聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

散見簡牘合輯‧湖北江陵鳳凰山八號漢墓竹簡

6 min read

Text ID
KR2p0123
Date
-180–-150
Dynasty
漢

Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí‧Húběi Jiānglíng Fènghuángshān Bā Hào Hànmù Zhújiǎn 散見簡牘合輯‧湖北江陵鳳凰山八號漢墓竹簡

Collected Scattered Documents — Bamboo Slips from Han Tomb no. 8 at Fènghuángshān, Jiānglíng, Hubei

(anonymous; tomb inventory and administrative documents)

About the work

A corpus of bamboo slips (zhújiǎn 竹簡) recovered from Han tomb no. 8 at Fènghuángshān 鳳凰山, Jiānglíng 江陵 (modern Jīngzhōu 荊州), Hubei Province. The slips comprise a burial inventory — clothing list, food inventory, vessel list, grain records, and a roster of slaves (pú bì 僕婢) buried with the tomb occupant — as well as what appears to be an administrative grain-lending register. The texts are preserved 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 Fènghuángshān cemetery, on the outskirts of Jiānglíng, is one of the richest sources of early Han bamboo-slip documents in Hubei. Multiple tombs at the site have been excavated since the 1970s. Tomb no. 8 is dated by its documents to the early Western Han, probably around 167 BCE (the thirteenth year of Emperor Wén 文帝) based on dated slips in adjacent tombs at the same cemetery.

Clothing inventory. The text opens with a clothing list (yī wù jí 衣物籍): “White [fabric] single-layer robe (bái… shān yī yī 白□襌衣一)…” The inventory proceeds to list in order: single-layer robes of various fabrics — plain cloth (zǎo xù shān yī 早緒襌衣一), old cloth (gù bù shān yī 故布襌衣二), new white (xīn bái shān yī 新白襌衣一); lined jackets (xiū 襦) — green brocade lined jacket (lǜ qǐ fù xiū 綠綺複襦一), old plain lined jacket, new plain lined jacket; trousers (kù 絝) — plain cloth trousers, new plain silk trousers, old gauze padded trousers; outer garments (xí 襲); robes (páo 袍) — white gauze robe (bái shā páo 白紗袍一), new robes, brocade robes (jǐn páo 錦袍), yellow robe (huáng zǎo páo 黃早袍一), new brocade robe; skirts (qún 裠/帬) — old plain-silk skirt, cloth single skirt, new plain skirt, embroidered small layered skirt (xiù xiǎo fù qún 繡小複裙一); bedding — new embroidered quilt, old brocade quilt; socks (wèi 韎) — new plain socks; shoes (lǚ 履).

Vehicles and slaves. Among the most notable entries are: “One light chariot (yào chē yī 軺車一), one canopy (shèng gài yī 乘蓋一), one embroidered seat-cloth (xiù zuò jīn yī 繡坐巾一), leopard-head chariot cushion (bào shǒu chē yīn 豹首車絪); one horse (mǎ yī pǐ 馬一匹), two dogs (quǎn èr 犬二).” The slave roster (ǒu rén jí 耦人籍, “register of personal attendants”) records: Grand male slave Xián (dà nú Xián yù 大奴賢御, “Xián: chariot driver”), Grand male slave Jiān (小奴堅, “Jiān: follows the chariot”), Grand male slaves Jiǎ (車豎, “chariot stable boy”), Yí (dà nú Yí 大奴宜, “Yí: cavalry rider”), male slave Xī (dà nú Xī 大奴息, “Xī: usher”), male slave Měi (dà nú Měi 大奴美, “Měi: usher”), male slave Púsū (dà nú Púsū 大奴蒲蘇, “follows”), male slave Bùjìng (dà nú Bùjìng 大奴不敬, “follows”), male slave Lù (dà nú Lù 大奴祿, “follows: hibernation patrol”), male slave Huān (dà nú Huān 大奴獾, “follows: stinging patrol”); Grand female slaves: Lǜ (dà bì Lǜ 大婢綠, “attends with towels”), Zǐ (dà bì Zǐ 大婢紫, “attends with towels”), Fù (dà bì Fù 大婢縛, “attends with combs”), Liúrén (dà bì Liúrén 大婢留人, “attends with combs”), Nǚ□ (dà bì Nǚ□ 大婢女□, “serves”), Rén (dà bì Rén 大婢壬, “serves”), Chù (dà bì Chù 大婢畜, “serves”), Gǒu□ (dà bì Gǒu□ 大婢苟□, “serves”), Pì (dà bì Pì 大婢庳, “nurses”), [name] (dà bì □ 大婢𣆌, “nurses”), Yì (dà bì Yì 大婢益, “holds the chopsticks”), Bào (dà bì Bào 大婢豹, “holds chopsticks”), Xìng (dà bì Xìng 大婢幸, “holds chopsticks”), □Qīng (dà bì □Qīng 大婢□青, “holds chopsticks”), and further male slaves assigned to operate a boat (chuán yī mǎn 船一㮴) and to row (dú 擢); a bull-cart (niú chē yī chéng 牛車一乘) with the ox named Hēi (niú yī pǐ míng Hēi 牛一匹名黑), and a small male slave tending the ox. The summary notes: “Right-side register of personal attendants, total 79 [persons]” (yòu fāng ǒu rén jí fán □ jiǔ ■右方耦人籍凡□九).

Food and vessel inventory. Large and small shèng-containers (two pairs each), various vessels, food items including dried meat, fish, eggs, bamboo shoots, beans, pickles, sweet wine, as well as a board-game set (bó sì jù 博筭□梮博席一具).

Grain register (lǐn bù 稟簿). A separate section consists of an administrative grain-lending register for several villages, recording household by household: name of household head (hù rén 戶人), number of able-bodied workers (néng tián rén shù 能田人數), total household members (kǒu 口), field acreage (tián mǔ 田畝), government seal confirmation (shí kǎ 十卩), and amount of grain lent (dài 貸, i.e. the seeding-grain loan). For example: “Household head Shèngnéng: 1 able worker, 1 household member, 8 mǔ of fields, government seal, lends 8 dǒu”; “Household head Jīniú: 2 able workers, 4 household members, 12 mǔ, seal, lends 1 shí 2 dǒu.” The register covers multiple village units (鄭里, 市陽 and others).

Summary. The total of goods is listed at the end: “Grand total of 123 items” (dà fán bǎi èrshísān wù ／大凡百廿三物).

The Fènghuángshān tomb 8 documents are important evidence for early Western Han household management, slave ownership, and administrative grain-lending practices at the local level. They represent a landowner or official of mid-ranking status in the Jiāng-Hàn 江漢 region during the consolidation of Han power in the south.

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.
  • 湖北省博物館, 「江陵鳳凰山漢墓發掘簡報」, 《文物》 1974.6, pp. 41–61 — excavation report for the Fenghuangshan group.
  • Loewe, Michael. Records of Han Administration. 2 vols. Cambridge University Press, 1967.
  • Nishijima Sadao 西嶋定生. 「奴婢と身分」(Slavery and Status). In 中国古代国家と東アジア世界. Tokyo University Press, 1983 — on slave registers in Han tombs.

Graph View

Backlinks