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The Transportation of Tax Textiles to the North-West as part of the Tang-Dynasty Military Shipment System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2013

MASAHIRO ARAKAWA  and
VALERIE HANSEN
MASAHIRO ARAKAWA
Affiliation:
Osaka University
VALERIE HANSEN
Affiliation:
Osaka University
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Extract

From the inception of its military campaign into Central Asia via the Gansu corridor, the Tang dynasty had to ensure the shipment of extensive military supplies to support the activities of its occupying armies north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. Since the government paid soldiers’ salaries and bought supplies using silk, the timely delivery of silk from central China was critical. Most of the silk was collected in the central provinces under the zuyongdiao 租庸調 tax system, whether as stipulated payments of tax textiles or cloth-paid-in-place-of-annual-corvée tax. All this silk had to be shipped to the Western Regions. This article examines where this silk was made, how it was shipped to the north-west and how the system changed over time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 23 , Issue 2: Textiles as Money on the Silk Road , April 2013 , pp. 245 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2013 

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References

1 Ōtsu Tōru 大津透, “Tō gihō sannen takushi sōshō· Yonen kinbu shifu hokō: Tōchō no gunji to zaisei” 唐儀鳳三年度支奏抄· 四年金部旨符補考 – 唐朝の軍事と財政 [Supplementary study of a copy of a memorial dated the third year of the Yigeng Period of the Tang – a Finance Bureau tally of the fourth year: the Tang dynasty military and the economy], Tōyōshi Kenkyū 東洋史研究 Vol. 49, No. 2 (1990), pp. 1–24.

The translator has taken the liberty of occasionally adding a few footnotes to provide basic explanatory information helpful for a non-specialist English reader.

2 Twitchett, Denis (Financial Administration Under the T'ang Dynasty (Cambridge, 1970), pp. 97–123 Google Scholar) explains that chief responsibility of the Department of Public Revenue was to draw up the government's annual budget (p. 100), while the Department of Treasury controlled all the taxes paid in coins and cloth (p. 101). For an explanation of the financial bureaucracy of the Tang government, see Chapter VI.

3 Although the original article sometimes refers to the Area Command as Wuwei and sometimes as Liangzhou, this translation will use Liangzhou throughout to avoid confusion.

4 This document, Ōtani #2597, is transcribed in Ōtsu Tōru 大津透, “Tō ritsuryō kokka no yosan ni tsuite: Gihō sannen takushi sōshō· Yonen kinbu shifu shishaku” 唐律令国家の予算について – 唐儀鳳三年度支奏抄· 四年金部旨符試釈 [The Tang code state budget: Study of a copy of a memorial dated the third year of the Yigeng period of the Tang – a Finance Bureau tally of the fourth year], Shigaku zasshi 史学雑誌 Vol. 95 No. 12 (1986), pp. 10–11; Yoshihisa, Oda (ed.) 小田義久, Ōtani Monjo Shūsei 大谷文書集成 [Collected Ōtani documents] Vol. 1 (Kyoto, 1984–2003), p. 98 Google Scholar, fig. 25.

5 The author has written about these transmittal orders in detail in Masaharu, Arakawa 荒川正晴, “Tōchō no kōtsu shisutemu” 唐朝の交通システム [The Tang system of communications], Ōsaka daigaku daigakuin bungaku kenkyūka kiyō Vol. 40 (2000), pp. 199–335 Google Scholar.

6 All Dunhuang documents whose number starts with P are held in the Pelliot collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris.

7 According to the Yuanhe jun xian tuzhi [Maps and gazetteer of the provinces and counties in the Yuanhe reign period, 806–814], at least 15 different prefectures in Jiannan Circuit submitted silk as taxes. These were the prefectures with the largest population in Jiannan Circuit.

8 Hideo, Kikuchi 菊池英夫, “Tō fuekirei yōchōbutsujō saikō” 唐賦役令庸調物条再考 [A reassessment of the items on corvée exemption tax (yong) and tax paid in cloth (diao) commodities in the Tang statutes on taxes and labour services (fuyiling)], Shihō (1976) Vol. 4, pp. 1–7 Google Scholar.

9 For a brief overview of these events, see Twitchett, Denis, “Hsüan-tsung (reign 712–756),” in Twitchett, D. (ed.) Cambridge History of China, Volume 3, Sui and T'ang China, 589–906, Part I (Cambridge, 1979), pp. 362–363 Google Scholar.

10 Jiu Tangshu (Zhonghua shuju edition) 38.1385. For a similar description of the changes, see the reference to the Tongdian in Wang Binghua's article in this issue.

11 Tongdian, 6.34a-b Shitong edition (Shanghai, 1935–1936). I am following the emendations suggested by Azuma, Kiyokoba 清木場東, “Tō Tempō chū no Zaisei Shūshi” 唐天宝中の財政収支 [Fiscal balance in the Tianbao period of theTang dynasty], Tōdai Zaiseishi Kenkyū: Unyu hen 唐代財政史研究: 運輸編 [A study of finance in the Tang dynasty: Transport section]) (Fukuoka, 1996), pp. 10–11 Google Scholar. (Translator's note): Twitchett, Financial Administration, translates the entire Du You entry in Appendix II, pp. 153–157.

12 Twitchett, Financial Administration, p. 85.

13 The central government sent 800,000 bolts to Hexi for the purchase of grain and 1,000,000 bolts to pay soldiers’ salaries.

14 Arakawa, “The Transit Permit System of the Tang Empire and the Passage of Merchants”, Memoirs of the Toyo Bunko (2001) Vol. 59, pp. 1–21, see p. 13; Twitchett, Financial Administration, pp. 70, 191.

15 Ikeda On transcribed the document in Chūgoku kodai sekichō kenkyū [Studies in ancient Chinese household registers] (Tokyo, 1979), document #211 on pp. 463–466.

16 These textile terms were analysed by Taketoshi, Satō 佐藤武敏, Chūgoku Kodai Kinuorimonoshi Kenkyū 中国古代絹織物史研究 [A study of the history of ancient Chinese silk textiles] (Tokyo, 1968)Google Scholar, but the translations given here follow those used in the present special issue.

17 Twitchett, Financial Administration, p. 103.

18 Duan is used only once, in the introductory paragraph of the report when quoting the total amount of 20,000 bolts authorised from Liangzhou Wuwei prefecture; after, for each amount of textiles, the word for bolt is pi. Éric Trombert, email dated February 27, 2011.

19 Zhang Jiuling, Tang Chengxian Qu Jiangzhang xianshen wenji, Sibu congkan edition, 12.721; Gao, Dong (ed.) 董誥, Quan Tangwen [The complete writings of the Tang] (Beijing, 1983), 287.2909 Google Scholar.

20 The author is indebted to Satō Taketoshi's research on silk, whose findings in part this article replicates.

21 Twitchett, Financial Administration, p. 102, explains that the main task of the Court of Treasury was to control the Treasuries of the Left and Right (Zuo, you zangshu 左, 右藏暑) that contained the cloth and grain paid as taxes as well as other goods paid as tribute.

22 Different sources concerning the cloth paid by each prefecture survive, but the Tang Liudian is the most detailed and most reliable. See the sections in Chapter 3 about the duties of the Langzhong 郎中 and Yuanwailang 員外郎 officials in the Hubu 戶部; Hamaguchi Shigekuni 濱口重國, “Tō no Gensōchō ni okeru Kōwai Jōkyōmai to Chizei tono kankei” 唐の玄宗朝に於ける江准上供米と地税との関係 [The relationship between the land tax and hulled millet submitted to the court during the reign of Xuanzong, Tang (712–755)], Shin Kan Zui Tō shi no Kenkyū 秦漢隋唐史の研究 (Tokyo, 1934; rep. 1966), p. 919 Google Scholar.

23 Transcribed in Ikeda On, Chūgoku kodai sekichō kenkyū, document #210, p. 448.

24 Of the 4.5 million people paying hemp cloth, 2.6 million households lived in Huainan and Shannan circuits, and 1.9 million lived in Jiangnan. The total number of households paying the head tax was 8.9 million, who paid 2,225,000 strings of coins and 12,460,000 piculs of grain. Hamaguchi, “Tō no Gensōchō”, p. 916.

25 For the seventh century, from 639–700, consult Jiu Tangshu, chapters 38–41; for 729 and 730, see Yuanhe jun xian tuzhi; for 742, see Tongdian. See also Guodong, Dong 凍國棟, Zhongguo renkou shi, II, Sui Tang Wudai shiqi 中國人口史， II, 隋唐五代時期 [The demographic history of China, volume II: Sui Tang and Five Dynasties periods] (Shanghai, 2002), pp. 14 Google Scholar, 23, 203. Although my view diverges from his on a few points, I refer the reader to Professor Dong's work to avoid recapitulating the overall state of Tang dynasty finances and taxpayers.

26 According to the Yuanhe jun xian tuzhi, Jiannan did not pay that much silk in the seventh century, but the number of prefectures paying silk in the eighth was higher.

27 Gengwang, Yan 嚴耕望, Tangshi yanjiu conggao [Collected drafts of research on the Tang dynasty], (Hong Kong, 1969)Google Scholar, Appendix 7.

28 Satō 1968, pp. 326–327; Kaisaburō, Hino 日野開三郎, Tōyō shigaku ronshū 東洋史学論集 [Collected writings in East Asian history] (Tokyo, 1984), Vol. 10, pp. 395 Google Scholar, 466.

29 Trombert, Éric (with Ikeda On and Zhang Guangda), Les Manuscrits Chinois de Koutcha: Fonds Pelliot de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris, 2000), p. 99 Google Scholar.

30 Document 114 from Kucha in the Pelliot Collection, transcribed in Trombert 2000, p. 99; plate 114.

31 One document held in the History Museum in Beijing (transcribed in Shuqing, Shi (ed.), Zhongguo lishi bowuguan can fashu daguan 中國歷史博物館藏法書大觀 [A selection of calligraphy held in the History Museum of China] (Shanghai, 1999), p. 230 Google Scholar, photograph, p. 153) tells of an incident in 725 when a cart driver lost his way in the desert and had to borrow feed and hay. Another Turfan document (73TAM509:8/1(a), 8/2(a), transcribed in Tulufan chutu wenshu 4.329) tells of a Sogdian driver who was hired by a Sogdian merchant.

32 This document has been studied by Guo Pingliang 郭平梁 “Tangchao Wang Fengxian beizhuo an wenshu kaoshi – Tangdai Xiyu lulu jiaotong yunshu chutan” 唐朝王奉仙被捉案文書考釈 — 唐代西域陸路交通運輸初探 [A study and explanation of the documents in the case in which Wang Fengxian was taken into custody – a preliminary study of transport and shipping overland in the Western Regions during the Tang dynasty], Zhongguo shi yanjiu (1986) Vol. 1, pp. 136–145; Cheng Xilin “‘Tang Kaiyuan ershiyi nian (733) Xizhou dudufu kangei guosuo anjuan’ kaoshi – jianlun qing guosuo chengxu yu kanyan guosuo (shang)”《唐開元二十一年（733）西州都督府勘給過所案巻》考釈 — 兼論請過所程序与勘験過所 — （上） [An examination and explanation of the document, “Case of examining and granting a travel pass from the Zizhou protectorate, 733” – as well as a discussion of requesting a travel pass and investigating a travel pass, Part 1], Wei Jin Nanbei chao Sui Tang shiziliao (2000) Vol. 8, pp. 48–59; Xilin, Cheng, Tangdai guosuo yanjiu 唐代過所研究 [A study of travel passes in the Tang dynasty] (Beijing, 2000), pp. 76–78 Google Scholar; Guocan, Chen 陳國燦, “Tulufan chutu Tangdai wenxian biannian” 吐魯番出土唐代文献編年 Xianggang Dunhuang Tulufan yanjiu zhongxin congkan Vol. 8 (2002), p. 261 Google Scholar; and by many other scholars as well. The author has examined the original document and verified the transcription given in Tulufan chutu wenshu IV.292–293. An English translation appeared in Arakawa (2001), pp. 13–17, which the translator has slightly modified both to enhance readability and to ensure consistent translation with the other articles in this issue.

33 See Cheng Xilin, Tangdai guosuo yanjiu, pp. 266–282, for a discussion of the use of zuoren as hired labourers.

34 According to Kiyokoba Azuma (see note 11), the passage from the Tongdian encyclopaedia about military expenses discusses this type of payment for salaries.

35 Tulufan chutu wenshu 4.291; discussed by Cheng Xilin 2000, p. 67.

36 Chen Yixin (ed.), 陈贻焮, Zengding zhushi Quan Tang shi 增訂註釋全唐詩 [An expanded and annotated complete poems of the Tang dynasty], Vol. 2, juan 375, p. 1916. There are actually three ci poems about Liangzhou.

37 Quan Tangwen, 211.2136.

38 Kikuchi, “Tō fuekirei yōchōbutsujō saikō,” pp. 4, 6–7.

39 Masaharu, Arakawa, “Sogdian Merchants and Chinese Han Merchants During the Tang Dynasty”, in Vaissière, Étienne de la and Trombert, Éric (eds), Les Sogdiens en Chine (Paris, 2005), pp. 231–244 Google Scholar; Hansen, Valerie, “How Business was Conducted on the Chinese Silk Road During the Tang Dynasty”, in Goetzmann, William (ed.), Origins of Value (New York, 2005), pp. 43–64 Google Scholar.

40 Document # Dx 02826 (held in St Petersburg); Chen Guocan 陳国燦, “Ecang Dunhuang wenxian zhong Tulufan chutu de Tangdai wenshu ≪俄藏敦煌文献≫中吐魯番出土的唐代文書 [Tang dynasty excavated documents from Turfan in the book, Ecang Dunhuang wenxian] Dunhuang Tulufan yanjiu (2005) Vol. 8, pp. 105–144, especially 110.; chubanshe, Shanghai Guji (ed.) 上海古籍出版社, Eluosi kexueyuan dongfang yanjiusuo Sheng Bide bao fensuo cang Dunhuang wenxian 俄羅斯科學院東方研究所聖彼得堡分所藏敦煌文獻 [Dunhuang documents held in the St Petersburg branch of the Eastern Research Center of the Russian Academy of Social Sciences] (Shanghai, 1992–), Vol. 10, p. 78 Google Scholar.

41 See Twitchett, Financial Administration, pp. 90–96.

42 Hino, Tōyō shigaku ronshū, pp. 243–245, which provides the details of where the tax goods were collected before being shipped to the Military Commissions.

43 Kaisaburō, Hino, Tōdai sochōyō no kenkyū 唐代租調庸の硏究 [Studies in the zuyongdiao tax system of the Tang dynasty], (Fukuoka, 1975), p. 277 Google Scholar; Miyazono Kazuki 宮薗和禧, “Tō Kaigen matsunen no Kahokudō ni okeru Ryūtsūjō no henka ni tsuite” 唐開元末年の河北道における流通上の変化について [Concerning the change in circulation in Hebei circuit at the end of the Kaiyuan reign period of the Tang dynasty] Kyūshū Kyōritsu Daigaku Kiyō, 10.2–11.1 (1976), pp. 27–30; Miyazono Kazuki, “Tō zenhanki ni okeru Yusōrōdō ni tsuite: Tokuni Kōteki Busshitsuyusō no ba'ai” 唐前半期における輸送労働について– 特に公的物質輸送の場合 [Concerning the labour in shipping during the first half of the Tang dynasty – particularly in the case of official shipment of material goods] Kyūshū Kyōritsu Daigaku Kiyō 九州共立大学紀要, (1977) Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 46–47.

44 Kikuchi, “Tō fuekirei yōchōbutsujō saikō”, pp. 5–7; Miyazono, “Tō zenhanki ni okeru Yusōrōdō ni tsuite,” pp. 44–45.

45 Mitsuhiro, Maruhashi 丸橋充拓, “Tōdai Kōhan no Hokuhen Zaisei: Doshikei Shoshi o chūshin ni” 唐代後半の北辺財政 – 度支系諸司を中心 [The finances of the northern border in the latter half of the Tang dynasty, with a focus on the Department of Public Revenue], Tōyōshi Kenkyū Vol. 55, No. 1 (1996), pp. 58–61 Google Scholar.