A contract is a formal document signed in accordance with law to prove the relationship between sale, mortgage and lease. The history of written contracts in China can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. So far, the earliest contracts found are four land leases, such as Qiu weidian land lease in the third year of King Gong of Zhou, which was engraved on a bronze vessel in 919 BC. With the development of social economy and the increasing complexity of people's property relations, the contract system in ancient China has been continuously improved, showing various characteristics suitable for productivity and production relations. It is also an effective record of China's land evolution.

    Before the Song Dynasty, the "sample text" of the contract appeared, and the content and program of the contract gradually became scientific and standardized. The official deed appeared after the Northern Song Dynasty, and then the tail of the deed was added, which was used until the period of the Republic of China. The official deed (red deed) is stamped and taxed by the government and has legal effect, while the white deed has no legal effect. Although the existence and legitimacy of the white deed seem to be questioned, the advantages of light business, low cost and widely recognized by the people enable it to coexist with the red deed for a long time.

   The contract system has been basically finalized in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Most of the civil norms in the Ming Dynasty were based on the norms of previous dynasties, and the debt relationship was more developed and the system design was more comprehensive. Commercial transactions became more and more frequent in the Qing Dynasty, and the contracting behavior between civil subjects became a common phenomenon. The number of contracts in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was huge, and its content reflected many problems and had distinctive characteristics of the times. From the implementation of the contract system and deed tax policy, we can reflect the social and economic situation and the related problems of national finance.

    This exhibition selects more than 30 contract documents of the Ming and Qing Dynasties from the collection of Jiangyan Museum, including one contract for selling land in the Ming Dynasty and 10 contract documents of each dynasty from Kangxi to Xuantong in the Qing Dynasty. Jiangyan has a large number of local contracts, including both red and white contracts, involving land and real estate sales, pawn and leasing. At that time, the land sales system and economic and social environment can be seen. The changing trend of ancient contracts in China from simple to complex, from non-standard to standardization, from lack of regulation to strengthened regulation will be presented in this exhibition.

    Exhibition time: December 26, 2017 - January 30, 2018
    Venue: Hai'an County Museum