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散見簡牘合輯‧湖北雲夢睡虎地四號秦墓木牘

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Text ID
KR2p0128
Date
-224–-223
Dynasty
秦

Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí‧Húběi Yúnmèng Shuìhǔdì Sì Hào Qín Mù Mùdú 散見簡牘合輯‧湖北雲夢睡虎地四號秦墓木牘

Collected Scattered Documents — Wooden Tablets from Qin Tomb no. 4 at Shuìhǔdì, Yúnmèng, Hubei — the “Letters of Hēi Fū and Jīng”

(written by Hēi Fū 黑夫 and Jīng 驚, Qin soldiers)

About the work

Two wooden tablets (mùdú 木牘) containing two letters written by two brothers — Hēi Fū 黑夫 and Jīng 驚 — serving as Qin soldiers on campaign against Chǔ 楚 (224–223 BCE), addressed to their elder brother Zhōng 中 and their mother (“Zhōng Mǔ” 中母 / “Zhōng [de] mǔ” = “Zhōng’s mother”). The tablets were discovered in 1975 in Qin tomb no. 4 at the Shuìhǔdì 睡虎地 site, Yúnmèng County 雲夢縣, Hubei Province (the same site, different tomb from the famous Shuìhǔdì legal corpus, which came from tomb 11). They are the earliest personal letters preserved from Chinese history. Published in KR2p 散見簡牘合輯 (Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí), Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1990.

Abstract

Discovery context. Shuìhǔdì 睡虎地 is the site of a cluster of Qin-period tombs excavated in 1975–1977 by Hubei Provincial Museum teams. Tomb no. 11 at the site yielded the most extensive Qin legal corpus discovered to date (the Shuìhǔdì Qínjiǎn 睡虎地秦簡, containing the Qin Laws, Daily Activities, Way of Being an Official, etc.). Tomb no. 4, a different burial at the same site, contained two wooden tablets — the letters of Hēi Fū and Jīng — which were published separately in the Wénwù journal in 1975 and subsequently included in the Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí.

Letter 1 (from Hēi Fū and Jīng to their mother and elder brother Zhōng). The letter opens: “Second month, day xīnsì (èr yuè xīnsì 二月辛巳): Hēi Fū and Jīng dare [to prostrate themselves] twice and ask [whether] Mother of Zhōng (Zhōng Mǔ 中母) is well (wú yàng 毋恙也). Before this, Hēi Fū and Jīng parted [from each other]; now we have met again (fù huì yǐ 今復會矣).” The letter then conveys a series of practical requests through intermediaries: “Hēi Fū sends [this letter] via Yì jiù 益就 [his comrade] and says: send Hēi Fū money — do not bring summer clothes [for me]. Now upon receiving this letter, Mother should look at [whether] silk cloth in Ānlù 安陸 is cheap enough to make single-layer jackets (shān xiū 禪羣襦) for [us]; Mother must make these and send them with the money together. If the silk cloth is expensive, just send the coins; Hēi Fū will buy cloth here himself. Hēi Fū and the others are directly assisting [the army at] Huáiyáng 淮陽, attacking the rebel city; we have been engaged for a long time [and it is] not yet possible to know [when it will end] (jiǔ shāng wèi kě zhī yě 久傷未可智也). [Tell] Mother to send Hēi Fū [supplies] and do not be stingy. When this letter arrives, please all reply. The reply must state whether the recommendation for Xiāngsì’s noble rank (xiāngsì jué 相家爵) has arrived or not, and inform Hēi Fū of what has not yet arrived. [We] hear that the King [has] obtained Gǒu Dé (Wáng dé Gǒu Dé 聞王得苟得)…”

The letter continues with requests for news about family members: “For Hēi Fū and Jīng, [please] give our regards to elder sister-in-law, younger-sister-in-law, Sì (季須), Gǒu Dé (Gǒu Dé 苟得), and mother (external family), and all of the inner and outer family. For Hēi Fū and Jīng [please also] give [regards] to the family in the eastern room, the Season-of-Need [person?] (季須), and Gǒu Dé (Gǒu Dé)…”

Letter 2 (from Jīng to his mother and elder brother Zhōng). Jīng’s separate letter begins: “Jīng dares with sincere heart (gǎn dà xīn 敢大心) to ask whether Middle Mother (Zhōng Mǔ 衷母) is well. [Is] the household inner and outer [side fine?]… by Mother’s efforts without difficulty… With [my companion] I am with Hēi Fū in the army — all of us are well (jiē wú yàng yě 皆毋恙也).” Jīng then makes his own request: “Mother, please kindly send 500 or 600 coins, and a good quality hemp cloth — no less than 2 zhàng 5 chǐ (wú xià èr zhàng wǔ chǐ 毋下二丈五尺). I have already spent the [coin from] the estate (yòng yuán bǎi qián yǐ 用垣柏錢矣). If the household does not send it, I will certainly die. Urgent! Urgent! Urgent!” (shì fú yí jí sǐ yǐ! jí! jí! jí! 室弗遺即死矣。急！急！急！)

Jīng then sends greetings to his new wife: “Jīng [asks] to convey good regards to new daughter-in-law Yuān (xīn fù Yuān 新負妴) — may they all be well. New daughter-in-law, work diligently to tend to the two old ones… Jīng is far from home, therefore sincerely instructs and exhorts Yuān not to dare go far away [or] take a new [husband]; sincere instruction…” Jīng also warns: “I have heard that the new territories (xīn dì 新地, the recently conquered Chu lands) have many empty and unoccupied cities; they are going to order the old people to settle [there]; those who do not comply with the orders will be forced to move in…” He further asks: “Please perform the sacrifice for Jīng, or [if] a great mobilization destroys [our ability to do so because] Jīng is in the rebel-held city…” The letter closes with regards to aunts and children.

Historical significance. The letters of Hēi Fū and Jīng are the oldest surviving personal letters in Chinese history. They were written in the context of the Qin campaign to conquer Chǔ 楚, the last major rival to Qin unification (the main campaign of 224–223 BCE under General Wáng Jiān 王翦, in which Chǔ was finally defeated and its king taken prisoner in 223 BCE). The brothers are identified as ordinary sī zú 私卒 (private soldiers or conscript soldiers) serving in the Qin army, not officers.

The letters are remarkable for their ordinariness: the brothers ask for money and cloth (the key items for soldiers unable to obtain supplies locally), inquire about a family noble-rank recommendation (jué 爵, likely a reward for military service), and exchange news about specific family members by name. Jīng’s urgent triple appeal “急！急！急！” (Jí! Jí! Jí!) — “Urgent! Urgent! Urgent!” — is among the most direct and emotionally compelling phrases preserved in early Chinese writing.

The reference to “new territories” (xīn dì) in Jīng’s letter provides contemporary evidence for Qin resettlement policy in newly conquered Chu territory — corroborating records in the Shǐjì and Qin administrative documents from Shuìhǔdì tomb 11.

Dating. The reference to “attacking the rebel city” (gōng fǎn chéng 攻反城) at Huáiyáng 淮陽 places the letters in the context of the 224–223 BCE Qin-Chǔ war. The “second month, day xīnsì” (不 the cyclical day 辛巳 in the second month) corresponds most likely to the second month of 224 or 223 BCE. Both notBefore and notAfter are set at -224 to -223 to reflect this precise context.

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, 「湖北雲夢睡虎地十一號秦墓發掘簡報」, 《文物》 1976.6, pp. 1–19 — excavation report (principally for tomb 11 but includes context for tomb 4).
  • 雲夢睡虎地秦墓編寫組, 《雲夢睡虎地秦墓》, 文物出版社, 1981 — comprehensive site report.
  • Loewe, Michael. “The Wooden and Bamboo Strips found at Mo-chu-tzu (Wuwei).” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society n.s. 97.1 (1965) — general reference.
  • Loewe, Michael. New Sources in Chinese History. Cambridge University Press, 1975 — includes an English translation and discussion of the Hēi Fū and Jīng letters, pp. 157–162.
  • Hulsewé, A.F.P. Remnants of Ch’in Law. Brill, 1985 — comparative reference for Qin administrative context.
  • Lewis, Mark Edward. The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han. Harvard University Press, 2007, pp. 53–54 — discusses the letters as evidence for Qin military society.
  • Pines, Yuri et al., eds. Birth of an Empire: The State of Qin Revisited. University of California Press, 2013 — broader context for Qin military and social organization.

Other points of interest

The Hēi Fū and Jīng letters are the only surviving direct testimony from ordinary soldiers in the Qin conquest of Chǔ. While the Shǐjì 史記 provides official narratives of the campaigns, these letters preserve the soldiers’ perspective: anxiety about money and clothing, concern for family back home, requests for news of promotions, warnings about resettlement orders — and Jīng’s desperate “急！急！急！” that has struck every modern reader. The reference to “Gǒu Dé” (Gǒu Dé 苟得, “barely surviving”) as a family member’s given name is touching: a name reflecting the difficult circumstances in which he was born.

The Shuìhǔdì site is also notable for being the source of the most extensive Qin legal corpus (tomb 11), which includes the Rì Shū 日書 (almanac), Qin Laws, and Wéi Lì Zhī Dào 為吏之道. Tomb 4, source of the present letters, demonstrates that at the same site and within the same family milieu as the legal official buried in tomb 11, ordinary conscript soldiers were writing home.

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