Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí‧Jiāngsū Yángzhōu Píngshān Yǎngzhíchǎng Hànmù Mùjiě 散見簡牘合輯‧江蘇揚州平山養殖場漢墓木楬
Collected Scattered Documents — Wooden Basket-Tags from a Han Tomb at the Píngshān Aquaculture Farm, Yángzhōu, Jiangsu
(anonymous; burial food basket labels)
About the work
Three wooden basket-tags (mùjiě 木楬) from a Han tomb excavated at the Píngshān Yǎngzhíchǎng 平山養殖場 (Pingshan Aquaculture Farm site), Yángzhōu 揚州, Jiangsu Province. The tags are the smallest document group in the Sǎnjian Jiǎndú Héjí, each bearing a single label identifying the contents of a burial basket. Published in KR2p 散見簡牘合輯 (Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí), Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1990.
Abstract
The three surviving wooden tags each begin with the standard basket-label marker (■) and identify the contents of burial baskets (sì 笥):
- ■ Dà shí sì 大食笥 — “Large food basket”
- ■ Dà jí sì 大集笥 — “Large gathered/provisions basket”
- ■ Gū wéi yī sì 觚芛一笥 — “One basket of gū wéi (gūwéi 觚芛, young bamboo-shoots or a specific vegetable)”
The first two tags label large (dà 大) baskets of general food provisions and assembled goods. The third tag specifies a basket of gū wéi 觚芛 — a term for young bamboo shoots (sǔn 笋) or a related vegetable preparation, possibly referring to the taro shoots or young aromatic greens used in Han cuisine. All three tags conform to the standard Han burial basket-label format attested at Mawangdui (see KR2p0137) and the Hanjiang Huchang tomb (see KR2p0134).
Context. Yángzhōu (Han-period Guǎnglíng 廣陵) was one of the wealthiest cities of the Han empire, situated at the junction of the Yangzi River and the Han-period canal network. The Guǎnglíng commandery was famous for its elite tombs, several of which have yielded significant document finds (cf. KR2p0134, KR2p0136). The Píngshān site tomb is modest in the extent of its documents but belongs to the same regional tradition of placing labeled food baskets in Han burials. The three-tag set is consistent with a small, relatively simple burial of the Western or Eastern Han period.
The mùjiě 木楬 (wooden tag) form — a small wooden board inscribed with a brief label and often attached directly to the basket or object — is attested widely in Han tomb finds from Jīngzhōu (Fènghuángshān) to Mǎwángduī to Guǎnglíng. These tags functioned as both inventory markers and communication devices ensuring the deceased and underworld officials could identify the provisions supplied.
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 — reference for Han burial document genres.
- Wu Hung. The Art of the Yellow Springs: Understanding Chinese Tombs. University of Hawai’i Press, 2010 — context for Han burial labeling and inventory practices.
Links
- Wikipedia (Yangzhou): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangzhou