3 - Imperial Order and Local Variations

Summary

With the establishment of a unified empire under the Qin, various measures were deployed to facilitate the orderly operation of the ruling apparatus. For the physical aspects of the governance such as economic transaction, communication, or transportation, massive efforts were carried out by the Qin government, such as establishing a common currency, a common written script, and a standardized transportation system. For the superstructure, such as the establishing of various departments of the central government, the abolition of the Zhou vassal system and the promulgation of a centralized and hierarchical governing system that established a direct chain of command between the central and local governments, or the enforcement of an education system that excludes philosophical texts, the major concern was to ensure that a centralized control could effectively manage the vast land.⁴ Yet there were still areas for which it was not easy for the government to formulate an effective control system, especially those that concerned lifestyles and daily beliefs. Already in the Daybook found in the Shuihudi Qin tomb we have evidence of the government’s effort in trying to exert its influence in people’s daily life. We can also mention an anecdote in the Records of the Grand Scribe (Shiji) that talks about the competition among specialists of conflicting day-selection methods current at the time of Emperor Wu, seventy years after the establishment of the Han. After an expected dispute that certainly involved economic gains of the diviners, the emperor decided in favor of the Five Phases diviner.⁵ This story tells us two things: (1) the practice of day-selection was widespread in society – even the emperor sought advice from such an art and (2) the local variations were strong and alive. The declaration that the Five Phases theory was to be followed as the leading divination method was of course symbolic of the rise of the Five Phases theory in the Han period, and may have indicated an official effort to systematize or to regulate the different divination methods.