浙江省博物馆珍藏一批明清契约文书,是研究明清时期社会经济的重要史料。承浙江省博物馆的支持,我阅读了其中一部分。本文就我见到的一批契约文书,结合其他文献资料,来看一看太平天国革命前浙江土地问题。1 太平天国革命前,由于封建统治阶级敲骨吸髓的剥削,浙江农民生活极为悲惨。遇到灾荒,农民往往“吃草吃糠,釜中食与喂猪料相似,甚有数日不举火者”。有的农民忍痛卖了儿女。嘉庆年间,浦江县有一诗人作了一首写实的《卖儿行》:“囊无余布炊无烟,不惜孤儿换斗米;……可怜母泣牵儿衣,儿将别母儿未知。”这是多么凄惨的情景。浙江省博物馆所藏的不少卖田契约中,写有出卖土地的原因,从中看出农民生活困苦的情况。大部分契约中所写的卖田原因,为“今因缺用”、“今因无钱使用”、“今因无办”、“情因缺少用度”。至于为 Zhejiang Provincial Museum collection of a number of Ming and Qing contractual instruments, is to study the Ming and Qing Dynasties socio-economic important historical data. Thanks to the support of Zhejiang Provincial Museum, I read some of them. In this paper, I have seen a number of contractual documents, combined with other literature, take a look at the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom before the revolution in Zhejiang land. Before the Taiping revolution, the peasants’ life in Zhejiang Province was extremely miserable due to exploitation by the feudal ruling class. Encounter famine, peasants often “graze eating bran, the pot of food and feeding the pig feed is similar, for a few days not to mention the fire.” Some farmers reluctantly sold their children. Jiaqing years, Pujiang County, a poet made a realistic “sell children’s line”: “No more than a bag of smoke-free cloth, at the orphan bucket for rice; ... Poor mother crying pull children clothes, children will not be unknown.” What a miserable scene. Zhejiang Provincial Museum collection of many selling contracts, wrote the reasons for the sale of land, from which farmers live in distress. Most of the contracts written in the selling of the reasons for the “current because of the lack of”, “now because of no money to use”, “now because of not doing so,” “lack of reason for the cost.” As for