十六世紀後半，江南三角洲上嘉善縣的進士支大綸，將自身擁有的涇港等小規模的田間水道制定為「放生河」，亦即禁止在該水面從事一切漁撈行為。由此可以確認，除了農地和住宅地之外，水面也成為私有物的對象，其私有權獨立於岸邊的耕地所有權之外，乃是一種民法上的物權。水面私有權的淵源應可追溯到十五世紀末乃至十六世紀之間，江南三角洲上所進行的「分圩」運動。「分圩」者，即透過精細而密集地開掘小型水道，將「大圩」分割為「小圩」，乃是一種土木工程上的改造運動。筆者推測，因為新開水路而廢止的舊有耕地所有權，應是直接轉化為對新闢水面的所有權。支大綸原為鄉居地主，自中舉獲得官僚資格後，遂改變其生活型態，移居至附近的城市嘉善。離鄉之際，支大綸也和許多士大夫一樣，放棄既往的農業經營，將農地交付小農耕種，僅對其收取佃租。換言之，十六世紀中葉時，在江南三角洲迅速普及的官僚地主城居化現象，同樣也可在支大綸身上得見，而這點正是其禁漁規範的前提。嘉善支氏原先在都市中從事基層教師或經營小生意，抑或擔任地方官衙的胥吏，實屬中下階層一介平民；後經由入贅等形式進入鄉村富家，獲得向上攀升、立身出世的支撐點，終於在十六世紀中葉躋身士大夫階層。明代江南三角洲的士大夫官僚大多出身於所謂的「耕讀之家」，不僅在自家直營農業，同時也讓子弟在家中接受教育；其次，則有少數出自都市富商階層者。雖然數量極少，但嘉善支氏的案例顯示，尚有第三種少見的類型，即出身於都市平民的士大夫存在於此。

In the late 16th century, Zhi Dalun (支大綸), a metropolitan graduate who lived in Jiashan county in the Jiangnan region, established the regulation that all the creeks and streams in his property should be categorized as fangsheng-he, with all forms of fishing prohibited. This fact has been understood to imply that water, as well as land, were both regarded as the objects of private possession. The ownership of waters, distinct from that of farmland on the banks of the creeks, was thus construed of as a right protected by law. The origin of the private ownership of water can be traced back to the division of dikes and polders (fenyu 分圩), conducted in the Jiangnan delta from the late 15th century to the 16th century. This was a civil engineering reformation movement aimed at dividing large polders and dikes into smaller ones by constructing a network of creeks. Farmland owners lost the right of ownership to land, but gained the right to ownership of the new creeks. What caused Zhi Dalun to re-establish the existence of private creeks? Because of Zhi's success in the civil-service examination, he needed to change his lifestyle. Qualified as a government official (shidafu 士大夫), Zhi Dalun had to leave his residence in the village and move to live in the nearby walled city of Jiashan (嘉善). As he left the village, Zhi Dalun, like many other government officials, decided to give up farm management, and to leave agricultural work in the hands of the peasants, while he would collect land rent (dianzu 佃租) in return. Thus officials' move to cities, an increasingly common occurrence beginning in the 16th century, was a precondition for Zhi's regulation of fishing prohibitions in private creeks. It was not until the middle of the 16th century that the Zhi family of Jiashan County ascended to the official class. Originally they had been commoners, living in a city, making their living as lower-level teachers, small-scale retail merchants, or as clerks (xuli 胥吏) working in offices of local governments. The Zhi family moved up the social ladder in part by marrying into a wealthy family. Most of the officials in the Jiangnan Delta came from so-called ”cultivating literati families” (gengdu zhi jia 耕讀之家). They were farmers who managed their own farmland directly and ensured their children received a good education. Secondly, some officials were known to have come from wealthy merchant families living in cities. The Zhi family offers proof that there existed, although very rare and small in number, a third category of officials in the Jiangnan delta: commoners who moved to cities.