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State Control of Bureaucrats under the Qin: Techniques and Procedures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2015

Robin D.S. Yates
Robin D.S. Yates*
Affiliation:
Department of East Asian Studies, McGill University, 3434 McTavish Street, Montreal PQ H3A1X9, Canada
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Abstract

This essay studies seven aspects of administration in the Qin state and empire in the light of the texts found at Shuihudi written on bamboo strips: rules for appointment of officials; age and other limitations; length of tenure in office; guarantees of performance; reports; methods of checking an official's performance; and salaries. The evidence is compared with that drawn from traditionally transmitted historical and philosophical texts. In addition, these administrative techniques are situated within the metaphysical and cosmological framework that guided actual Qin bureaucratic practice.

作者以出土於睡虎地秦墓的竹簡爲據, 對秦國與秦朝管理體制的七方面進行了硏究與分析; 委任官員的準則: 年齢及其他限制: 任期: 履行職責之擔保: 報表與報吿之提交: 對官員履行職責情況之檢核方法: 薪俸.作者將簡文與傳世的傳統歷史哲學文獻進行了比較.此外, 作者亦指出, 這些管理技術均包含在一套指導秦國與秦朝政府立法施政之形而上學與宇宙哲學的框架內.

Type
Articles
Information
Early China , Volume 20 , 1995 , pp. 331 - 365
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Study of Early China 1995

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References

* This paper was first prepared for the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Boston, April 12, 1987.1 would like to thank Jeanne Shea and Bret Hinsch for their research assistance, and to Lionel Jensen, Grace S. Fong, and the anonymous reader of the earlier draft, who all provided most valuable suggestions for revision. Finally, I would like to thank my former teacher, David Keightley, for all the generous advice, wise guidance, and warm friendship he has given me over the years: without his unfailing support, I would not have continued my graduate career and be in the position of being able to dedicate this essay to his honor.

1. I will not be examining all aspects of the system of punishments in the Qin, either for the administrators themselves or for the populace as a whole (i.e., penal law), for the topic is vast and the bibliography more so.

2. Many have claimed these texts to be the lost Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi sijing )黄帝四經), but I am not in accord with this interpretation. See my article, ”Dui Handai Mawangdui HuangLao boshu xingzhi de jidian kanfa” 對漢代馬 王堆華老帛書性質的幾點看法, Mawangdui Hanmu yanjiu wenji- 1992-nian Mawangdui Hanmu guoji xueshu taolun hui lunwen xuan 馬王堆漢墓研究文集-1992־年馬王堆漢墓國際學術討論會論文選, ed. bowuguan, Hunan sheng (Changsha: Hunan chubanshe, 1994), 16–26Google Scholar.

3. See, for example, Qiu Xigui's 裘錫圭 excellent essay on the so-called “bailiffs”; ”Sefu chutan” 嗇初探, in Yunmeng Qinjian yanjiu 雲夢秦簡硏究探, ed. bianjibu, Zhonghua shuju (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), 226–302Google Scholar; Min, Gao 高敏, “Lun Qinlü zhong de ‘Sef u’ yiguan” 論秦律中的嗇夫一官, in Yunmeng Qinjian chutan 雲夢秦簡初探 (Xinzheng: Henan Renmin chubanshe, 1979), 185–200Google Scholar; Fuchang, Xu 徐富昌׳ Shui-hudi Qinjian yanjiu 睡虎地秦簡硏究(Taibei: Guoli Taiwan daxue Zhongguo wenxue yanjiusuo boshi lunwen, 1992), vol. 1, 430–481Google Scholar; Haoliang, Yu 于豪亮,”Yunmeng Qin-jian suojian zhiguan shulüe” 雲夢秦簡所見職官述略, in Yu Haoliang xueshu wencun 于豪亮學術文存 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 88–115Google Scholar. The bibliography on the textual discoveries in early China is enormous. For studies up to 1985, see Yitian, Xing 邢義田, Qin Han shi lungao 秦漢史論稿 (Taibei: Dongdatushu gongsi, 1987), 568–624Google Scholar.

4. There have been several different editions of the legal documents over the years. The most easily accessible is probably the small paperback edition Shuihudi Qinmu zhu jian 睡虎秦墓亇亇簡, ed. xiaozu, Shuihudi Qinmu zhujian zhengli (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1978)Google Scholar (hereafter SHD). A.F.P. Hulsewé translated these in the last major publication of his distinguished career in Han legal studies, Remnants of Ch'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)Google Scholar, and reviewed by the present author in this journal, ”Notes on Ch'in Law,” Early China 11–12 (1985–1987), 243–275Google Scholar. Here, I will follow Hulsewé's numbering system for the Qin laws.

5. Robin D.S. Yates, “Purity and Pollution in Early China,” Proceedings of the Chung-kuo k'ao-ku-hsüeh yü li-shih-hsüeh cheng-ho kuo-chi yen-chiu t׳ao hui 中國考古學與歷史學整合國際硏究討會(International Symposium on the Integration of Chinese Archaeology and History), Academia Sinica, Taiwan (forthcoming).

6. Yunmeng Shuihudi Qinmu 雲夢睡虎地秦墓, ed. Yunmeng Shuihudi Qinmu bian-xiezu (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1981)Google Scholar, slips 054-057. The letter is dated to the fourth month, 227 B.C.: see Katrina CD. McLeod and Yates, Robin D. S., “Forms of Ch'in Law: An Annotated Translation of the Feng-chen shift,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 41.1 (1981), 118Google Scholar.

7. Yunmeng Shuihudi Qinmu, slip 062.

8. Five major flaws of officials, described in the same pollution language, are listed in Wei li zhi dao on slips 691-701. Jean Levi argues that the daily life of the mandarinate implicated them in religious affairs in as much as they were charged with “spreading civilization”; thus there was not in China a simple separation of the sacred and the profane, with bureaucrats being responsible for the administration of the latter and religious specialists, such as shamans, invocators, and sacrificers, in charge of the former. Functionaries were responsible for the behavior of both ordinary people and spiritual beings in their areas of jurisdiction. See his article ”Les fonctions religieuses de la bureaucratie céleste,” L'Homme 101 (1987), 35–57Google Scholar, incorporated into the latter part of his book, Les fonctionnaires divins: Politique, Despotisme et Mystique en Chine ancienne (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1989)Google Scholar.

9. For my preliminary analysis, see Yates, Robin D.S., “Body, Space, Time and Bureaucracy: Boundary Creation and Control Mechanisms in Early China,” in Boundaries in Chinese Culture, ed. Hay, John (London: Reaktion Books, 1994), 56–80Google Scholar. See too Jean Levi, Les fonctionnaires divins; Kalinowski, Marc, “Cosmologie et Gouvernement Naturel dans le Lü Shi Chunqiu,” Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient 71 (1982)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10. This is the wording of the Liishi chunqiu 呂氏春秋(Sibu beiyao ed.), 13.3b; Yates, , “Body, Space, Time and Bureaucracy,” 74Google Scholar; Kalinowski, , “Cosmologie,” 178Google Scholar.

11. The channeling of desires is one of the main subjects of Kenneth Dean and Brian Massumi's analysis of the flows in the Qin despotic state. First and Last Emperors: The Absolute State and the Body of the Despot (New York: Autonomedia, 1992)Google Scholar.

12. Han Feizi jijie 韓非子集解 (Taiwan: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1956), 6, 24–25Google Scholar; Liao, W.K., trans., The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu (London: Arthur Probsthain, 1959), vol. 1, 185–186Google Scholar.

13. Levi, , “Les fonctions religieuses de la bureaucratie céleste,” 51–52Google Scholar.

14. Hsiao-po Wang and Leo S. Chang have analyzed the philosophical aspects of the doctrine in the writings of Han Feizi, but have not explored its cosmological dimensions; The Philosophical Dimensions of Han Fez's Political Theory (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986), 57–78Google Scholar.

15. Translated in my Lost Texts from Mawangdui: Early Chinese Essays on Cosmology, Philosophy, and Government (New York: Ballantine Del Rey Fawcett, forthcoming)Google Scholar. In legalist theory, the ruler alone should cover his tracks, but he should be able to track down those of everything and everybody else.

16. Han Feizi jijie (“Zhu Dao” 主道), 5, 17–18Google Scholar; Liao, , The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu, 31Google Scholar.

17. Liao, , The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu, 53Google Scholar.

18. Yunmeng Shuihudi Qinmu. See too Loewe, Michael, ‘The Almanacs (jih-shu) from Shui-hu-ti: a Preliminary Survey’, Asia Major 3rd series 1.2 (1988), 1–27Google Scholar; Zongyi, Rao 饒宗頤 and Xiantong, Zeng 曾憲通, Yunmeng Qinjian rishu yanjiu 雲夢秦簡日書硏究 (Hong Kong: Zhongwen daxue chubanshe, 1982)Google Scholar, and the new edition of their work published in Chu di chutu wenxian sanzhong yanjiu 楚地出土文獻三種硏究 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1993), 405–522Google Scholar; Muzhou, Pu 蒲慕州, “Shuihudi Qinjian Rishu de shijie” 睡虎地秦簡曰書的世界, Zhongyang yanjiuyuan Lishi yuyan yanjiuso jikan 中央硏究院歷史語言硏究所集刊 62.4 (1993), 623–675Google Scholar.

19. Linjianmmg, , “Rishu yu Qin Han shidai de lizhi” 日書與秦漢時代的吏治, Xin-shixue 新史學 2.2 (1991), 31–51Google Scholar.

20. The parallel section in the second version of the text appears at the bottom of slips 1123-1130. On slip 1123, the graph zi is correctly written, but the transcribers have mistakenly written jiu fang 久方, which makes no sense for bi qi 必七 “will inevitably (be moved),” Jianming, Lin, “Rishu yu Qin Han shidai de lizhi,” 45Google Scholar, does not notice the mistake, nor is it picked up in his useful supplementary note on the almanac slips, ”Qinjian Rishu jiaobu” 秦簡日書校補, Wenbo 文博 1992.1, 63–68Google Scholar. Slip 1129 indicates that si was auspicious; Lin has incorrectly the graph yi 已 for si 巳.

21. Kalinowski, Marc, “Les Traités de Shuihudi et l'Hémérologie chinoise à la Fin des Royaumes-Combattants,” T'oung Pao 72 (1986), 175–228CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22. The most detailed account of the material aspects of Qin culture is Xueli, Wang 王學理 chief ed., Qin wuzhi wenhua 秦物質文化史 (Xi'an: San Qin chubanshe, 1994)Google Scholar.

23. The most famous early story of a hemerologist advising against travel in a particular direction is to be found at the end of “Gui Yi” 貴義 chapter of Mozi, where a specialist warned Mozi against travelling north to Qi because Di was killing the Black Dragon on that day and Mozi's complexion was black (A Concordance to Mo Tzu: Harvard-Yenching Institute Sinological Index Series No. 21 [rpt., Tokyo: Japan Council for East Asian Studies, 1961), 84Google Scholar). For later beliefs in astral deities and right-timing, see Hou, Ching-lang, “The Chinese Belief in Baleful Stars,” in Welch, Holmes and Seidel, Anna eds., Facets of Taoism: Essays in Chinese Religion (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), 193–228Google Scholar; and the reprints of Michael Loewe's essays “The Term K'an-yü and the Choice of the Moment” and “The Oracles of the Clouds and the Winds” in his Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994)Google Scholar, chs. 5 and 9.

24. See, for example, xiaozu, Qin jian zhengli, “Tianshui Fangmatan Qin jian jia-zhong Rishu shiwen” 天田放馬灘秦簡甲種日書釋文, in Qin Him jiandu lunwenji 漢簡胰論文集 (Lanzhou: Gansu renmin chubanshe, 1989), 1–6Google Scholar; He Shuangquan, 何雙 全, “Tianshui Fangmatan Qin jian jiazhong Rishu kaoshu” 天水放馬灘秦簡甲日書考述, in Qin Han jiandu lunwenji, 7–28Google Scholar.

25. See my essay “Body, Space, Time, and Bureaucracy.” Right-timing seems to have particularly interested Yin-Yang specialists; see my article ”An Introduction to the Yin-Yang Texts from Yinqueshan: Notes on their Significance in Relation to Huang-Lao Daoism and a Partial Reconstruction,” Early China 19 (1994), 75–144CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26. The text on slip 887 writes the graphs 有奴and禹奴; I suspect they should be understood as 遇怒.

27. Han jiu yi, 漢舊儀 (Congshu jicheng ed.), 1.10.

28. Liuzhu, Huang, “Qin shijin zhidu kaoshu” 秦仕進制度考述, Zhongguo shi yanjiu 中國吳硏究 1980.1, 93–106Google Scholar.

29. I am not sure why Hulsewé chose to translate zhili 置吏 in two different ways without explanation.

30. “Metropolitan offices” (Hulsewé, RCL calls them “General Offices”) were regional or local branches of central government offices, especially those concerned with fiscal matters; see Hulsewé, , RCL A 29Google Scholar: 29, note 19. Min, Gao, Yunmeng Qinjian chutan, 217–220Google Scholar, points out that neither the Shiji 史言已 nor the Han shu 漢書indicates that the Qin developed these types of offices, but their presence in the Qin slips is ubiquitous. However, there may not have been a one-hundred percent division of responsibility between these offices and those of the prefectures in Qin times. Heng, Gao 高恆, “Qinjian zhong yu zhiguan youguan de jige wenti” 秦簡中與職官有關的幾？固問題, in Yunmeng Qinjian yanjiu, 221–223Google Scholar, denies, on the basis of A 31 (SHD 46; Hulsewé, , RCL: 43–44Google Scholar) Ru Shun's 如淳 contention that the administrators in these “metropolitan offices” were eunuchs. Hulsewé argues, however, that huanzhe 宦者 means “those who serve” or “court dignitaries,” not eunuchs. See Haoliang, Yu, “Zhiguan,” 111–114Google Scholar. For Hulsewé's earlier comments on the term, see his essay, ”The Ch'in Documents Discovered in Hupei in 1975,” Toung Pao 64.4–5 (1978), 200–201Google Scholar.

31. Fuchang, Xu, Shuihudi Qinjian yanjiu, vol. 1, 501Google Scholar. Hulsewé, , RCL, 77Google Scholar) argues that this statute concerns subordinate officials and therefore the mention of wei is inappropriate because they were centrally (“imperialfly])” appointed and in charge of military and police affairs at the commandery and prefectural level. While it is possible that there has been a scribal error here, li might refer to officials of any rank. Further, the Qin are known to have been very concerned about military officers raising armed forces without authority. This authority was conferred upon them when the central government sent them the second, matching, part of the bronze tiger tally that, when the two parts were placed together, gave them permission to conduct military opera-Hons.

32. Fuchang, Xu, Shuihudi Qinjian yanjiu, vol. 1, 501–502Google Scholar.

33. The term fan jin 《禁 “transgress the prohibitions” appears in Yu Liaozi 尉繚子 (Zhuzi baijia congshu ed.), 12, in a section devoted to detailing the mutual responsibility system in the army. The text probably dates from a comparable time period to the Shuihudi legal documents.

34. In accounting, errors exceeding 660 cash in value were considered to be “serious mistakes” (dawu 大誤) (SHD: 242; Hulsewé, , RCL D189: 181Google Scholar). In checking accounts, there were three grades of errors: for those whose value was less than 220 cash, the Overseer of the Office (guan sefu 官裔夫) was reprimanded; errors valued between 220 and 2200 cash, the fine was one shield; errors valued at more than 2200 cash were fined one set of armor (SHD: 125; Hulsewé, , RCL B 28: 100Google Scholar). In the succeeding item Β 29, possibly for officials actually in charge of stores, omissions and issue of stores worth up to 22 cash were not considered punishable; stores worth from 22 to 660 cash were punished with a fine of one shield; those worth more 660 cash were fined one set of armor and the official was indemnified with the cost of the stores. I suspect from this evidence that a “large transgression” of the law would be fined with one set of armor and a “small transgression” fined with one shield, but the two types of administrative delict might not have been considered comparable and different punishments might have been meted out.

35. For the system of ‘aristocratic rank’ in the pre-Qin and Qin periods, see Zhengsheng, Du 杜正勝, Bianhu cjimin: chuantong zhengzhi shehui jiegou zhi xingcheng 編戶齊民傳統政治社會結之形成 (Taibei: Lianjingchuban shiyeh gongsi, 1990), 317–371Google Scholar; Min, Gao, “Qin de sijue zhidu shitan” 秦的賜爵學度試探, in Qin Han shi lunji 秦漢史論集 (Henan: Zhongzhou shuhuashe, 1982), 1–32Google Scholar; for the post-Qin period, see Michael Loewe, A.N., “The Orders of Aristocratic Rank in Han China,” T'oung Pao 49 (1960), 97–174CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Min, Gao, “Lun Liang Han sijue zhidu de lishi yanbian” 論兩漢賜爵制度的歷史演變, in Han shi lunji, 33–57Google Scholar.

36. As Hulsewé, RCL, 77, n. 1 points out, this could refer to a time before 242 B.C. or in the last years of King Zhao (reigned 306-256 B.C.) (the latter interpretation is offered by Shengzhang, Huang 黄盛璋, “Yunmeng Qinjianbianzheng” 雲参秦簡辨正, Kaogu xuebao 考古學報 1979.1, 1–24Google Scholar). Derk Bodde originally calculated that the twelfth com-mandery, Yingchuan 穎川, was added in 230; China's First Unifier: A Study of the Ch'in Dynasty as seen in the Life of Li Ssu 李斯 280?-208 B.C. (rpt., Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1967), 245Google Scholar.

37. It appears that absconding was a relative common occurrence in the Qin, for several of the forms or models for writing up reports refer to them; see McLeod, and Yates, , “Forms of Ch'in Law,” 139–141Google Scholar; Hulsewé, , RCL E5 and E6, 187–188Google Scholar. The Qin may well have not been able to control the movement of its population as much as it wanted.

38. Gansu sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo, Gansu sheng bowuguan, yanjiushi, Wenhuabu gu-wenxian, and yanjiusuo, Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan lishi eds., Juyan xin-jian 居延新簡 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1990), 171Google Scholar, E.P.T. 51.4, 9A, 9Br 10, 11. All of the dates fall towards the beginning of Han Chengdi's reign (acceded to the throne 32 B.C.).

39. Another of the miscellaneous statutes of the Ministry of Finance (neishi 內史) indicates that the rule of the Statute on Stables (Jiu lü 廠律), presumably older in date, should be followed, namely, that when a Park Bailiff (yuan sefu 苑裔夫)was absent, the prefecture was to appoint a probationer (SHD: 106; Hulsewé, , RCL Al00, 87)Google Scholar. Similarly, A81 (SHD: 95-96; Hulsewé, , RCL: 77–78Google Scholar) indicates that the low-ranking official called a “Gentleman” (junzi 君子)(for which, see Hulsewé, , RCL A64, 65Google Scholar n. 11) who was “without harm” (wuhai 母害)or a prefectural clerk (lingshi 令史)was to be appointed on probation to replace a bailiff of a given office who was absent; lower ranking assistants or scribes in the office (guan zuo shi 官佐史) were not to be elevated to be probationary replacements. For the term wuhai, see Pan, Chen 陳樂,”Han Jin yijian oushu” 漢晉遺齒偶述, Zhongyang yanjiuyuan Lishi yuyan yanjiusuo jikan 中央硏究院歷史語言硏究所集刊 16 (1947), 321–323Google Scholar.

40. Heng, Gao, “Zhiguan,” 210Google Scholar; Fuchang, Xu, Shuihudi Qinjian yanjiu, vol. 1, 504Google Scholar.

41. See my article ”Social Status in the Ch'in: Evidence from the Yün-meng Legal Documents. Part One: Commoners,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 47.1 (1987), 197–236CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42. Shiji (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959), 88.2566Google Scholar.

43. The text's fa 法 is a loan for fei 廢; Xu Fuchang, , Shuihudi Qinjian yanjiu, vol. 1, 502Google Scholar.

44. Hulsewé, A.F.P., “Some Remarks on Statute Labour during the Ch'in and Han Period,” in Sabattini, M. ed., Orientalia Veneziana, vol. 1 (Firenze: Olschki, 1984), 195–204Google Scholar.

45. Heng, Gao, “Zhiguan,” 210Google Scholar, believes the xiali were officials who had committed a crime but had not yet been sentenced. They are, however, listed together with “gath-erers of firewood for the spirits and sifters of white rice” (guixin paican 鬼薪白架) (male and female convicts condemned to four-year hard labor) and slaves in the Statutes concerning the Controller of Works (sikong 司空)(SHD: 84; Hulsewé, RCL: A 68: 68; Haoliang, Yu, “Zhiguan,” 97Google Scholar), and so they cannot have possessed anything other than very low status.

46. The Qin system of punishments has been studied intensely and there have been many controversies, especially over the status of male and female “bondservants” (li-chenqie 識臣妾). See, inter alia, Qingfu, Shang 商慶夫, “Qin xinglü de yuanyuan ji qi yanjin” 秦刑律的淵源及其演進, Lishi luncong 歷史論叢 1985.5, 15–39Google Scholar; Hainian, Liu 劉海年, “Guanyu Zhongguo suixing de qiyuan” 關於中國歲幵的起源, Faxue yanjiu 法學硏究1985.5, 67–76Google Scholar; Zhengsheng, Du, Bianhu qimin, 261-315Google Scholar.

47. Heng, Gao, “Zhiguan,” 211Google Scholar.

48. Shuihudi Qinjian yanjiu, 402-403. See also Vandermeersch, Léon, “Le développement de la procédure écrite dans l'administration chinoise à l'époque ancienne,” in State and Law in East Asia: Festschrift Karl Bünger, eds. Eikemeier, D. and Franke, H. (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1981), 1–24Google Scholar.

49. Shengzhang, Huang 黄盛導, “Shilun San Jin bingqi de guobie yu niandai ji qi xiangguanwenti” 試論三晉兵器的國別與年代及其相關問題, kaogu xuebao 古學報 1974.1, 33–44Google Scholar. The most recent study of the Master-Craftsman in the Qin is Guangjun, Li 李光軍, “Qin, gongshi' kao” 秦工師考, Wenbo 1992.3, 59–64, 72Google Scholar.

50. Zhenglang, Zhang 張政烺, “Qin lü ‘baozi’ shiyi” 秦律葆子釋義, Wenshi 文史 9 (1980), 1–5Google Scholar; Zhengsheng, Du, Bianhu qimin, 281Google Scholar; Fuchang, Xu, Shuihudi Qinjian yanjiu, vol. 1, 400–402Google Scholar.

51. The earliest such foreigners to enter seems to have been Baili Xi 百里奚； see Feibai, Ma 馬非百， Qin jishi 秦集史 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982), vol. 1, 128ff.Google Scholar; see also vol. 2, 941ff.

52. The first was Zhang Yi 張儀: see his biography in Shiji, 70.2279ff. See also Yundu, Wang 王云度, Qinshi biannian 秦史編年(Xian: Shaanxi Renmin chubanshe, 1986), 60–61Google Scholar; Jianming, Lin, Qinshi gao 秦史稿 (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin chubanshe, 1981), 216-219, 458Google Scholar.

53. Shiji, 72.2323 ff.

54. Hulsewé, RCL: statutes A 79-A 89: 78-82 and B 1 to B 39: 93-101.

55. SHD: 1-13; a number of scholars have studied Xi's calendar, including Shengzhang, Huang, “Yunmeng Qinjian ‘Biannianji’ chubu yanjiu” 雲夢秦簡編年記初歩硏究, Kaogu xuebao 1977.1, 1–21Google Scholar.

56. Shiji, 79.2417.

57. SHD: 128; Hulsewé, , RCL: C 1: 101Google Scholar, calls the man “Overseer of the crossbow archers.” See Haoliang, Yu, “Zhiguan,” 105–106Google Scholar.

58. I follow Gao H eng's (“Zhiguan,” 211) interpretation. Hulsewé and the SHD editors understand this rule differentlyx believing that it is the original guarantor who later on becomes a prefect. The man guaranteed, but now dismissed, commits a crime. Is the prefect to be dismissed or not? If that were the case, I think the text would read 任人爲丞丞已免初任後爲令有罪令當免不當不當免 and not, as it (1065任人爲丞丞已免後爲令今初任者有罪令當免不當免.六5 stated above, dismissal (mian) was not a serious offense for an official and did not preclude the person from being rehired at a later date, unlike “banning” (fei).

59. See Heng, Gao, “Zhiguan,” 215–218Google Scholar; Fuchang, Xu, Shuihudi Qinjian yanjiu, vol. 1, 482–499Google Scholar.

60. Xin xu 新序 (Zhuzi baijia congshu ed.), 2.12b.

61. Han Feizi jijie, 3, 44-45; Liao, , The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu, vol. 2, 76–77Google Scholar.

62. Han Feizi jijie, 3, 30, writes “Wang” 王 for “Ren” which Liao, , The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu, vol. 2, 51Google Scholar follows.

63. Lüshi chunqiu, 17, 12a. Han Feizi says there were two men, Zhong Zhang 中章 and Xu Yi 胥已, who were erudite and should receive official preferment.

64. Han Feizi reads ”xiangshi” 相室.

65. A further example is found in Shiji (“Fan Sui liezhuan”), where King Zhao of Qin appointed Wang Ji 王稽 as Defender of Hedong 河東守 and for three years he failed to submit reports. This was in the fiftieth year of the king, 257 B.C.

66. Bielenstein, Hans, The Bureaucracy of Han Times (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 43–47CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Hulsewé, , “Ch'in Documents,” 195–200Google Scholar.

67. Vandermeersch, , “Procédure écrite,” 14Google Scholar.

68. See my “Notes on Qin Law,” 243-275.

69. Han Feizi jijie, 3, 92-93; Liao, , The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu, Vol. 2, 167–169Google Scholar. Note that part of Li Ke's statement is found as a quotation from Li Ke shu 李克書 in Liu Kui's 劉逵 commentary to Weidufu 魏都賦 in the Wen xuan 文選; Tailing yulan 太平御覽,juan 161, quotes the same story about Li but this does not appear in the present text of Shiji; Han shu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962), 30.1724Google Scholar, has a work in seven pian by Li Ke. Presumably, the quote in Wen xuan is from the lost work and that Shiji did once upon a time have a section devoted to Li Ke. Some scholars criticize Sima Qian for omitting him.

70. Huainanzi 淮南子 (Sibu beiyao ed.), 18.9b.

71. Shiji, 6.253 and ch. 15.758.

72. Han shu, 74.3136.

73. Cf. Osamu, Ōba 大庭脩, “Ensho kō” 爰書考, in Shin Kan hōseishi no kenkyū 秦漢法制史0)硏究 (Tokyo: Seibonsha, 1982), 636–647Google Scholar.

74. Dubs, Homer H., trans., The History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku (Washington, D.C.: American Council of Learned Societies, 1944), vol. 2, 42Google Scholar; Han shu, 6.164.

75. In the Han, Emperor Wu is said not infrequently to have examined the reports.

76. Hulsewé, , “Ch'in Documents,” 194 ffGoogle Scholar. For the erroneous interpretation, see SHD: 105, note 1.

77. Shiche, Zhu 朱師撤, Shangjun shu jiegu dingben 商君書解話定本 (Hong Kong: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), 87Google Scholar; Duyvendak, J.J.L., The Book of Lord Shang: A Classic of the Chinese School of Law (rptv Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), 320Google Scholar, with corrections.

78. Han Feizi jiejie, 3, 75; Liao, , The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu, vol. 2, 134–135Google Scholar.

79. Hulsewé, , RCL: B 24: 98Google Scholar; SHD: 123.

80. For a discussion of fines, see Fuchang, Xu, Shuihudi Qinjian yanjiu, 1, 351–376Google Scholar; Zhongye, Huang 黄中業, Qinguo fazhi jianshe 國法制建設 (Shenyang: Liao Shen shushe, 1991), 120–121Google Scholar.

81. Xiaolin, Li, “Cong Yunmeng Qinjian kan Qinchao de huiji guanli” 從雲夢秦簡 看秦朝的會計秦理 Jian Han kaogu 1984.3, 85–94Google Scholar.

82. Creel, Herrlee G., “The Fa-chia: ‘Legalists’ or ‘Administrators’?” in What is Taoism? and Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970), 92–120Google Scholar.

83. Hulsewé follows the SHD editors in interpreting this rule that the wife (and children, according to the SHD editors) use the cash to buy meat. I do not believe that this is correct.

84. I have profited in the following remarks from T'ao T'ien-yi's unpublished paper, “The Formative Stage of the Merit Rating System in China.”

85. See Hulsewé, , “Ch'in Documents,” 183Google Scholar.

86. SHD: 136-137; Hulsewé, , RCL: C 11:110Google Scholar.

87. See the preceding note for the metal foundries; for the lacquer gardens, see SHD: 138; Hulsewé, , RCL: C 13: 111Google Scholar.

88. SHD: 135; Hulsewé calls lao “years of hardship”; RCL: C 9:109.

89. SHD: 138; Hulsewé, , RCL: C 13: 111Google Scholar.

90. SHD: 96-97; Hulsewé, , RCL: A 82: 78Google Scholar.

91. SHD: 99-100; Hulsewé, , KCL: A 86: 80–81Google Scholar.

92. Heng, Gao, “Zhiguan,” 218–220Google Scholar; Fuchang, Xu, Shuihudi Qinjian yanjiu, vol. 1, 513–518Google Scholar; Duyvendak, , Book of Lord Shang, 296Google Scholar.

93. Han Feizi jijie, 4, 22; Liao, , The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu, vol. 2, 215Google Scholar.

94. Han shu, 19A.721-744.

95. Hsu, Cho-yun, Ancient China in Transition: An Analysis of Social Mobility, 722–222 B. C (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1965), 151–154Google Scholar.

96. Zhou Li zhengyi 周禮正義, (Sibu beiyao ed.) 2.5ab; Biot, Edouard, Le Tcheou-li ou Rites des Tcheou (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1851), vol. 1, 24Google Scholar. The “metropolitan districts” (dubi 都鄙) are the appanages (caiyi 采邑) of the high ministers of state. See also Chunfan, Liu, Vengguo, 3 ffGoogle Scholar.

97. The Mozi 墨子 (Dao zang ed). 15.20a) provides details as to how grain rations should be calculated and issued when a city under siege is running short of rations. See Yates, Robin D.S., “The City under Siege: Technology and Organization as seen in the Reconstructed Text of the Military Chapters of Mo-tzu” (Ph.D. diss.: Harvard University, 1980), fragment 127, 574–576Google Scholar.

98. Hulsewé, , “Ch'in Documents,” 204–208Google Scholar, provides an extensive analysis of the system of leaves of absence (gaogui 吿歸).

99. For problems surrounding the youzhi officials, see Fuchang, Xu, Shuihudi Qinjian yanjiu, vol. 1, 518–525Google Scholar.

100. Guang Ya 廣雅, “Shi Gu” 釋詁 defines su as lu.

101. Guanzi jiaozheng 管子校正 (Zhuzi jicheng ed.), 9.146; Rickett, W. Allyn, Kuantzu: A Repository of Early Chinese Thought (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1965), vol. 1, 110Google Scholar.

102. Yates, Robin D.S., “The City under Siege,” fragment 99, 492–494 (15.11b)Google Scholar; fragment 103, 504-507 (15.13b).

103. Zhu Shiche, 73-74; Duyvendak, , Lord Shang, 299–300Google Scholar. Zheng Liangshu 鄭良樹 (Tay Liansoo) considers this chapter to derive from Lord Shang's own hand; see his Shang Yangji qi xuepai 商缺及其學派 (Taiwan: Xuesheng shuju, 1987), 33Google Scholar.

104. Min, Gao, “Cong Yunmeng Qinjian kan Qin de sijue zhidu” 從雲夢秦簡看秦的賜爵制度, in Yunmeng Qinjian chutan, 171–184Google Scholar.

105. For example, Fan Sui; see Shiji, 79.2401).

106. McKnight, Brian, The Quality of Mercy: Amnesties and Traditional Chinese Justice (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1981)Google Scholar, especially chs. 1, 2, and 6. For some comments on Qin practice and extensive discussion of the later imperial judicial system, see MacCormackr, GeoffreyTraditional Chinese Penal Law (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1990)Google Scholar.

107. Hence I prefer the translation of “remission” for she; see McLeod, and Yates, , “Forms of Ch'in Law,” 136, n. 67Google Scholar.

108. Chunfan, Liu 柳春藩, Qin Han fengguo shiyi sijuezhi 秦漢封國食邑賜爵制 (Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe, 1984), 14Google Scholar, argues the enfeoffed lord in the Warring States did not gain authority over the people in his domain; he had access to the land taxes, not the land rent of his people. See also Ganquan, Lin 林甘泉 ed., Zhongguo fengjian tudi zhidushi 中國封建土地制度史, vol. 1 (Beijing: Zhongguo she-hui kexue chubanshe, 1990), especially 82 ff.Google Scholar; Chuanxi, Zhang 張傳璽, Qin Han wenti yanjiu 秦漢問題硏究, (Beijing: Beijing Daxue chubanshe, 1985), 17 ff.Google Scholar; Zangong, Tang 唐贊功, “Yunmeng Qinjian suo sheji tudi suo youzhi xingshi wenti chutan” 雲夢秦簡所涉及土地所有制形式問題初探, in Yunmeng Qinjian yanjiu, 53–66Google Scholar; Tieji, Xiong 熊鐵基 and Ruiming, Wang 王瑞明, “Qindai de fengjian tudi suo youzhi” 秦代的־ 建土地戶斤有制, in Yunmeng Qinjian yanjiu, 67–78Google Scholar; Min, Gao, “Cong Yunmeng Qinjian kan Qin de tudi zhidu” 從雲夢秦簡看秦的土地制度, Yunmeng Qinjian chutan, 148–170Google Scholar. The tax system of the Qin has been studied by a number of scholars, including Jinyan, Huang 黃今言, “Qindai zufu yaoyi zhidu chutan” 秦代租賦徭役制度初探, in Qin Han shi luncong 秦漢史論業 (Xian: Shaanxi Renmin chubanshe, 1981), 61–82Google Scholar.

109. Earlier practices of prestation and their religious, political, and social significance are explored in a fascinating but as yet unpublished paper by Constance A. Cook, “Wealth and the Western Zhou.” I am grateful to Professor Cook for allowing me to read this paper.

110. Hsu, , Ancient China in Transition, 1Google Scholar.

111. For further discussion on texts related to the Yue Ling, see my “Introduction to the Yin-Yang Texts from Yinqueshan.”