重要的是，大多数的农民是有自主权的，

　　The peasants of Europe worked essentially as low-paid slaves of an aristocratic landlord, with little control over their own destinies.

　　在欧洲的农民只能从他们所属的贵族那里得到一点微薄的报酬，而且他们几乎无法主宰自己的命运。

　　But China and Japan never developed that kind of oppressive feudal system, because feudalism simply can't work in a rice economy.

　　但是中国和日本的体制有所不同。西欧的体制不适合稻田农业文化，

　　Growing rice is too complicated and intricate for a system that requires farmers to be coerced and bullied into going out into the fields each morning.

　　种地是件很复杂的事，体制无法强迫或威逼农民每日很早起床去田里干活。

　　By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, landlords in central and Southern China had an almost completely hands-off relationship with their tenants:

　　在14世纪到15世纪，中国中部和南部地区的地主同租户的关系已不具有所属关系。

　　they would collect a fixed rent and let farmers go about their business.

　　地主只收取固定的土地出租费用，其他的事情全部都由农民自主决定。

　　"The thing about wet-rice farming is, not only that you need phenomenal amounts of labor, but it's very exacting," says the historian Kenneth Pomerantz.

　　“对于种植水稻来说，不仅仅是需要很多的人力，而且还是件很吃力的工作，细微的差别就会造成产量上很大的差异。”历史学家肯尼思·波马雷兹说道，

　　"You have to care. It really matters that the field is perfectly leveled before you flood it.Getting it close to level but not quite right makes a big difference in terms of your yield.

　　“浇水的时间也非常关键。

　　It really matters the water is in the fields for just the right amount of time.There is a big difference between lining up the seedlings at exactly the right distance and doing it sloppily.

　　插秧时，秧苗的距离和力度对产量也会产生很大的影响。

　　It's not like you put the corn in the ground in mid-March and as long as the rain comes by the end of the month, you're ok.

　　这不是你想象的那么简单——只要在3月中旬，把种子洒在地里，然后在月底的时候下场雨就可以等待收成了，

　　You're controlling all the inputs in a very direct way.

　　你必须按部就班地点进行每项作业。

　　And when you have something that requires that much care, the overlord has to have a system that gives the actual labor some set of incentives,

　　对于需要特别关注的田地，地主就会通过一定的奖赏制度来激励农民。

　　where if the harvest comes out well, the farmer gets a bigger share.

　　如果收成很好，那么农民也会得到更多的分成。

　　That's why you get fixed rents, where the landlord says, I get twenty bushels, regardless of the harvest, and if it's really good, you can get the extra.

　　这就是为什么地租是固定的。地主会说，不管收成如何，我都要收20担粮食，因此如果收成超出地租需要交纳的粮食，你就会有收获很多余粮。