older books, but is enriched with commentaries by Huang. The introductory part (Juanshou 卷首) is a general overview. The first fascicle hints at the selection of soil, survey, opening for cultivation, measures for cultivation and the interplay between farmers and the authorities, the hiring of labour, and the collection of yields. The second part focuses on irrigation. Part three warns the reader to avoid problems encountered in the past, like wrong allotment, exploitation of farmers, illegal sales, falsified reports, unbalanced taxation, etc. The last chapter goes back to agricultural matters and explains how to take precautions against disasters, drill wells, apply manure, distribute seeds, or cultivate grain and vegetables.

Huang Fuchen's book reflects 2000 years of experience with state-organized agro-colonies and demonstrates that the system brought many problems with it. Huang concluded that the tuntian system must be applied with care and not exploit the farmers working on the fields.

The most widespread version is the 1864 edition that is found in Huang's collected writings Fenglin Huangshi jiasheng 楓林黃氏家乘. A modern, annotated version was published in 1984 by the Nongye Press 農業出版社.