散見簡牘合輯‧江蘇揚州胥浦一零一號漢墓竹簡、木牘、封檢

Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí‧Jiāngsū Yángzhōu Xūpǔ Yī Líng Yī Hào Hànmù Zhújiǎn、Mùdú、Fēngjiǎn 散見簡牘合輯‧江蘇揚州胥浦一零一號漢墓竹簡、木牘、封檢

Collected Scattered Documents — Bamboo Slips, Wooden Tablets, and Sealed Check-Tags from Han Tomb no. 101 at Xūpǔ, Yángzhōu, Jiangsu

(anonymous; ante-mortem will, debt list, and burial clothing inventory)

About the work

A set of bamboo slips (zhújiǎn 竹簡), wooden tablets (mùdú 木牘), and sealed check-tags (fēngjiǎn 封檢) from Han tomb no. 101 at Xūpǔ 胥浦, Yángzhōu 揚州, Jiangsu Province. The documents include a remarkable ante-mortem oral testament (xiān lìng quàn shū 先令券書), a detailed list of debts owed by one of the testator’s sons, and a clothing inventory for the tomb occupant. Precisely dated to Yuánshǐ 元始 5th year (5 CE). Published in KR2p 散見簡牘合輯 (Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí), Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1990.

Abstract

The Ante-Mortem Will (Xiān Lìng Quàn Shū 先令券書). The central document is a bamboo-slip testament dictated on the day rénchén of the 9th month of Yuánshǐ 元始 5th year (= 5 CE) by a dying woman named Zhū Líng 朱凌, a resident of Xīn’ān-lǐ 新安里 ward who originally came from Gāodū-lǐ 高都里 ward. The document opens:

元始五年九月壬辰朔辛丑，□高都里朱凌，凌廬居新安里，甚疾其死，故請縣鄉三老、都鄉有秩、佐、里師里譚等為先令券書。

“On day xīnchǒu of the rénchén-朔 9th month of Yuánshǐ 5th year [= 5 CE]: □ [the woman] Zhū Líng of Gāodū-lǐ ward, [who] resides at Xīn’ān-lǐ ward — being gravely ill and [near] death — therefore requested [that] the County Township Elder of Three (sān lǎo 三老), the Paid Overseer of Dū-Township (yǒu zhì 有秩), the Assistant (zuǒ 佐), and Ward-Master Lǐ Tán 里譚, etc., [witness and write] an ante-mortem testament document (xiān lìng quàn shū 先令券書).”

The testament then sets out Zhū Líng’s family situation. She states that she has “three fathers [for her] children” — i.e., her six children (three sons, three daughters) were born of three different men. The children and their respective fathers are:

• Sons Jūn 君, Zǐ Zhēn 子真, and Zǐ Fāng 子方, and daughter Xiān Jūn 仙君: their father is Zhū Sūn 朱孫.
• Son Gōng Wén 公文: his father is Wú Shuāi 吳衰 (also called Jìn Jūn 近君).
• Daughter Ruò Jūn 弱君: her father is Qū Ā Bìng Zhǎng Shí 曲阿病長實 (a person from Qū’ā 曲阿, named Bìng Zhǎng Shí 病長實).

Zhū Líng then explains her reasoning:

嫗言公文年十五去家自出為姓，遂居外，未賞持一錢來歸。

“The old woman states: Gōng Wén, at age fifteen, left home of his own accord to establish a family name [elsewhere], and has since lived outside, never once bringing back a single coin.”

She then details her property distribution decisions:

• To Zǐ Zhēn 子真 and Zǐ Fāng 子方 she gave: her self-earned productive property (zì wéi chǎnyè 自為產業).
• To Xiān Jūn 仙君 and Ruò Jūn 弱君, being poor without property (pín wú chǎnyè 貧毋產業): on the 10th day of the 4th month of [Yuánshǐ] 5th year, she allocated a rice-field (dào tián 稻田), one plot, and mulberry-fields (sāng tián 桑田), two plots, to Ruò Jūn; and one wave-field (bō tián 波田, likely a low-lying field) to Xiān Jūn.
• By the 11th month, Gōng Wén had wounded someone and was sentenced to penal servitude (tú 徒), becoming destitute. On the 11th day of the 12th month, Xiān Jūn and Ruò Jūn each returned (guī 歸) their allocated fields to the old woman, ceding them to Gōng Wén. The old woman then accepted the fields back and redistributed: two rice-fields and two mulberry-fields to Gōng Wén, with field boundaries (jiè 界) remaining as before. Crucially: “Gōng Wén may not move [i.e., transfer] or sell the fields to others” (Gōng Wén bù dé yí mài tián yù tā rén 公文不得移賣田予他人).
• Witnesses: Ward-master (lǐ shī 里師) and five-household-group members (wǔ rén 伍人) Tán 譚, and relatives Kǒng Jù 孔聚, Tián Wén 田文, and Mǎn Zhēn 滿真.

A note appended records: “〼徒何賀山錢三千六百 元始五年十月□日何敬君何蒼□書□君明□” — apparently a payment record: “penal servitude [of] Hé Hèshān: 3,600 cash; Yuánshǐ 5th year, 10th month □ day, Hé Jìngjūn 何敬君, Hé Cāng □ written [by] □jūn, [clearly] □.”

Debt list (wooden tablet). A separate tablet lists substantial debts owed by Gōng Wén to various individuals and locations:

公文取子方錢五千於廣陵 / 又𣍬十二枚直錢萬四於江都 / 又取千六百於江都 / 又取布六丈、褐一匹、履一兩凡值錢千一百𠦜 / 又取錢千於江都 / 又取縑二匹直錢千一百於與 / 又取三千錢罷采用□衣 / 又取錢九千於下呂 / 又取銀二萬於輿 / 又取長襦一領直錢千三百 / 凡直錢五萬七千

“Gōng Wén took from Zǐ Fāng 5,000 cash at Guǎnglíng; also [took] 12 zhú 𣍬 [items], value 14,000 cash, at Jiāngdū; also took 1,600 at Jiāngdū; also took cloth 6 zhàng, coarse cloth 1 bolt, shoes 1 pair, total value 1,100 cash; also took 1,000 cash at Jiāngdū; also took 2 bolts of jiān silk, value 1,100, at Yǔ 與; also took 3,000 cash [for] used fabric for □ garments; also took 9,000 cash at Xià Lǚ 下呂; also took silver 20,000 at Yǔ 輿; also took one long rú jacket, value 1,300 cash. Total value: 57,000 cash.”

This debt list documents Gōng Wén’s extensive financial obligations across multiple localities (Guǎnglíng 廣陵, Jiāngdū 江都, Yǔ 與, Xià Lǚ 下呂, Yǔ 輿), totaling 57,000 cash — a very large sum for a private individual. The debt was evidently the reason for his destitution and exclusion from the will’s primary beneficiaries.

Burial clothing inventory (wooden tablet and sealed tags). A separate tablet lists the burial garments of the deceased woman, identified as “Gāodū-lǐ Zhū Jūn” 高都里朱君 (Lady Zhū of Gāodū ward):

衣綺被一領、襌衣二領、襌裳一領、素絹一領、綠袷一領、綾袍一領、紅袍二領、復裳二領、襌襦二領、青袍二領、綠被一領、□襦一領、紅襦一領、小□三領、綿袍三領、裿被一領、緒䋂一、絝一兩。

“One brocade coverlet (qǐ bèi 綺被); two single-layer garments (shān yī 襌衣); one single-layer skirt (shān cháng 襌裳); one plain-silk garment (sù juān 素絹); one green lined garment (lǜ jiá 綠袷); one silk-damask robe (líng páo 綾袍); two red robes (hóng páo 紅袍); two lined skirts (fù cháng 復裳); two single-layer short jackets (shān rú 襌襦); two blue robes (qīng páo 青袍); one green coverlet (lǜ bèi 綠被); one □ jacket; one red jacket (hóng rú 紅襦); three small □; three cotton robes (mián páo 綿袍); one pleated coverlet (jī bèi 裿被); one coarse-silk sash (xù dài 緒䋂); one pair of trousers (kù 絝).”

Summary: “Total garments and lined coverings: 25 items” (fán yī shān fù èrshí wǔ lǐng 凡衣襌緮廿五領).

A final entry: ”□ gift: 50 cash” (cì qián wǔshí 賜錢五十).

Historical significance. The Xūpǔ tomb 101 xiān lìng quàn shū 先令券書 is one of the most significant legal documents among the Han bamboo-slip finds. It attests to an ante-mortem oral will, witnessed by local officials (sān lǎo 三老, yǒu zhì 有秩, zuǒ 佐, lǐ shī 里師) and community members, conforming closely to the lìng quàn 令券 (testament document) tradition described in Han legal codes. The description of the testator’s family — with six children born of three different fathers, and one son disinherited due to criminal conviction — provides a vivid and unusually specific glimpse into social life in Guǎnglíng at the very end of the Western Han period. The debt list for Gōng Wén, totaling 57,000 cash across multiple cities, is remarkable as a record of private credit networks in Han Jiangnan.

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.
• Barbieri-Low, Anthony J., and Robin D.S. Yates. Law, State, and Society in Early Imperial China. Brill, 2015 — essential context for Han testament law and quàn shū documents; discussion of xiān lìng quàn shū genre, pp. 789–823.
• Hulsewé, A.F.P. Remnants of Han Law, vol. 1. Brill, 1955 — comparative reference for Han inheritance and will procedures.
• Loewe, Michael. Records of Han Administration. 2 vols. Cambridge University Press, 1967 — reference for Han local administrative roles (sān lǎo, yǒu zhì, lǐ shī).

Other points of interest

The Xūpǔ tomb 101 will is notable for its use of the term xiān lìng quàn shū 先令券書 (“advance-directive document”), a legal instrument by which a dying person formally disposed of property before witnesses under official supervision. This genre is attested in Han legal texts but rarely in actual documents. The will’s careful attention to the legitimacy of each child’s paternal lineage (fù 父) reflects Han concerns with establishing clear lines of descent for property inheritance. The stipulation that Gōng Wén “may not sell or transfer the fields” (bù dé yí mài tián yù tā rén) is a legal restriction (jiéjìn tiáokuǎn 禁止條款) to protect the fields from being alienated — perhaps because the grantors (Xiān Jūn and Ruò Jūn) feared Gōng Wén would sell them to cover his debts.

Links

• Wikipedia (Yangzhou): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangzhou
• Wikipedia (Han dynasty): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty