The gazetteer for Zhongyi xiang (忠義郷志) in Fenghua county contains a survey conducted in 1898 which records the names, numbers of households and members of lineages that immigrated to villages in this district, and the places that they emigrated from. By examining this data we can gain more information on immigration and its process, and the condition of regional development in Zhongyi xiang. Immigration differed according to historical periods. Lineaged that immigrated to Zhongyi xiang between the Tang periods came from relatively distant places such as Fujian, North China etc. By contrast during the Song dynasty the proportion of lineages that emigrated from other areas in the Zhedong (浙東) region increased, and during the Ming most of the immigrants were branch lineages from lineage groups within Fenghua county. During the first half of the Qing dynasty there was a sudden increase in immigrants from the commercial city of Ningbo and market towns in its environs. This change occurred because Zhongyi xiang had been drawn into a market sphere centered on Ningbo and the increase in merchant activities. During the later half of the Qing many shed people (棚民) moved into the mountainous parts of Zhongyi xiang. The history of the opening up of this area can be divided in the following way. During the Tang period land development began at the bottom of the mountains by using small rivers which flow down the slopes for irrigation, and in the Song period local landlords increased the amount of agricultural land by building embankments on the coast. In the Ming on big development projects were undertaken, but small scale waterways were built within the bounds of the land opened up during the Song. In the first half of the Qing land development was mainly conducted by the gentry who turned more of the coastal areas into agricultural land. The composition of lineages and social relations in villages during the late Qing was closely related to the process of immigration and land development described above. Villages established in the Tang period strongly exhibited the characteristics of a lineage village, and in villages set up on the coast during the Song there were unions between several lineage groups which had strong tie to the local area. It is assumed that this is due to the fact that villages in the Song were established by large scale irrigation works and it was necessary for residents in this area to co-operate with one another and jointly provide the funds for maitaining the irrigation facilities.