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Reviews - Mark Edward Lewis, The Early Chinese Empires Qin and Han. Cambridge, Mass., and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007.321 pp.; 23 halftones; 16 maps. - Chang Chun-shu, The Rise of the Chinese Empire; vol. I, Nation, State, and Imperialism in Early China, ca. 1600 b.c.–a.d. 8. 32+461 pp. + 12 plates + 3 maps. Vol. II, Frontier, Immigration, and Empire in Han China, 130 b.c.–a.d. 157. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2007. 40 + 301 pp. + 12 plates + 7 figures + 4 maps.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2015

Michael Loewe
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Early China , Volume 31 , 2007 , pp. 193 - 225
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Copyright © Society for the Study of Early China 2007

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References

1. One measure of the increased attention paid to learning may perhaps be seen in the numbers of pupils attending the academicians for instruction, but care is needed in accepting the figures that we are given, both in the primary sources and here. Lewis (p. 69) refers to a figure of more than 30,000 by the end of Western Han, but this figure refers to the middle of the second century c.e. ( Hou Han shu [Beijing: Zhonghua, 1965], 67.2186, 79A.2547Google Scholar). Gongsun Hong , who became Chancellor in 124 b.c.e., had at one time proposed a quota of 50 pupils; a quota of 100 under Zhaodi was doubled under Xuandi . An edict of 44 b.c.e. ordered that no appointments were to be made, but a quota, stated to be of 1,000, was restored in 41 b.c.e. In Chengdi's reign the quota was raised to 3,000 for about a year only. See Han shu (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1962), 9.285, 291Google Scholar; 88.3594–96; and Bielenstein, , “Lo-yang in Later Han Times,” Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 48 (1946), 70–71 Google Scholar.

2. Shi ji (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1959), 130.3319–20Google Scholar.

3. Han shu, 30.1714.

4. See Han shu, 80.3324 for the unsuccessful attempt of Liu Yu (king of Dongping; died 20 b.c.e.) to see it and the grounds for refusal.

5. Hulsewé, A.F.P., “The Problem of the Authenticity of Shih-chi Ch.123, the Memoir on Ta Yüan,” T'oung Pao 61.1–3 (1975), 83–147 Google Scholar, especially pp. 86–87.

6. For the code of signals see Juyan ‘New’ strips nos. EPF 16,1–17, Zhongguo zhenxi falii dianji jicheng: jiabian , ed. Hainian, Liu and Yifan, Yang (Beijing: Kexue, 1994), 2.170–72Google Scholar; the register of carts, as shown on the jacket of the two volumes and as Plate 12 (vol. 1) and Plate 5 (vol. 2) sadly lacks a reference.

7. Ejina Han jian , ed. Jian, Wei (Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue, 2005)Google Scholar.

8. Hulsewé, A.F.P., Remnants ofCh'in Law: An Annotated Translation of the Ch'in Legal and Administrative Rules of the 3rd Century b.c., Discovered in Yün-meng Prefecture, Hu-pei Province, in 1975 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1985), 113–14Google Scholar.

9. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian , ed. hao, Zhangjiashan Ersiqi xiaozu, Han mu zhujian zhengli (Beijing: Wenwu 2001)Google Scholar, “Ernian lüling” , strips nos. 498–99, 506–8, 514.

10. See also pages 116–17; there were three persons known in identical romanised terms as Wang Dan in Western Han and two in Eastern Han.

11. E.g., vol. II, strip 395.11, where Chang assumes the reading gu , as against huo of Lao Gan and ye of Jia bian; for comments on ye, see Liu Hainian and Yang Yifan, Zhongguo zhenxi falü dianji jicheng: jiabian, 2.106.

12. Han shu, 82.3376; Han shu, 27B(1).1368; Hou Han shu, 8.346, 54.1777.

13. Shi ji, 107.2855, Han shu, 52.2393; see Chang, vol. 1, p. 91.

14. Shi ji, 107.2844, Han shu, 52.2380. For the incident of 117, see Loewe, Michael, The Men who Governed Han China (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2004)Google Scholar, chapter 12.

15. Han shu, 8.247.

16. Han shu, 10.301.

17. See Shangjun shujiegu dingben , ed. Shizhe, Zhu (Beijing: Guji, 1956), 71–75 Google Scholar (“Jing nei” ). The text of the chapter is subject to error or corruption, as is shown by the frequent emendations suggested, e.g., by Sun Yirang (1848–1908) and Duyvendak, J. J. L., The Book of Lord Shang: a Classic of the Chinese School of Law (London: Arthur Probsthain, 1928), 295–303 Google Scholar.

18. See Han shu, 39.2013, 41.2067, 2077; Loewe, Michael, “The Orders of Aristocratic Rank of Han China,” Toung Pao 48.1–3 (1960), 97–174 Google Scholar, especially 107–8.

19. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strips nos. 304–6.

20. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strip no.331.

21. See Shangjun shu, “Jing nei” (see n. 17 above), whose text gives 17. For a reference to 18, see a citation from Liu Shao , Jue zhi in Hou Han shu, 28.3631n2.

22. For a reference to the inheritance of the title Guannei hou , see Zhangjiashan, “Ernian lüling,” strip no. 367.

23. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strips nos. 310–13, spell out the extent of the land and the dwellings that went with each order.

24. Shi ji, 85.2509.

25. Shi ji, 6.246.

26. See Loewe, “Orders of Aristocratic Rank,” 106.

27. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strips nos. 359–60; see also 366–68.

28. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Emian lüling,” strips nos. 369–71.

29. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strip no. 376.

30. See Loewe, “Orders of Aristocratic Rank,” 114.

31. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strip no. 204.

32. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strip no. 312.

33. See Hulsewé, A.F.P., Remnants of Han Law (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1955), 130 Google Scholar.

34. Loewe, Michael “On the Terms Bao zi, Yin gong, Yin guan, Huan, and Shou: Was Zhao Gao a Eunuch?” T'oung Pao 91.4–5 (2005), 301–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35. Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian , ed. xiaozu, Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian zhengli (1990; rpt., Beijing: Wenwu, 2001)Google Scholar, “Fengzhen shi” , strips nos. 8,13,15, 17, 19.

36. See Loewe, Michael, Records of Han Administration (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967)Google Scholar, documents MD4, UD2, TD3 for inclusion of the jue for servicemen and officers, and UD5 for civilians.

37. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strip no. 28.

38. Han shu, 24A.1137.

39. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strip no. 310.

40. See Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strips nos. 378–90.

41. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strip no. 243, refers to the need to register reclaimed land; “Zouyanshu” , strips nos. 55, 56, 60, concern false reporting on various matters (not property invested in the households).

42. For the frequency of tenancy, see Hsu, Cho-yun, Han Agriculture: the Formation of Early Chinese Agrarian Economy (206 b.c.-a.d. 220) (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1980), 65 Google Scholar.

43. Han shu, 28B.1642. For the same point, see the proposal of Zhufu Yan (127 b.c.e.) in Shi ji, 112.2961, Han shu, 64A.2802. See also a reference in Ban Gu's on the Western capital, Hou Han shu, 40A.1338.

44. At its foundation, Qin is said to have moved 120,000 households of the great and the rich to Xianyang (Shi ji, 6.239). For the migrations of those with fortunes of one, three or five million cash and more, see Han shu, 6.170 (127 b.c.e.), 8.239 (73 b.c.e.), 8.253 (65 b.c.e.), 10.317 (19 b.c.e.). Li min , officials and civilians, and magnates are mentioned in Han shu, 6.205 (96 b.c.e.) and 8.239; 5,000 households were included in 19 b.c.e. (Han shu, 10.317, 27A.1341).

45. See the Appendix below.

46. See the Appendix below.

47. See Shi ji, 11.443 and Han shu, 5.143 for offers of 200,000 cash for moving to Yangling (152 b.c.e.); Han shu, 6.158 for that sum and grants of land for moving to Maoling.

48. Shi ji, 6.256.

49. Some of these tombs lay very close to the capital city itself, part of that of Gaozu still being visible today from the site of one of the Han imperial palaces. No orders were given for migrations for Yuandi's tomb in Han shu, 9.292 (40 b.c.e.), and there were none for Chengdi's tomb at Yanling (Han shu, 10.305, in 31 b.c.e.) or Aidi's tomb (Han shu, 11.340 (5 b.c.e.); for the abortive project of 20 b.c.e., see below.

50. For renaming Duxian as Duling in 65 b.c.e., see Han shu, 8.253.

51. Han shu, 28A.1545,1547; Suoyin note to Shi ji, 85.2512.

52. Shi ji, 20.1065; 104.2778; Han shu, 3.99; 74.3133, 3134; 77.3266; 78.3289; 88.3618; 90.3667; 92.3718; 93.3733. The full scales of grade for these officials were 600–1,000 shi for ling and 300–500 for zhang (Han shu, 19A.742). Exceptionally, in 182 b.c.e., when walls were being erected around Chang'an city, the grade of its magistrate was set at the high rank of 2,000 shi (Han shu, 3.99).

53. Qingzhu, Liu and Yufang, Li , “Xi-Han zhuling diaocha yu yanjiu” Wenwu ziliao congkan 6 (1982), 2 Google Scholar, 3, 6, 7, 9 (where Duling yi is given as 500 × 1100m.); and Qingzhu, Liu and Yufang, Li, Xi-Han shiyi ling (Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin, 1987), 21–24 Google Scholar, 31, 39, 45–46, 66–68, 76, 101–2 (where Duling yi is given as 500 × 2,100m.); in yanjiusuo, Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu , Han Duling Lingyuan yizhi (Beijing: Kexue, 1993)Google Scholar, loi, the dimensions are given as 490 × 2,250m. For Chang'an, see Hotaling, Stephen James, “The City Walls of Han Ch'ang-an,” Toung Pao 64.1–3 (1978), 1–46 Google Scholar, especially p. 32. For the granary, see suo, Shaanxi sheng kaogu yanjiu , Xi-Han jingshi cang (Beijing: Wenwu, 1990), 5 Google Scholar.

54. Han shu, 8.253, 9.292/10.305, and 11.341.

55. See Xie Wannian's remarks, as recorded Han shu, 70.3024.

56. Han shu, 100A.4198.

57. Han shu, 36.1956, 70.3024, 85.3462.

58. Han shu, 93.3730.

59. Han shu, 10.330.

60. Lewis, p. 241; see Xuanling, Fang , Jin shu (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1974), compiled by 30.920–23Google Scholar.

61. For fragments of such documents found at Juyan, see UD8 and UD9, in Loewe, Records of Han Administration, vol. II, 227–49.

62. Han shu, 23.1109; Xianqian, Wang , Han shu buzhu (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1983), 3.20a Google Scholar.

63. For this expression, see Michael Loewe, “The Organs of Han Imperial Government: zhongdu guan, duguan, xianguan and xiandao guan” (forthcoming).

64. See note to Han shu, 8.260 for a citation from Han jiuyi and Hou Han shu, 25.3582; for the numbers of persons incarcerated in prisons, see Shi ji, 122.3153, Han shu, 60.2660.

65. bowuguan, Lianyungang shi et al., Yinwan Han mu jiandu (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1997), 79–84 Google Scholar.

66. See Loewe, The Men who Governed Han China, 65–66.

67. For these figures, see Han shu, 19A.743, 28B.1639–40, Hou Han shu, 23.3533, and Bielenstein, , The Bureaucraat of Han Times (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 185–86n77, 78CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

68. Han shu buzhu, 3.20a.

69. Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian, “Ernian lüling,” strips nos. 474–80; see Xueqin, Li , “Shi shuo Zhangjiashan jian ‘Shi lü'” Wenwu 2002.4, 69–72 Google Scholar; for the fragment in the Shuowen, see Hulsewé, A.F.P., “The Shuo-wen Dictionary as a Source for Ancient Han Law,” in Studia Serica Bernhard Karlgren dedicata, ed. Egerod, Søren and Glahn, Else (Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard, 1959)Google Scholar.

70. Shi ji, 8.342; Chavannes, Édouard, Les mémoires historiques de Se-ma Ts'ien (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1895–1905), 2.326 Google Scholar.

71. Chavannes, 2.6.

72. Han shu, 1A.2; Dubs, Homer, History of the Former Han Dynasty (Baltimore: Waverly Press, 1938), 1.29 Google Scholar.

73. Shi ji, 53.2013; Han shu, 39.2005.

74. Han shu buzhu, 9.1a,b.

75. Shi ji, 54.2021; Han shu, 39.2013.

76. Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian, transcriptions 6, 9n47.

77. Hanyu da cidian , ed. Zhufeng, Luo (Hong Kong: Sanlian, 1987), 6.769 Google Scholar. Yinqueshan Han mu zhujian , ed. xiaozu, Yinqueshan Han mu zhujian zhengli (Beijing: Wenwu, 1985)Google Scholar, Sun Bin bingfa, “Wei wang wen” , transcriptions 51; Huainan honglie jijie , ed. Wendian, Liu (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1989), 294 Google Scholar (“Zhushu xun” ); Han shu, 22.1066, in the text of one of the Nineteen Hymns.

78. Derk Bodde among others, has questioned the value to be placed on the rounded figures that we are often given; see The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 98–102 Google Scholar.

79. E.g, p. 158, where Jia Yi's views are scorned as being based on a “myth” rather than on reliable figures.

80. Chang, vol. 1,178–79.

81. Loewe, Records of Han Administration, vol. II, 69–70.

82. For these two estimates, see Delderfield, R.F., The Retreat from Moscow (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1967), 22–25 Google Scholar, and Kielland, Alexander L., Napoleon's Men and Methods (London: A. Owen and Co., 1907), 198 Google Scholar.

83. Chang, vol. I, pp. 75, 77,177, 215.

84. Chang, vol. I, p. 215.

85. See the figures given in Han shu, 28A,B, with an incorrect sum on p. 1640; Bielenstein, , “The Census of China during the Period 2–742 a.d.,” Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 19 (1947), 135–45Google Scholar; Loewe, The Men who Governed China, 60–61, for evidence from Yinwan.

86. These figures are given in Han shu, 286.1612–14, 1626–30 and Hou Han shu, 23.3520–21, 3529–32.

87. Such a recognition does not appear in the account of the numbers of servicemen and their animals; it is seen in vol. II, p. 148, in connection with communications and postal services.

88. Beijing: Guji, 1955,110.19a, 110.12a and Kametarō, Takigawa , Shiki kaichū kōshō (Tokyo: Tōhō bunka gakuin, 1932–34), 110.52 Google Scholar.

89. Shi ji, 110.2910.

90. Han shu, 94A.3769.

91. Shi ji, 123.3176, Han shu, 61.2700.

92. Kanseki koku jikai zensho (Tokyo, Waseda daigaku, 1910–1912)Google Scholar, Shi ji, 110.250.

93. Sibu congkan ed., 13.6a.

94. Beijing: Guji, 1956,19.640. Cf. Shi ji, 111.2934 and Han shu, 6.178.

95. Han shu, 94A.2769,2770, Han shu buzhu, 64A.19b >Han shu, 61.2700, Han shu buzhu 31.10b, Shi ji, 123.3176; see Hulsewé, , China in Central Asia (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1979), 230 Google Scholar for “followers carrying personal [goods]”; Loewe, Records of Han Administration, vol. II, 263, for privately owned clothing. Si cong is seen as officials’ private attendants in Han shu, 69.2986, Han shu buzhu, 39.11a.