本文首先透過重新理解相關歷史研究和文獻資料，釐析清帝國在臺 番界的設定過程如何衍生各種番租地權，以及這些番租土地對地域社群 的意義。其次藉著古文書資料分辨番租地的形成方式和歷史脈絡。以此 為基礎，統計日治初期竹塹地區的土地申告書資料，分析鳳山溪流域 （今新埔、關西，與部份竹北地區）的竹塹社平埔族人擁有的番租土地 分布情形，以及同一個區域內客家佃戶的公共產業的分布。結論指出， 番租地的重要意義在於它是地權關係的變動歷史過程的具現，這個歷史 過程可分析為農業國家藉著番地地權的區劃，介入移墾漢人（多數為粵 藉客家先民）與原住民番社之間基於不同生產模式的社會文化互動，而 演變成帶有族群經濟特色的治理方式。從土地與社群關係的角度思考， 番租地的形成和改變，以及公共產業的出現，可作為進一步探討藉著地 權關係的歷史形構而建立的客家地域社會的基礎。

This paper analyzes the cadastral survey data collected by the Japanese at the beginning of colonial rule to reveal the historical relationships between plains aborigines (Zhu-qian tribe) and Han Chinese (Hakka people) in the area of Fengshan river. Drawing on the findings contributed by John Shepherd, T'ien-fu Shih, and Chin-ming Ka, I advance the issue about formation and transformation of aborigine land tenure in considering the following points: 1) The Qing dynasty rulers’ policies on the tribal territory in northern Taiwan substantially made land rights as statecraft to accommodate the dynamic ethnic relation incurred by Chinese tenants’ reclamation. 2) The varieties of tribal rents recorded in the cadastral survey data shows privatization and concentration of aborigines land rights, and meanwhile the establishment of corporate landlord of Hakka worship organizations. 3) The constitution of multi-ethnic society in this area mainly was based on the tenurial relations within the changing mode of production.