Li Chunian

Timeline

1. 1096–1141Fuliang · Fuliang CountyA jinshi of the eighth year of Zhenghe, he served as magistrate of Ningguo County in Xuanzhou, judicial officer of the Ningguo Army, and prefectural judge of Hongzhou. In 1132 he had an audience with Gaozong, setting out the ills of misgoverned prefectures and counties, and was noted for competence, rising to vice director in the Ministry of Works.
2. 1142–1149Pingjiang Prefecture · Pingjiang PrefectureIn 1142 he memorialized on the ten harms of irregular land boundaries, was ordered to oversee the survey, drafted twenty-four articles of the land-survey system, and in Pingjiang Prefecture compiled boundary registers and measured and verified fields so that people would have fixed property and property fixed taxes. In 1143 he served as acting Vice Minister of Revenue, established an office to push the system through the circuits, and was created Marquis of Puning.
3. 1150–1200Xuanzhou · XuanzhouDismissed in 1149 over charges that the survey troubled the people, he was restored as prefect of Xuanzhou in 1154 after Qin Hui's death, became prefect of Wuzhou in 1155 and set up a price-stabilization office, and died in 1164. Though his system was halted, its registers survived in the southeast; in 1194 Zhu Xi as prefect of Tanzhou again urged the land survey, and in the 1190s courtiers debated restoring equal taxation, all tracing back to Li Chunian's Shaoxing-era rules.