Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí‧Húběi Jiānglíng Fènghuángshān Shí Hào Hànmù Mùdú、Zhújiǎn 散見簡牘合輯‧湖北江陵鳳凰山十號漢墓木牘、竹簡
Collected Scattered Documents — Wooden Tablet and Bamboo Slips from Han Tomb no. 10 at Fènghuángshān, Jiānglíng, Hubei
(anonymous; burial inventory and administrative documents)
About the work
A set of wooden tablets (mùdú 木牘) and bamboo slips (zhújiǎn 竹簡) from Han tomb no. 10 at Fènghuángshān 鳳凰山, Jiānglíng 江陵 (modern Jīngzhōu 荊州), Hubei Province. The documents include a burial inventory, a funerary letter to the underground administration (gào dì shū 告地書), a shared-service contract, tax accounts, and household name registers. Published in KR2p 散見簡牘合輯 (Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí), Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1990.
Abstract
Burial inventory (wooden tablet). The inventory opens: “Two bamboo baskets (zhú sì èr 竹笥二), one lidded basket (wàng sì yī 望笥一), one box (hán yī 函一), one large male slave (dà nú yī rén 大奴一人), two large female slaves (dà bì èr rén 大婢二人),” and continues with a list of vessels and lacquerware: □□ vessel set, ruler vessel set (chǐ bēi□ 尺卑⺀一具), meeting vessel set (huì bēi□ 會卑⺀一具), food vessel (shí jiǎn 食檢一具), cabinet (dú 櫝一具), small yú-vessel (xiǎo yú 小于一具), a tray (àn 案一), cloth food-bag (bù tuó shí 布橐食一), two juàn-silk rice bags (juàn tuó mǐ èr 縑橐米二), one cloth curtain (bù wéi 布帷一), “13 ceramic items in all” (wǎ qì fán shísān wù 瓦器凡十三物), two bundles of dried meat (fǔ èr shù 脯二束), one pig (tún yī 豚一), one set of chopsticks (kē yī jù 柯一具), red and black cups (chì bēi sān jù hēi bēi wǔ 赤杯三具黑杯五), wine and other liquids.
Funerary letter to the underground administration. The document dated “the fourth year, ninth month, day xīnhài (sì nián hòu jiǔ yuè xīnhài 四年後九月辛亥)” includes an address: “Pínglǐ village (Pínglǐ 平里), fifth-rank noble (wǔ dàfū 五大夫) Chǎng Yǎn (Chǎng Yǎn 倀偃): [The deceased’s] clothing and vessels — by which to serve □□ — the items are [listed]; follow the letter of law and ordinance (cóng lǜ lìng cóng shì 以律令從事).” This is a standard gào dì shū 告地書 (letter to the underground official) in which a local official certifies the deceased’s identity and authorizes the transfer of listed possessions to the netherworld. Compare the more famous example from Fènghuángshān 168 (see KR2p0126).
Household name registers. A series of slips records names associated with groups of “ten taxable persons” (fán shí suàn 凡十算), each group authorized to “move one male and one female” (xǐ yī nán yī nǚ 徙一男一女), i.e. migrate or transfer one couple. Names in these groups include Dèng Dé 鄧得, Rèn Jiǎ 任甲, Sòng Zé 宋則, Yě Rén 野人, Yán Mǔ 寄三, Zhāng Mǔ 張母, and others across multiple groups. The migrant pairs are named: “male Yě Rén 野人, female Huì 惠”; “male Wú Qióng 毋邛, female □□”; and so on. This register appears to be a local administrative record of household migrations or transfers, possibly related to Han colonization policy in the Jiāng-Hàn region.
Tax and delivery accounts. A series of bamboo slips records transactions at Shìyáng (Shì Yáng 市陽): “Fourth month, day dīngsì: entry to the Jiǎ family’s house, Pínglǐ wine, two shí four dǒu, value [□]”; commodity deliveries including hemp cloth, baskets, and other goods; totals for multiple months (fourth month: 5,668 coins; fifth month: 4,687 coins; sixth month to tenth month totals).
Household field register. Partially preserved slips recording household names and their travel status (xíng 行, “currently traveling/absent”).
The Fènghuángshān tomb 10 documents closely parallel those of tomb 9 (see KR2p0124), reflecting the administrative world of early Western Han Ānlù County. The household migration register is of particular note as evidence of Han settlement policy in the middle Yangzi valley in the early imperial period.
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.
Links
- Wikipedia (Jingzhou, Hubei): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingzhou