Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí‧Húběi Jiānglíng Fènghuángshān Jiǔ Hào Hànmù Mùdú、Zhújiǎn 散見簡牘合輯‧湖北江陵鳳凰山九號漢墓木牘、竹簡
Collected Scattered Documents — Wooden Tablet and Bamboo Slips from Han Tomb no. 9 at Fènghuángshān, Jiānglíng, Hubei
(anonymous; administrative and burial documents)
About the work
A composite set of documents — wooden tablets (mùdú 木牘) and bamboo slips (zhújiǎn 竹簡) — from Han tomb no. 9 at Fènghuángshān 鳳凰山, Jiānglíng 江陵 (modern Jīngzhōu 荊州), Hubei Province. The documents include official administrative records — garrison dispatches, grain tax accounts, household grain-lending registers, slave inventories, food items, and collective service contracts — from the Ānlù 安陸 and Shìyáng 市陽 area administrative units. Published in KR2p 散見簡牘合輯 (Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí), Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1990.
Abstract
The Fènghuángshān tomb no. 9 documents are one of the most extensive early Han administrative corpora from Hubei. They appear to have belonged to a local official (lì 吏) serving in Ānlù County 安陸縣 under the Jiānnán (Jiāngnán 江南) Commandery, dated on internal evidence to around the early Western Han.
Official dispatch (wooden tablet). The opening wooden tablet records: “Day wùshēn first of month, rénxū, Ānlù 安陸 garrison commander’s deputy (shǒu chéng 守丞 Guǎn 綰) respectfully submits the sixteenth-year receipts and the county’s long-form reports (zhǎng yán 長言). [Second version]: Wùshēn first of month, rénxū, Ānlù garrison commander’s deputy Guǎn 綰 dares to report: the sixth-year dispatch of the commandery’s long pasture accounts (zhǎng mù 長牧), two tablets…” and “builds the [chariot] hub bolts (jiàn gú chéng 建轂丞) and acts on behalf of the commandery purchasing horses (xíng wéi jùn mǎi mǎ 行為郡買馬).” The repetition of the formula with slight variations suggests that several versions or drafts of the same dispatch were included in the tomb goods.
Slave inventory (partial). Five female slaves are listed with their assigned tasks: Dà bì Sī (dà bì Sī 大婢思, “fields, holds chopstick implements”), Dà bì Nǚjǐ (dà bì Nǚjǐ 大婢女己, “fields, holds chopstick implements”), Dà bì Yì (dà bì Yì 大婢意, “fields, holds chopstick implements”), Dà bì Xìn (dà bì Xìn 大婢信, “fields, holds chopstick implements”), Dà bì Dài (dà bì Dài 大婢戴, “fields, holds hoe chǎ 鍤”).
Food inventory. Items include: large and small dried-meat cases, meat in a basket (ròu yī sì 肉一笥), dried meat (fǔ yī sì 脯一笥), fish basket (yú yī luǒ 魚一笿), [?] basket, egg basket (luǎn yī luǒ 卵一笿), bamboo-shoot basket (sǔn yī luǒ 笋一笿), and several embroidered small bags (xiù xiǎo tuó 綉小橐) filled with beans (dòu 豆) and other grains.
Grain tax accounts (suàn fù jì 算賦計). The most extensive section of the documents is a set of grain-tax and capitation-tax records for two villages, Shìyáng 市陽 and Zhènglǐ 鄭里, over multiple months. Entries are formatted as: “Shìyáng, second month, 112 taxable persons (suàn 算), tax rate 35 coins per person, [total] 3,920 [coins]; principal Yǎn delivers to the western district official Yǎn and assistant Chán — officers’ stipend seal (lì fèng kǎ 吏奉卩 received by principal □, 218[+]).” The accounts record multiple tax categories: officers’ stipend tax (lì fèng 吏奉), capitation tax (kǒu qián 口錢), relay-transport tax (chuán sòng 傳送), armaments-repair tax (shàn bīng 繕兵). Similar accounts run for months 2–6 for Shìyáng and months 2–3 for Zhènglǐ.
Grain-lending register (lǐn bù 稟簿) for Zhènglǐ. A household-by-household seeding-grain lending record for Zhènglǐ (zhènglǐ lǐn bù, fán liùshíyī shí qī dǒu 鄭里稟簿、凡六十一石七斗, “total 61 shí 7 dǒu”). Each entry gives household head name, able-bodied workers, total household members, acreage, official seal, and loan amount — the same format as in the KR2p0123 Fènghuángshān 8 register. Twenty-odd households are listed, with land holdings ranging from 8 to 54 mǔ and loans from 8 dǒu to 5.4 shí.
Hay and fodder register. Accounts of fodder deliveries (chú 芻) and straw (gǎo 稿) converted to coin values.
Forage-tax accounts for Dānglì 當利. Monthly forage-tax accounts for the Dānglì administrative unit, months 1–3, recording officers’ stipend tax and other levies.
Relay-service contract (bān yuē 舨約). A rare document recording a mutual service contract (gòng shì yuē 共侍約) among a group of men calling themselves the “middle crew” (zhōng bān 中舨): “Crew leader Zhāng Bó 張伯, □Xiōng, Qín Zhòng 秦仲, Chén Bó 陳伯, and seven others enter into a crew contract. Each deposits 200 coins; the contract has two [provisions]; when the meeting coins are ready, those not ready are not to participate in the crew. For regular crew service (bān zhí xíng gòng shì 舨直行共侍), those not previously excused who do not attend due to illness are fined 30 [coins] per day; those without a substitute pay the going hired-labour rate (yōng jiǎ 以庸賈). If equipment is missing, each item is assessed at 10 coins. After the joint task is done, damaged or lost equipment is the collective responsibility of the crew…” The contract also specifies penalties for the crew officer (bān lì 舨吏) for failing to convene the group. This is a rare example of a private collective labour agreement in early Han administrative documents.
Textile and commodity accounts. Records of payments for hemp cloth (xǐ 枲), baskets (sì 笥), and other goods delivered across multiple months.
The Fènghuángshān tomb 9 documents are of particular interest for three reasons: (1) they provide unusually detailed tax records allowing reconstruction of local fiscal administration at the village level; (2) the grain-lending register is one of the earliest full examples of the lǐn bù 稟簿 genre; (3) the collective service contract (bān yuē 舨約) is a rare private document embedded among official records.
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.
- Loewe, Michael. Records of Han Administration. 2 vols. Cambridge University Press, 1967.
- Hulsewé, A.F.P. “Contracts of the Han Period.” In S.R. Schram, ed., The Scope of State Power in China. SOAS, 1985 — context for private contracts in Han documents.
Links
- Wikipedia (Jingzhou, Hubei): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingzhou