Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí‧Gānsù Gāotái Cháng Fēng Jìn Mù Mùdú 散見簡牘合輯‧甘肅高台常封晉墓木牘
Collected Scattered Documents — Wooden Tablet from a Jin Tomb at Chángfēng, Gāotái, Gansu
(anonymous; roster document)
About the work
A single wooden tablet (mùdú 木牘) excavated from a Jin-dynasty 晉 tomb at Chángfēng 常封, Gāotái County 高台縣, Gansu. The tablet preserves a list of personal names, probably a roster or register of persons associated with the deceased. It is published in KR2p 散見簡牘合輯 (Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí), compiled by the Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1990.
Abstract
The document consists of a single wooden tablet bearing a list of names arranged in rows, partially damaged (□ indicating lacunae). The legible names include: Xú Xiǎoniú 徐小牛, Sūn Āzhī 孫阿之, Jiǎ Wànjūn 賈萬軍, Méng [□□] 孟□□, Liáng Shū[□] 梁淑□, Hú Shùdé 湖樹得, Yán Ā[□] 顏阿□, Méng Bó[□] 孟浡□, Hú[□□] 湖□□, Hú[□]Xián 湖□賢, Dǒng[□□] 董□□. The final lines contain the phrases: “absentees (shū wáng rén 踈亡人)… ought to be protected (dāng hù zhī 當護之)” and “send [the notice of] absentees, as evidence (zhì shū wéi xìn 致踈為信).”
These phrases suggest that the document is an administrative roster recording persons under some form of obligation — possibly a military unit, a labour corvée (yáo 徭) team, or a household registration list — and that certain named individuals are recorded as absent (wáng 亡, fled or unaccounted for). The injunction to “protect” the absent and to send notice of absence as proof is consistent with Jin-period practice of tracking corvée and military obligations.
Gāotái County lies in the Hēixiá Corridor of Gansu, west of Zhangye, along the ancient Silk Road route. Jin-period administrative texts from this region are relatively rare; the document contributes to knowledge of local governance practices in the northwest during the Jin.
Dating within the Jin period (265–420 CE) is not further specified by the document itself; the script and administrative terminology are consistent with the Western or Eastern Jin.
Translations and research
- 中國社會科學院歷史研究所, 《散見簡牘合輯》, 文物出版社, 1990 — editio princeps.
- Loewe, Michael. Records of Han Administration. 2 vols. Cambridge University Press, 1967 — general reference for administrative document types in the northwest.
Links
- Wikipedia (Gaotai County): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaotai_County