It is a popular opinion that each peasant household in 周 (Zhou) times was assigned 100畝 (mu) of land for regular cultivation, while 商鞅 (Shang Yang) -notorious reformer of 秦 (Qin) dynasty -put an end to this system and established newly enlarged plowland allotments, which are said to have amounted to 240畝 (mu). Thus the new plowland is said to be 2.4 times as large as that of the 周 (Zhou) system. But it seems strange that such an odd number was chosen in this serious reformation. According to the results of the present author's analysis, the so-called 100畝 (mu) land system during the 周 (Zhou) was accompanied by the same amount of uncultivated land. The plots were alternated every year. Therefore, the total holding of any peasant was equal to 200畝 (mu). 商鞅 added another 100畝 (mu) to that total and then divided it into two parts, one for cultivation and the another for alternation. So, the new holdings increased by 50%. The shape of the new holdings was 100 old 歩 (bu) by 300 old 歩 (bu). However, 商鞅 (Shang Yang) produced a new yardstick for the latter on the pretext of the 趙 (Zhao) land system. Since the new yardstick was increased by 25%, 300 old 歩 (bu) was then equal to 240 new 歩 (bu). By this time, iron farm tools had become fairly widely diffused, and there were new high productivity gains due to this new method, causing 商鞅 (Shang Yang) to expand the standard size of land under cultivation. Before that time, land for cultivation and land for alternation were both set by the community, and people could not cultivate more land than the assigned 100畝 (mu). 商鞅 (Shang Yang) divided the newly enlarged land for cultivation into 8 small parts. Now people could cultivate 6 of them, all of them, or even another part left in the alternation land. Peasants were free from the restrictions of their communities, and productivity was raised correspondingly. But, as this new situation was brought forth by the new policy of the state, the 秦 (Qin) state gained enough power to control and exploit the peasants.