oXFORD sTUDIEsIN EARLY E加 1PIREs scr,Bs Ed,fors Nicola Di Cosmo,Mark Edward LeWls,and lAlalter scheldcl 助纟 D/,I日″沁 orA″‘ lc,:r£〃 Pj石 纣s抑招PO,● .erJ·,ˉom A9b/rlo加 B,ˉ 9nnrl“ m Edlted by Ian MorrIs and Waltcr scheldcI Ro″ε nlId Cˉ h加¢Co,,IP“ mrIve Perspcdil,es oⅡ A,,oe耐 ,/orld EmP氵 res Ed⒒ ed by Walter schodel R0Irle and China Co〃p夕r伢F9i/纟 Pcrspe而 yes o″ ^彳 ‘ vⅡ纟竹 r World Emp饣 res Edned by Walter scheidel Acknowledgmen“ FIvE“ 由e犯彳n chap弪 rs h汛 △ oluIpe gr抑 out“ ∞ntⅡbutlons№ tlle lntemanonal∞ nfercnce巛 Institutlons of EmPre:CQmpara刂 vc Persp∝ tIves on Mocnt Chlnese and McditeⅡ anean Hoto吖 ” that was hdd at stanford Uniˉ 状rsity on M吖 ⒔-14,2005,under the atIspkes of曲 e巛stanford Allcient Chinese and MedIterrancan EmPlrcs ComParatlve HIstory Proled'lt Is a great pleasure to thank our gencrous stanford sponsors,abovc au dle s。 cial soence Histo〃 Institute and lts dIrecto‘ steve HabeⅡ as lvel as the Department oF Classlcs and the FreemaⅡ spogⅡ Institu弪 for【ntematlonal studlcs【 wouId also lIke to acknoh· ledge the suPPort° f mycoˉorganizcrs Mark Lcs1· ls and loe Mannlng Lal Mh爹chu,Lu泳 de Ligt,Joe MannIng,DavId schaberg,Robln Yates,and zhao Ding·tn presen恫 d papers that are not induded ln this couectl。 n but greatlv enrichcd our dIscusoon FInaub ulanks arc due to stelan Vrm△ “0肮rd uniˉ versitv Prcss for lus“ terest h thisPoect,to Brian Hudey for hsa甾“ tance,and to Gwen C。l⒒n for her work on tllls volume ⒈ :⒈ 丶 、 . oXFORD Copl right◎ 2009bl0x佰 rd V“ ℃Isl″ Pr$,h‘ LH“ ∞ r弘 Anden1-H。 l濒ε允阢 ⒉H“。n¨ Mdhod动哪 3Rojr¨ Holor, R9uut,,c,~,OJC ⒋ROmˉ H‘lon EmⅡ rc,o“ G’ B0^⒍ ⒌Ch∶ n。 H gforv 浇 系馆 扌 固
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Rome and China:comparative perspectives on ancient world empires
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oXFORD sTUDIEsIN EARLY E加 1PIREs
scr,Bs Ed,fors
Nicola Di Cosmo,Mark Edward LeWls,and lAlalter scheldcl
助纟D/,I日″沁 orA″‘lc,:r£〃Pj石纣 s抑招PO,● .erJ·
,ˉom A9b/rlo加 B, 9nnrl“ mEdlted by Ian MorrIs and Waltcr scheldcI
rent transmlssion of suPernatural bckcfs and tcchnlcal skius dramatlcaⅡ y°ut
welghs1he amount of attentlon pa,d to the potent∶ al bencnts。 fc。 mParatlve
anaˇ s。 The grl,△qng p°Pllarity of“血k Road studies” Is emblematlc of this
imbaIance,which,for aⅡ ⒒s pcrsistence,has aM唧 δbeen hard to” so即
R o hard to jusd即 oecause onl,· ∞mparlsor,s with odler c"Illzadons m狄 e
⒒possIbk to dlstulguoh common features佥 om cukurauy sPeciflt or unlqtle
charade“stks and de1· elopmen‘ ,hclp us ldenti印 variabks曲 at lvere c“tlcal to
partictllar bistorkal outtomes,and a⒒ ow us to assess the nature of any glsen
anclent state or socle〃 耐血 n由e说dcr contcxt of prcmodern world histor/
Compara‘ s·e hoto〃 can take many foms ForI】 lstance,sclcial sclen刂 sts have
dotlrlguohed bctlvee,· l“andvttal compaosoⅡ”
bem· een equlvakIlt unlts for
the purpose。 f lde"i印 ng uldCPendent variablcs that help αPlain∞ mmonor contrasting Pa扛 crns0r occurrences,and“ Ⅱlustrotive comPa“ sons∽ bemeenequivaknt units and a由 eory or concept tbat evaluate evidence∶ n relation to
predlcti⒕ theory rather tr,an Particular units in rdatlon to one anothcL Othˉ
provided a benign arb止 ra“ on devi∝ equlva,ent to the sen·ices1h荻 ln more
conv·enti° nally o【 ganized statcs Would ha长 bcen乩 rn`hed by a vveak monarch
Financial managemcnt,which requlred a greater concentratlon ofhuman capita1,
was largely larmcd out to private contractors In tho c° ntext,the army was the
。nly instituti° n that attained a certain Icvcl ofProfesslonal弦 ation Thls,in turn,
la1d tllc groundll/olk ror the increaslllg aut° no m/of m"itar,powCr near the
end ofthe RePubuc,w,llCh faCⅡ itated wadordism and the crea“ °Π°f a mllltarymonarch冫
【n terms of Michael Mann℃ dis“ ∏cti。 n of thc four main sources of sooal
powe△刂the ohgarchic regime° f dle Roman conquest state Was maintained
as long。 sp。 hticaI,mihtar⒖ and ldeol° 8ical power were d。 sely ded t° gcthe【
and controlled by tlhe same aristocra“ c coIlect~e0nce m":ta吖 Powcr brokcfIec from poⅡ tical and ideoIogcal c。 nstraints,the rule of the collectIwc wa$
rplaced by warl° rds and m° narchs,who camet° Iel/on a fully professlona⒈
1zed army and managed PohtkalPowerth∞ ugh thc“ adition缸 mechanoms° f
patronage and patrimoplal沁 m The Ⅲain differencet° China`thatin China,mlllta吖 power w岱 mosdy(though by∏°meal△。ahvays)su∝ cssfulˇ cont【lined and tor l° ng Periods evcn margina1izcd by Political ideol。 gical power
The near Perfect Han filsion。 fp°htical and ideoI° gicaI powcr w灬 a钆 nc0°nof the centrahzing rclorms of thc Warring states pe“ od and thc subsequentadoptlon of a hybrid Conluoan-Lcgahst belief systeⅡ that reinforced state
au1h° rityⅡ Exvept in thc eady city state Phase of犰 c Roman poh0” R。manregimes never bene丘 ted from a c° mparab1y cl° se hnkage。 fP° htical and ldc° ~
loglcal poweⅡ Ec° nomlc power was arguably less constralncd in the Westthan
in Ch血 a,which alIowed the Qin and Han states to aim for grcater hterference
棣 程 雀 l⒊w∶ ∶∶::冉:∷∶
eR°man≮征eo讯 y oclalcdl,adou泪
0【 r dme,both svslem‘ GxPe“ enced what° ne mlght cau a“ n。 rmalizatlon”
ofthe degrec。 f state c° ntro1in thc scnse of a regressl。 n to thc mean,the mean
臣P弘tf乱
`拈
J罴毖嬲 楹 龙蒽漯 &挠 器 恝 探started out at° Pp° site eIlds of the spectrum∶ Qin was unusuauy centraIized andburcaucratized,where“ R。me was run by a coucc心 Ye and gKat″ depended° n
I;⒈∶I;∶∶嚣丨漯狨::忑辞摁 拣霹f搌 III∶ :∶【l∶糨eventual doninati。 n ofthc ent△ e otumene0ver timc,both p。 hdcal s邺 tcmsconverged,a process that began around2oO B c E h China and血 the late nrst
centu叩 B c E ln Rome Itls thc mature Roman EmPire of由 e fourth cenmry
岫冉黎;:F是犁L贺潆J咎璧Ⅰ眢拶“nη 凡d哪扯sm sce巳 蛳m伍d喇 sl oem←
Fl o″ j助 c“C〃“fC° ″|饣 r解 9Ⅰ″”
,· o rll召“Flrs`G″ “r Dl,/c召 e`∶〃
” 19
嚣1甜隘r要摁找糨 :且掩肥嬲 胛 鞯瞿and Ileedmcn whJe dle户 l,lilln C四签四r厶 tne patrim°nlal staff of dle cmpcrors,
must hav/c con1aL,ed thousan凼 of slaxes and α dales By40OcE,the R。 Ⅲanstate empl° yed° vcr30,0oo civⅡ ian o的 cials,∞ mparcd to around⒗ ur d"es asmany ul lsJe$tem Han Chula F The PrincIpalshi艮 be"∞n the eady and由e laⅡ r
∷ 掠求翌滗恝 谧坩土燕l牒翟劣摞拥器器force Thc mostsl印 i丘 cant din℃ Icnces bcllvecn Rome and China wer retalned at
翅摞招锶苕遐扰i嚣vEd留辟黥瑟⒊f嚣搬∷ 捷眼搬默器找揽捻⒒u嘿缧紫求滞黑:豁
thc pr"ince tllel ser,ed in“ Thus,i· hi〗 e many ofthe onc hundred thQusanli。 dd
∶ 莒Ι坩 扌F黯 :揣 茹 毖 柱 T扰 m默 榄 甘 拶 :i∶i丨 罂 ll∶【∶
∵ drCd thousand mcn svho PoPu扫 弪d dle o〃 ∞unc讧 softheR。 man Emplre,the“ ⒑∶ groups oPcratcd h rather dIfrerents。 cial contekts,as leaders° ftheir own∞mm⒈
∶ nit抬 s“ the la饿 cr rase and as more dcta.hcd state。gen‘ in dle forme⒈ MoreoleⅡ
∶辍骚巍鹦巍醺鬈卺襻: Ⅱw° uJd be unwise to° v·erestiⅢ atc由 e meritocra‘c Glmenslon° f earl1· Chhcse
fc r mihtdrr efforts tha1cwntuauy resuked in imperial reu“ ncati。 n9scrlous
ch缸1enges t° re.entralizatlon,sllCh as lptense Connict be柳 ee且 r打al nomadlc
groups and the emcrgcncc oflarge numbers of forti6cd settlements伍 ,lt were
organized around clans and vnlage units and designed to protect(and heΠ ce
父CllF⒗C缸 Control oveθ the ag“ c讧 tural popdad∞ ,瞰 re e··。IltuaⅡ y conta~ned
in consequence,radi∞ uy di“辶ren1° utComes were av【 ,ided,such舔 teudaⅡ zation
and longˉ term iagmcntation ac.os$Ch血 a arCaHi妾 countcrfatmaI曲 at had
indecd drcady matcridized on a PF· aous occasion,back in thc earˇ Spring
and'uJtumn Perlod in tllc oghth century B c E莎 Tho raises tlle questlon° f
why the foreign conquest ehtes succeeded Jl shoring up s1ate caPabⅡ iues.s· here
their wes∞ rn counterParts faded The natuK of antecedent go⒕ rnmentalinstiˉ
tutions and dl臼℃rcnces in thc coⅡ Pensa“ on of mⅡ ita「/lOKes(most notabVbebi·ecn|hc statc managcd allocation of goods in the East verslts thc assignatlon
°fland Jl parts。 f thc Mrcst)and their organization(a predominance° f cavaIry
or infantry)may all havc playcd a σitk愈 lo】e Au these。 sues cau钇 r hlrthcr
invesugatl° n A compar征Ⅳe perspecd· e wJl be essential i∏ 记enti,Ing ractors
ul故 pre。 莎 tated dram砬 lcaψ dl簸 Fnt⒗ 鸭 term clltComcs h№ “ and Mreso
lhe famous‘Ⅱ astic c/cle o” h Chna and the妲 sⅡ k.lt polvcen订 om ofthe
surPo“ng,then,th,ll thc mlno⒃rlal and te汛 loial hneage5⒏ aduau,· 肛ew to
"valthe Power ofthc monar.h himser。
r that the vendettas and wars sPawned
by a“ stocrats’ extreme sens:tivi〃 t° sughts t° their honor led丘 nally to centu〖 iCs
of1nternecine bIoodshed that thc m° narchy Was po、verless to check Thc spong
and Autumn pc"od that lolIo、 ved(722→ 8IBcE;note that thc Eastern Zhou
d,q,凼 ,[7。 0△弼 :c El ox· en妒 sw“ h th。 and the fouowhg严 。od,thc昵 rˉ
ring states【 453221:cε j)witnesscd a long e【 a ofv· loIence through which the
zhou alistocnq not onˇ h呜dy destroy出 itser and m。 rc dlan lO0m血 istates
but the glcatcr p。 litical o【 der that they had constituted
0ut of thls carn呜 ea吹ry different rorm。 fstate emerged as tlte intense con·
nict am。 ng thc Ⅱneagesled them to sooaland admlnlstra“ ,·e innova“°ns aimcd
at scCuring a maitary advantage against their rivaIs4the nrst欲 eps Were tdksn in
the mtd scventh centur≯ when thestate ofQiabandoned the aⅡ stocratlt monopˉ
° °n warhrc in order to eIllarge its armcd forces Other states Were foKed t°
lollow su:t At εrst,only llle nonarΙ stocratic P° ltions of the cap⒒ al poPtltati° ns
were enrolIed in the arrη6but。 ver time as conni∝ s intenslflcd and demanded
esedar墅r armlcs,the state of Ⅱn in由 e mld skh centu吖 。Ntended consc“ ⒉tion to subjcct pe。 ples and the rural poPulati° n of its agricultural hinterland
Thlb develoPnent was at nrst only a弪 mporar,expedient,but the pressu犯 s of
waf foKed Ⅱn and。 the‘ comPeung states to makc such measures PermaΠ ent
untd by thc thlrd∝ ntury they、 vcre nclding armIcs° feno【 mous“ ze numberlng
in tbc hundreds oft「 lousands of men(ifthe sourt。 s are to be bcheved)Finall,
the state of Qin under the guidance of tbe legalist thinker and general shang
垧ng in曲 e mid-钇 urth centtllv“ tabllshcd whdt would become the paradl⒏
mntic。tructure ofthe“ warring state” It o n。 t dearthat e,ery state subsequendy
∞nformed c° mPletely lo· he adminotratls· e pa仗 c【 n that Qin created,but the
varIOus fc钇 rms n undertook were to onc degree° r an0thcr rePhcatcd am° ng
"s rl1·
扯s Central to the Qin reforms was the grouping° f the popuIatIOn inlo
un⒒s of nxe h。 useholds that were each rcsPonslble n。 t° nIy ror proYiding the
squads° f6△ e recruits thatlormed the bu扭 ding bloclvs° f Qin armles but址 so允 r
26 Ro`″饣'″
″Chj″ n
黼 辑鞲燕鞑斟鞯夥菸:
萤拊焦芽菇暇关ξ群焦fⅢ芯拄撖
滩槲鞲要菇r垂槲觯mil“ arY sewice and corYee1abor,and t。 佰c1ht缸 e these ta呔 s,the,carried out
detaika censuses of the Popuhtion ThCy also enforced a sewre but apparˉ
i封弹群薯群碾祺蘖鹫鞲帚source of cocrcive lorce for u‘ e against rccalcitrant subjccts Thcse innovaˉ
tions created“warring states广 as Mark Lcwo puts⒒ ,“ states bunt thr。 ugh the
攒 弼 搀 醛 l辎 盘 聃 槲 芏
zation of these statcs
1,rtl巧 s氵 四″ Fo″ ″″ 氵o″,lI,l'M″ j抑,`rlI‘ fjnJri°
`Is 氵
In tho dimate ofendemk war1∶:lre,mass armies lKcle essentia【 to the stlr· i|、
`dof an,wa/ring statc,and to mobuize thcm thcir governments.elicd no1simp|y
on the cocrclsc Polver that thelr bureauσ 扯iC aPParatus Pro诉 ded but also on
the tangiblc incent加es that they o仟ered to peasant。 for their comp⒒ ance wkh
dcmands for t田 田s and seWte and l· or zeal in b,lttle whcn consC“pted In th‘
the dece"and订 lckery that denned the sIrdy of the commanders undercut thje
founda"°ns° f thc、 say of the rulc⒈”’l To rcsolve this diIcmma,somc Chincse
Phu。 s。Phers a唱 ued that、 var and the miIitar/c° nsututed a四 alm separate and
d峦“nct丘 on tlhc civuian w。 dd,so that what was accePtablC and ne¢ ssary thcre
dld notimpIn黟 up° n the rde⒈ Consequentˇ they argued,commandcrsin the
ndd c。 uld n。 tbe c° nt【。lled by rukrs and t。 attempt lo d。 s° w。 uld lead to
dlsasle⒈ The ruIc‘ when hc lcrmalIy invested a general witn hls c° mmand byteremoniously handing him an ax in the ruler、 ancestal tempIe,at lhe same
time granted him abs° lute and auton°mous authoriγ during hls∞ nduct ofthecampa坨卩 To nI止her undersc° re that seParatlon,tllc armv"ser used dodling,
language,and ritual$that wcre d抬 “nctfrom the ckihan w。 ddHolve△·e△ tllIs Posl刂 °n was strongly oPposed by scholars of b° th the LegaⅡ st
and C° n血 oan sch° °b,wh° in“ sted° n“the unquesu。 ned铋 premacy。 f a rulcr
wh° uPheld the s。 oal° rder through proPer laws or appropriate r⒒ ualsJ’;(Thls
prcmoe led each sch° °1for different reas° ns,to d趸 ny the proprie吖 ofand nccdfor a separate miⅡ ta〃 sphere go浓 rncd by its°wn dotinct sorts° f rules Thelr
a呜umcnts in either case b鲳 an with the asscrtlon tllat a vlrtuoⅡ rtller at the
head of a Propedy c° nstitlIted state had no necd° f lhe dexcr st【 ata莎ms andtrickery tlat mⅡ t【ary writers insisted that war required For die Con乩 oans andthe Legali“ s alike,the conduct of war was merely an asPed° f sooal rda刂°n⒌1`propedy g°迎med Pe°P1e wasthe baso of m"ita〃 polvcr the访 rtues ofth¢
找 骢 陬 翟忑:盂u以描:缧 猛J瑟 胃嚣找 捃 背郢 嫘
char∝ tehzed b,/harmoIly be“ 爬eIl the rder and llIs su9eCts and,ne h whkh
a PrOPcr hierarchl/existed am° Πg them since the arm/was idendcal with the
People,the proPer hierarchy and的 rmauons within the a【 my w° uld aose n扯 urauy。 ut。 f a properll° ldcrcd‘ocle弘 soldiels w° dd bellnked by由 esame‘ es
of obedIcncc and a【 fcct⒗ n that unⅡed famⅡ ies For the Legalists,° n the o曲 er
hand,“ the army was the prima〖 y form° f° rgani犭 ng the pe。 ple,so the tech~
nIqucs that PrcscBzed sooal° rdcr also mahtaiⅡ ed disclPIlne ul the arm” andn° seParatc mⅡ itary arts were ncedCd” ∶‘Thec° nsequence of dlis hne ofthought
ll【 l巧 5仰 re lˉ or羽 夕汀o刀 ,刀`Id IVjrl`氵
抑 l/tⅡ‘`而"°
″s 弱
but m° reimP°rtandu the centraI a△ nl° fthe Ⅺ°n叩 u rlucrs’ s“atcgy lvas not to
conqucr Chincse ter“ tory_forthe Ⅺongnu had no des订 c lo bec。 mc farmers
撤槲擞鹦鞲蕊they could not grow° r manufacturo themseIles The Ⅺ。ngnu statein efect was
搬 濯 瘛 黜 槲鞲
在擗
鞑报硼樊 撼 鞲鞲嘏旷菇1隘眨Ⅰ趑嚣挡逮;∶lrt秽潇吁变J∶茧T丨:茛扌1∶Ffea鸵
∞ng
际m∶姓f∶:标耆扌Ⅰ’i拣窝赁If嗲撬扌v蔡抵 :l:漱re拒
甚摹麒 雠髑髑 盔数槲
黼 鹦槭 蕨带迤翮 蔡opment Posslble,especlauy the situat】 on on the付 ontic阝 Nelther tlle Han ruIers
·∷∷∷一一∷∷∷∷∷·_~一∷一一∷一∷一一~一一∷_一__
一△__~一∷≡
艹 Ro`"eJ溯 Ch`Hd
nor Rom宫 s emperors for most of the6rst bvo Centuries of tllCir rule fa∝ d diK
m山 ta” thrcat$⒍ om beyond their borders Hence,each could assign command
on thc ba“ s ofc“teoa oth钉 tl△ an1raining,skⅡ l,and experiente at⒒ tlC cost to
tne emp订 e、 mihta〃 po“ tlon
3 ′vAR ΛND sT^TE F0RM八 TION II
The changed nature oftbe mihtary thKaf伍 cing trle Q讠 n dynaso/and ks succesˉ
so6the Han,扭 so culminatcd in the aboliti° n°f"ass armles a∏ d lhc sy$tem of
unlversal maIe∞nscription upon、 vh1ch they depended under the Eastcrn Han
d” asty(2卜 夕OcE)in30△ l CEΙ°The hrgc In%lltry arm诒 s oflhc Walrlng
states era had bee∏ develoPed to combat simnar armles neldcd by曲 C varlo us
Chinese‘ tates Contending for power during that period0ncc Qin had。 verˉ
come ks“ l/a‘ and estabushed chinas irst unlversa1empirc,tllc nced for wa⒈
fare against otrler Chhese armks vanished,sa收 for pe“ ods of clvi1war ltke
th。 se that brought ab° ut the faⅡ of Qin ln206and the establishmcnt ofthc Han
由ηas刂 in汪s place in iO2But tllese outbre瑟 s we四 rafe tllereanes and c。 nˉ
scqucntˇ ll,e necd lor mass armles and univ/crsal md"ary serv:ce di狃 Ppearcd
lnstead,the Ⅲihtary focus under the Han shi丘 ed fo the northern frontier and
the dangσ thata c° mmandcr would win theloya【 〃of h。 arm/of peasant conˉ
scripts and lead them in an attcmPt to oserthrow thc】 elgning emperor and,scc
ond,econo"≯ “nCe these smallcr钆 rccs were much chcaperto run In1ts former
asPect,Chlna、 shi丘 to professlonal soldiers paraⅡ els thc sImⅡ ar imovation by
Romds员rst cmpe【 °rh、 goa1,too,was Politicdl securitv for ho Iegime m° Kthan miIitary eficcti屺 ness
Th、 s阝tem was la.gdy5uccessfuI at dercatt,lg thc threat of the northcrn
卜乙ongnu by the end°fthe nrst century c E,but that very success provcd disas-
trous tQ tlle Eustcrn Han£ Vlll∶ ke thc legIoΠ a“ es ofimperial Rome,armies of
balborians and convicts cvinvcd htde loy破 〃to thC state,whⅡ e the emPte、 bar~
barian aIIies,oncethenorthcrn Ⅺongnu had been defeatcd,lostthc△ imPortance
t° 由cc° urt and hence the sub“ dles that had been the Poce oftheIr cooperatlon
Consequendy,they turned to Plunde‘ and bccause so many。 fthem had becn
brought hto the emPirc,the garroons Pro收 d lncapable of deterrlr,g their
attacks lvI°rc scrious was tlle fact that the main threat to China’ s bordcrs in the
second centu〃 came now rrom the、vestin the persons ofthc Qiang Thc clabo
rate border fortiscations,espeoally the C四 at lAdll,devel° ped to defcnd agai∏ st
the northcrn nomads,ls· cre。 f no usc against a threat cmanating犰 m the west
Further cor.p11tating thc problem of defe灬 e was the兔 ct that thc Qlang had
no oˇ erarchI】 lg poIidcal°Ider and dld not brm large c° nfederaclcs as had thc
Ⅺongnu the$e facts made negotia“ on di伍 cu⒒ ,whi1e dle erects。 fmiIita吖 vk-
torles were hmited。 nly to the speonc“ lb卟 conqucred The solutlon of estab
hshing col° nles° f Chinese Peasants in the b。 rder regions in order t。 Protectthe c° nqueFd t“ bcs and b“ ng由 e Qlang into tlle Han economic and pohticd
s阝tem loundefed° n lhe dlmcul“ cs。F maintalnIng agr】 tultural commuIliues ul
the a“ d westin the r。ce of曲e constant depredations of the Qiang and on the
αPense of supporting tllem when theV could not feed由emsdκ s FInaIlv the
deci‘ lon to mo趵 thc cap"alto Luo叩 ng in the eastern part ofthc empke lr thc
e衍ˇn‘ t centtIry c E kd to thc ascendaIlq of四 sternc阝 at Court,、vhⅡe inter-
estin western m改 tcrs was very hmitcd Ultunatel乒 asthe Han g。 vernmcndclst
Con"ol of the western⒍ on"er,pr° vinoal governors began to take the initiat,e
ul defense thc forces thcy led began to devel° p into Pri叼 te amles undcr the
control° f great families wh° ‘e loyal,was to thelr c°mmanders The resuk was
the breakup° f the Han miIita〃 svstem and a l°“°f control of wanare by theCourt that ul“ matdy contributed to the c° 1lapse ofthe d/nasⅡ
The Han`fadure to c。 n订 ol Ⅱs Western丘 on‘ers therefore led to serious m山 -
tary Problems,which in turn brought witl· them slgni丘 ca∏ t threats to dle rul-
hg dsnl凼 o,dthou凼 not Φ曲e cmplre lt【 dfs洫 llar Prouems at R。 me№uuProve even more dire lNl刂 or mⅡita呼 山reats on Its n。rthern iontkrs had a“ sen
、吻 ‘sJ日 rc ror旧 〃″°″,四 ″″△饣
`jf..ˉ
,.ilas扌iⅡ FioⅡ‘ ψ
samc“ mc,mobile neld armles,which constitutcd“ 扭to∮ c resCwes,Werc Created
tO【 u.●h to troubk spo‘ and strlke at attac妊 ng forces艹 E田 n more importantw“ the decisi。n of the emperor Dlodetian(Ⅱ 28艹305cE)In286c E to cre-ate a ser。nd,cocmpσ or to g° xern the western half° fthe empire and lhen to
supPlv both himser and his c。 regellt w“ h se∞ ndsˉ ln-∞mmand and eventua1suc.essors,styled Caesars构 thls d订 islon oF respon“ bdlγ among four rulers,whIch ls termed lllc tetraKhy,permitted a much doser m° nItoring° fthc ion-tiers fJlan had been poss1ble under a single empcror,and bccause each lctra【 ch
commanded h芯 own εeld arm弘 a mihta〃 emergenq on my仟 onder∞ uld bc
Ⅲct much more swimy and cHtct"dy Howeve6this regnle not omy au。 wedlor a much bettcr dcfen贸 against externaI threats but,equally imPortant,slmu1ˉ
tancOudy lvas ablc to put an cnd lo cil/II war for many vears becausc a p° ten“al
usurper nolv taCed tlle chaⅡ enge° f overlhroWing not。 ne ruler but histhKe co1-
leagues as we⒒ ln order to secure PolvC⒈ In addiⅡ on,tlle posi“ °n ofthe emPerorh】 mse1f thanged Jl rcsP° nse to thc m⒒ ta〃 and PolltIcal c【 isis。 fthe third ccn
tu砰 Under Λugust,Jsand m° st。 fhls su∝ essors,the distance betv△ ·ecn emPcrorsapd lh蔚 r su切 ec‘ ,pa“ kuhdy at the hlgllc“ soo扭 kYc‘ ,had not been grea←successnIl cmperors presented an imagc of c。 mi″ wkh members° f the scnato-
rial dass wh】 lc au emperors claimed to be“ leuow~s。 ldIers” of thc kglonaIks
Dtode“an,howew‘ inaugurated a r,uch diB℃ rent stance of empcrors toward
曲elr su向 ec‘ Emperors n【 ,lv began to Ⅱve血 dccp secluslo∏ Access ω由cm ivas
h熄 hl,· restric饣d and surroundcd by elaborate¢ remory nnd p∞ tocol IIltended
to eX,oke al△·e Ⅱdrc1· erenCe in th荀 rsubleds hlgh and lo⒒ Thealm wasto d四 ate
the Pcrson of山 e empe【 or to a status b呷 ond merely human and sl,in,Jl沁 w呷to ward off attempts to°Ⅱ〖thmw him on the pr.。 【umpti。 n th扯 n° mere m° rtal
could takc his Place Dlodetlan、 s° Iuti°n ofthe p。 htical crisIs i∏ turn enabkdthe tctrarchs to c。 ncentrate their encrgies on the emP订 c’s foreign loes,which
‘;1】 ∶lauy brt,ught由 e Iluhtarv Ⅱ砧 ω aIlend Even岱 t,ugh伍 e teoarˇ d记 n。 t
⒗ng suⅣi彳 ⒒s tounder and oYⅡ war° n∞ ag。 lll led fo the estabhshment of a
su△gIe emper°‘the chan墅 s∶n the mⅡ ita叩 and go田mment dlat DIOcle刂an put
hto place brought tlle emplre a century° f Protectlon
China pro,ed to be both intractable and rt n° t serlous enough to thrcatcn tlle
cVsten¢ of虹s goYernmcnt,thc mass armles山 at“ s bureaucra吖 had been crc
ated t° mobn讫 ec。 uld be dispenscd with profess⒗ nal soldiers drawn丘 om⒗w-
喵tstrata ofthe Chinese popuIation and cavalry hired丘 om the steppc tribes were
more eH℃ ct打c again‘t曲eem,re’ s opponents,less of a burdcn on the treasuΓ u
and lcss of a tnrat to· dle re旮 me simⅡ arΙ y,tle men charged witIh Icad△ lg these
W攵‘S· ,l饣 For″】夕rj°″,n″
'拟饣
`氵
加r,r· ls|氵 ″历o lI。 51
armies cOJld be selccted on c“ l【loa other tIlan miIita吖 g〖 pcrtise a∏ d co皿Pden“sin∞ the consequences of fai1u记 lfere no longer dte The elite monopoIy° n war
ended ear1y破 Rome as wc⒒ ,tor rcasons that arc not well undcrstood The Ⅲass
Consσ iption tbat rcplaced it,howeve马 took place in the∞ nte对 ofa丈 ruggc。 x/cr
P。 1itical“ ghts within the c。 mmunit,and c° nsequentˇ thc hcCnt、 ℃s oflcred
Il αchangc ior Par“ cipad。 n in、 var were political as weu as material The end
of tllat struggle coincided with the end of the m∝ t挺“ous lon⒏ term milita〃
chal1enges to№ man hegemony w让 hin the peninstda,and for that rcason,凼 We⒒
as the changing nature ofthe citizen bodu tbe aristocra锣 1pohtical concessions
to the ci“ zens who comp∝ ed the Rcpubhc、 armics subsequendy grew much
lcss εequent Pr° fessi。 nahzation only occurrcd once thc poltticallandscape had
dr孙 tlcdˇ cba鸭 Cd and the need° f the netvly establlshed monarchl lor sccu",
against Potential challengers made Ⅱ imperati收 to cr,。 ate a mⅡ itar,loya1to the
rulIng d” as″ Tho cllange onˇ pertalned tO Lhc ralLk and nlc,h。 w四er打 oto-
cra‘ c no且 speCial,x“ c。 mmanded R° me、 armlcs dlroughout由 e RepubLc and
durhgthe nrst。 v。 Centuoes ofthe empire0Illy the rise° fa much gf狄I threat
tha∏ t「,c emPir~。 had c° n丘°nted uP to that Point forced the cha.acter ofthe o脸 ˉ
cer cla阝 t° chan墅 in the third centuru inaugurating a lasung” lit bebveen lbe
c“olian and rrI诋 la叩 elite that in imporfant w呷s hastened the白 u ofthe western
emPiK0so ce姒 uries1ateL
L讶w讶 竹砑 P伢彳话 万〃71召竹苫
oF E解彡昭
Karen Tt rncr
扌l,e For″1伤扌joll
hw o so inestricabl· en妒 wined in culttlre tbat,for all its
spcciah~ed capabi】 ides,it maY indeed,best be seen not“ mPly as
a mechanom ror attendlng to dlbputes or enlo【 Cing decislons,nol
solely as artkul荻 ed ru】 es or as evldence° f dlnercntial power but
as a rlame,A.ork钇r ordcred relationships
厶nw ns CⅡ ′Ⅱ∫″
A commitmentto cWnl小 stands孙 one of Rome1enduring leg,lcts,the b仓 sls
⒗r the rule oftaw in the countries th扯 presewed Roman kgalldca、 and p.。 ctltes
拔 撖 燕 耱 斟 碡 蒌 揲 辅 群 瓒 鞲
de,ote hltle atlcntlon to pcn ll phu。 $。 Ph:es and pmctkes∶ By contrast,obserw阝
of Chinese hotory、 s,ho a唱 ue tllat impcrldl Chin舐 Proccupa讧 on widl σiminal
law cont1nucs to hinder legal refOrm point to tlle Poh心 caI哪 stem dlat emer旷 d
h Qin md H川 dmes亦 tl e source of harsh pepd hws de“ gned lo guald tlle
resou.tLs of the sta使 ratbCr than thc ogllts of sublec‘j△
ue,by the time of the
Qln unihtallon lll Chlna,岱 Mark Lcˉ wo ha$shown,a bod,· ofmⅡ叔o勖 P° htl
c胡 tlle° ry and lll$tooca1anecdote1egidmatcd the stat~。’s rightto m° noPoliz。 and
man唣e∞ ercion丬 Btt thc“纩and tlleory” based on the Con血 cian ldcal of曲 c
“ruk of man” tliat h孙 domlnated narrativcs ab° ut tlle nature0f politkal author~
i9in china obscur6由 ca讧 entton that、Varrrlg states and Han w“ tcrs paid to
law灬 a me岱ur⒗ kg止Ⅱnatc h蚰 uuond讫 ed岫 kn∞
【n th沁 chaptcsI wantto focus on onc ofthe mostscn“ ti巛 matters佰 ced by anv
expanding poh0∶ h。 wt° justi印 the statc、 right to pun沁 h ehtes whose support
Was neCessary for pohucal sun/1· /aland Commoncrs、 vhose Comphance and labor
l器 :肾∷:沦 l::∶ 1涩Ⅰj∶∶l1o山灬$6dcbj♂ h~nm油m homkπ ⒗“
£`w,ild P㈣
。h″Ig″
"l rJlc For″
口r氵 o,1犭 ε″Iplrc 艿
su。 tahcd the inst⒒ uuonal apparatus Judging佥 om the wealth of writing on
the toPic丘 om observcrs in both empⅡ es,no otheI aKa of.tatcCra丘 generated
more unease among el:t。 s who witn6sed thc emef扩 n“ °f uni收rsal rJlershiP
than cedIng to the empcror and his courts tlle authooCj/tO determine categ。 rles
of de,/lante and曲 c lc,c【 °f pun订 i· e acdon nece$ar/to maint击 n older and
cradc emPtes deak wkh thc common Pred:cament。 f balancing thc desiIes。 f
rukrs and elitcs_committcd to tadkional,asc^ptix/c modcs of power ·w/ith
the ambitions of“ ne,v men” dePendent on bureaucratk po“ tlons and v破 ues
provides a u父 钆l star“ ng Point No inpcria1poh,c° uld sup,ls· e by coerc"e
methods al° ne,he argues,but ho xhcmc pla∝ s undue weight on the acuons° f
rulels to mana箩 哎ate"oknce5More Ⅱe钆l o Danlelle pd]en’ sstudy of Punish^
mentsin anCient Grecce,WhICh sh∽ vs how indlvidu铋 actors波 many1eve‘ ofthe
state aPparatus hnuenced penaΙ po"c诒 s^s shc obscwes,inform敲 bodles,such
as dans and guilds,do not have to rationalize their dccisions to touCh the bodies
oftlhelr members“ In contrast,le昏 tima1c punohnlents b孙 ed on state authori轷
must bc justinable吞 tl。 rge wi山 in llle pohucal c。 mmunirl Punishmcnts that
mak u父 of“ ale pos^`Ι:r lor伍 ep泖"ol曲
c Pd污 h由 e al1.lcnt⒍ c狄 m叫must be delenslble according to de丘 nitions of佰 irness and jusdce that Prevad
throughout the poh吓’户dlen nllds m。 re v,llue“ Bourd怡 Cs theory of Pracdce,
which argues that hldl△·idua‘ can e∶ ((:rt agen吖 and naniPuhte rllles c、`(:n iΠ
“tua刂 ons of reladve powerlessness,than in Foucaurs m。 del of Pohtic缸 theate6
governmentah“ and sc。 pted dramas ofYiolence As^山 en O“ e「 es,¢ somerl11es
aF lcss ne疝ble than othels or require greater eFort to manipu1ate,but strate曾 c
actors may⑩ metimes be winl11gt。 take on tnat w。 钛、
It o impolfant to note at thc ou心 et that no lns0tutlonal Ch∝ “ e斑sted to
curb llle s。 △crelgn、 absolute Power ol/er matters of Ⅱ灸 and death in e“ her
emPir In a deadly game in which tlle empcro阝 h咸d thc highest。 ards,Persua
slon remaincd the Ol,ly a收 nue lor Curblllg the献 scretlonary po,ver° f ruIcrs As
well,Iam nots· Jgggtlr,g in tll芯 chapte· that in伍 e Lase。 f China,pa仗 erns佥 omthe Past have not a臼 飞ctcd a过 cmp‘ to⒗ ster kgal relo【 m in modern times,as I
no侄 in the conc1u“ °n Butin由 e叩订"of this p【
。ject,I want to redlrect atteno
tion;om the problems血 thc pre挺 nt to suggest h° wc。 nceP刂 ons° f1a,i· that
emerged in the eany empires c° nthbuted to the longe砬 r,。 fthe imperials阝 tem
In other xvords,I acknov· Jledge that what w。 s kalt” 孙r thC bodx po⒒tlt m馆 llt
not have fas/ored thc individuaIs who supPorted it Butl al$o wantto argLe u,at
σitits传arill ofthc c° nsequcn∝ sofm1ebˇ PersonaIir/ln early Han China drew
各om a particlI ar blend of cukural and historical“ bocolagd’ 山at ga,e ttˉ efJl lo
tIleIr a讧 empts to teppcr the a· b淡 .arv use of山 pcrial pσYe⒈ Indecd,疔on a
:薛Ⅰ∶莒薛谢珙F:甘聃菪Ⅲ鞲 森胯蘧苷觜;:∶ ∶∶汪嘿FT涩「嚣y妥蓄黯l扌lf;贯孓跺品l;I黥Γtional rela伍。nship beⅡccn law and moΠ archy came abolJt“ °wl,in tlle Pro∞ ss
°fa由 “ttng rePubⅡ can ldeals to曲 c re扭 Ities of emplre⒙
PATTERNs° F HISt0RY
::菡淡l∶t∶∶∶苫二&$J1Ι :嚣lll∫f昭 ff足:::=器甘盅蕙who undefstood the dangers of the“ tcr伙ntionist玫 ate^♂ the warring terri
nese ConftIcians,钇 r。xamp【 e,bllt rather as a meChanom for exert,ng colltro1
鞲 襻 e鞲 搦 甜 擀 羰 鞯 辅
C〃夕Ⅱ2j decΙared,Iaw cxisted lo mobiΙ lze the common PeoPlc to perform dutics
lor the哽 ate contrary t。 thor indinatIOn⒌巛Thc l钒vs are m0re important than
tlle Peop1e Therefore the wise ruler should n° ta1ter l孙 vs out of arecti。 nf。 r
the People The pe。 p1e must bc e欲 eemed ltss than thc Ia△vsF’9The tleausc。 n
“ConforⅢ ing to the Lax· ·In tllo remarkab1c text expan岙 on the lcgalist notion
thatthc human factor mu纹 be mt.ted,alIowing laws to serVe as the“ marklng
1ine” for al1staK affak⒏“statutes,rcgda砬 ons,and Ploc·dures must bc pat-
terned on tlle'no and mustbe pub1ic and dean kwards and pul· lshments
“流L△ ;摞‖:I扌::毖Ⅰl:耳 :∷裎糕 浪于探 :∶∶摅;I糨t求摁茹Ⅰ
‘nlv'〃
'P〃
″oh″钔 F加 〃】c FOr,,· 四rion¢ £〃 p扌 沼 为
must bc predictable and ccrtain” “The tc【 t变 peats thc Icgallst dictum that par-
dons mtl【t neV。r be granted The C° n血oan pragmati“ Xunzi(n238:cE),who wit,lessed the cos‘ ofthc moK violent wars thdt preceded tIlc uni丘 ca刂on,
assessed the sta弪
`opprcssi浓
dcman凼 forlabor and mi⒈ ta叩 sewic⒏“The state
o the most P咖e拓△伉strumeBt⒗ r bcneflt in thc world aBd k o the heaviest
burden丬 Eady C。 nRlclan crluts correttIy记 en0ncd law as a to。 I that lcga⒈
otic bureauCrats Could utlllze to order human an%irs at lllc expcnsc of Lheir
°wn Pri,IIeges as educators and Cermoni铋 maskrs BlIt though thcy longed
for a sage rder IIl a spirit a圮 n to P1ato’ s benevoknt desPot,who cou1d recrcatc
tlle hauowcd。 ld zhou EmPirc and adⅡ in】stcrjusuCc w⒒ h。 ut the hindrance° f
la△v,Con血 oan writers lramousl· denned rules based° n thc act.vltles oflegendˉ
ary阳纩 klngs fofjudging the beh狙 ior ofthe klI gs of their own day泛 I,ndeed,
Mencl,Js、 (d389BcE)dcdaratlon that a lxlΠ g wh∞ c actIOns ContradlCted his
responsIbilities no longer deserκ d thc Fs【 lcct° f his° mce ech。 cs^“ stot【 e`
justi且 cation for〃 rannicidc
ThC Ql】 l EmPire should havc represented tllc ctllmination of]egaⅡ st eftor‘ to
σeate仓 bureaucratiC state ru忆 d by a Politic敲 m∝blnc that侄 mpered thc whims
ofrulers灿 d in lact,as we kpow丘 om the1egal materia1s buricd w"h alow level
Qln° fnclaI d父。vered at Sh山 hudi钪 1975,at tne locaI lev· els of governance,a
very ri昏 d wstem ofcor,trolling o铄 ciaI discrctlon did e攵 st on the b° oks E· en
dle First Emperor° f ChIna,the uItimate desPot血 standard收 r“。ps of Chnese
impe0铋 hlsto邴 PromisCd to danfv t桠 h哂 ,as钲 de inscrlPd°ns佥°m his relgn
a仗 est“ It Was attr,e IeveΙ of court pohtics that the Qin regime佰 ned t。 mcet the
chaⅡ enge of insdtutlon扭 l/ing ks p° wcr a success⒗ nc“ sis encoura纩 d a rev°⒒bylowll comm° ncrs attempting to escape c° weelaborscr访 ce The Qin Cxamplc
Provlded Han EmPir。 buⅡ deIls witll se· 。raI advanta舄 es The empire had engen
dered a rsPite,albclt sho止 Jl,/ed,f.om c° n斑 ant wartare and had crea侄 d a modcl
for exPandIng instit ltional structures su"able钙 r go火rn血 g a ce波 raIi贺d state
Han narratlVes of the n诅 。f QJl,whose emPerors and omCla‘ wcK char莎 dw"h maknglawsandim∮ ementLng Pun0hments%∝ ordlng to thcir own wanˉ
ton hghts卩 扌a、o pr°访ded cJtics with a rich rllctorical乩 nd ior censu"ng con
temP° ra呷 rdlσ s and thelr henchmen lsqlen trlc Han elder statesman Lu1a
rminded the Han loundcr fhat he might have won the empire on horseback
btlt could not gowrn狂 by佑 rce,the emperor understood the messags bcfore he
entered tlne rebc⒒ ion a钾Ⅱ欲Qh,he had sewed孙 a lowJeve1burcaucr衬 in thc
!;see Kern2ooo km h8bdy‘ Ⅱu叩e,乩 eu‘ e of krms‘uch as Le8d‘ t`ndˇ CoPruoanr but1cann° t
一∷一一∷∷∷∷_∷∷∷一一一一〓∷一∷一一∷一∷一一~_一一∷
潦祺艹条i埘I擀搦谳茁啭蛋iF踏u扌至{硎圣旺挂鞋茁W秉条黼樾酗i搀蕊馋虽芷啭了萎f茧求甚麒
5‘ 尺o7″ g“ ″dC” i`!夕
Qin svstem His ro° ts in the state ofChu,which riv缸 cd Qin fora wellˉ deve1oped
lcgal sy⒍cm down lo the locallevd as we kllow lrom rc¢ ntlV αc猁ated mate"-
a‘ ,mt】 st ha1· e also contobtlted fo ho contern with kgal ma住 ers DcsPite h。
prom诒 e to stmpli印 the1,lxvs ofQin ata c“ ticd momcntin h0bid forthc cmpie,
GⅡ zu o.dered his o猛 oalsto uoⅡ ect and PKserw tlle Qin laws and to bund on
ks ritu乩
"ur吖and court∝ remonials to enhance his own position AJld so Han
ruleⅡ and了 elormers、 x· ent about the business of centrahzing power adoPting
the Qin laws and emp1o,qng some ofits o筋 oa、一even whne decryiΠ g曲 c Onerˉ
ous dcmands made by the defeated regime Butthere we【e dlsagreemcnts about
how to in侄 gr,△ te holdovers from the earller emPlre at the ume and disagree-
ments among sino1oglsts ab° ut how much dlssent各 om subaltern actors went
on durlng lhc Han I ag四 e with Mark LelvIs that a∞ mmitmcntto un1o and
wholcncss emer旷 d out ofthe con欲 ant warfa四 th钛
"oubled the Preimperlal eraand with Nathan six· ln that few vOIces surfaced in tavor ofrestorIIlg a flagmented
Pohtic赤 svstem b sivin contcnds that as th召 Han Empire dcvdoPed ln the nrst
centur弘“lntell∝tuals bound the strtlctuK of Heaven and mrth,and that of the
human body to that ofthe stater and transformed the imagc of the conqueror
from a warrlor to a dopcpser ofbenefnc“ ons and utc`B“ t sh汀 n os· erloo‘ howtheories bascd on resonance w⒒ h tlle monarch at the v~· ntcr also C了Cated a dis
cursi迎 ”acein whlch de1· er inteuettua‘ cou1d placc at the feet° fthc cmPeror
blamc forimproper dccoions aΠ d their consequent mani拒 statIOns in the naturaI
wor⒙ Moreove6the Han emperols could notslrnply act as bencfactors but had
lo tak a rok ln kgIsh刂 on and α∝udon As Pue迁 a鸡ues,the tcn“on that su⒈
faced in the cady Han wriungs cente,ed around the susPicion that tlle empirc,
whIle llecessa码 h们 been佰 unded bv force md sust击 ned b,p⒒ noPles of govˉ
ernance d诒n to the sage⒗ ngs,who suPPosedˇ m拉nohCd u疝γ bv访 nuotls
rule Nostalgia〖 eached ldr back,to the gotden age ofthe uni6ed、 Vestcrn zhou
ented and manipuIatcd over tlle course° fthe Han,for the political contours of
tlo anoent cmpire rema】 ned convcnicnt灯 malleable to nt ckrrent concerns″
Thus,the ear1y Han o marlKed by a stru骆 lc bcO,,een emPerors daimIng their
oght to manage‘ 从
"under Heaven”
and bureaucrats reminding thcm that the
lessons° fh沁 tory taught that tr,e Liu famny、 mandate to rLtle Was condltlonal
The田 陋 s no arlkdated dotIbt bˇ Han tllncs,holi.cvc6that a u血 盎ed poⅡ〃undcr a slnglc rule厶
“Thc0ne Man卩 orcred the only"ablc system to Put an
end to chaⅡ Thrcatsin the form ofambi“ ous kn and ofncials dtd endangerthe
Han emperors,and rcsentment toward cultural and poⅡ tlcal centraIlzatIOn dld
sur昆∝ But there ls httle evldence that any° fthesc ambkious rcbels en"sloned a
58 JVl,l口 日”'CJij″
n
tlle蚯 i丘 in Rome,钉 om an ollgarchic governmcnt b孙 ed on the rights of elites to
deodc alld dok clut punohmen‘ to a monaK,lntent on assenn81ts nght to
denne crime and锱 sign remedles e“ her Personal″ °r through state controned
courts,constituted a far more se:ious psrhological brcal.with由 e past than the
Qln centrallzatlon Under thc Reptlbl● t,except for hehotIs Crimes such as Parriˉ
cide or acts that harmed lhe publk wc1farc,cit仡 ens could declde when ω invoke
theldw and were c斤 pccted to use pris/ate means to cnfoKe dccisions Bau而 an
asscsscs the shi丘 in ho趾udy ofcrimlnalla叽“W、 cn Augustus founded the P“ n
cipate in27Bc hec-e。 ted thc cond,tlons佰 r as profound a change in crimiˉ
n缸 丿t·stItC as h aW other sphet of go、 nernment and sock¢ ” Bo:kol1.skl In a
textbook on Roman law de丘 nes deady why th`change ma∮ cred,although k ls
unportant to rcmC”ber that°nly graduany was lhe佰 rmuIarJ system Fplaced∶“VirtuauyallaspcctsofClVⅡ Procedurewerenownrllu,· in the hands ofthe state,
and sublcctto hcIeaslng1y detancd regulatlon,as has tended to occurin modern
lcgal sy仗 ems The old s阝 馋m,compHsing a prelimina吖 hear血 g and钆 Ⅱ trlal,
was aband° ned The casc now consistcd of a cognitIOn an mvcstlgatlon by the
mag:state,Who Conducted the whoIc toal and made the decislon hΙ mscIF⒛
this Ieference to modern叩 stcms and the reach ofthe statc must bc quahˉ
ned B。th。 Ⅱ and criminal proccsscs h Roman impeⅡ al courts werc ulitiated
by lhc ci“ zen,although the du〃 of the prclvInclal g° vernor to lteeP order and
hunt down scrioⅡ s C“ minals also cnabled prosecu刂 on¨r.a洫 thc hnlcti。 n
ofsummaryjustice by the statc Cogn"ion,whlth orIginated as thc process of
ad丿 udic··u。 nc。 nducted by Proˇ incial g° vernors,Was gradually e双 endcd to the
0〃 of Rome咕 eli Therc rcpublkan trlals盱 ju叩 ceased lo£ iΙ nct】 on(adul佗 ry
was probab灯 the h$t to叩 ,ea巾 h the thtd centur/cE)and ju。 sdict】 on bv
∞gnki° n was contentmted in the o猕 ce ofthe urban p诏 妇ct of dle ci9of ROme
XVhⅡe statuto〃 叩ldan¢ was Provided°n penakies and punishments,山 is was
graduauy sub爬 rted ovcr庄 mc by nlPehal modincatl。 ns。 f thC systcm,whlch
were thensel△·6responses to Court deClsio∏ s,made ul hⅡ e with changed conwn-
tIOns m pun芯 hmcnt m Thc incrcascd勹 udkIal savage叩”ofthe ROman Emplre
血hte andqui〃 should therclore be seen as caused not only by impenaI丘 at,but
also by decisi° ns oflocaljudges and cour‘ lnlhc w1th sooal cxpectatlons’ :
2 LAw AND DIscRE丁I0N
%citus,promulent欲 atesman and staunch beⅡ c、艹i(:r ln the spadan values of the
mrls· ReI ubllt,.e胛 rded qtl即 sms as a shrcxvd poh“ 0an who ended dissen讧 on
Lnw四 nd P“ ″o”″I臼
"″!r乃 BF° r″四r氵 o"oFE冖 Pi″ ’
trlllv plura"stlc poh卟 The uni△ ·ersal emperorship was lhe prizc,and asIatcr hi⒌
tor,has shown,rebds manipula1ed Han symbo‘ and insdtu“ ons lo lcgiumate
lhck own conques‘ No altemati屺 p。
"ticaIlorms emerged out of ChLla、
das-
“cal cra Ⅱ had llapPened ln Crecc,and b,· the四 pu⒍lcan cra h Rome,monˉ
archy wa‘ ∞ler荻ed as a temporarv cxped碴 nt h Ksl,onse lo a pcr⒗ d ofintern斌
con钆ct that threatened the【 rv exlstenCe ofthe Repubhc ltls lnteresung f。 r the
historian of China to n° 1e that some contcmp° lar·es regarded Ju1ius Caesar、
n。 ttCⅢ ptlo extend ho d1。 tatoⅡ hP bC汐 io the c““s that丿 usdned k with thcsaⅢ e
mLx of awe and hatred that grceted the undeniaDle accomPlishments° fChha‘
Ftrst EmPero己 ln ho study of Roman le甲 l and constitut⒗ ∏al hlstoru Kunkl
oudines、 hc prouemslaced by Caeso。 r、 su∝ essof⒌
玑 e creator of the Roman monarchy was faced with the gras· e task of
reconciling his s⒒ ua“ on in的 me more or less sads佰 ctorv way with the
traditlons of岱 e rcpubhcan penod a∏ d with the repubhcan° utlook oR at
any rate,岱 e kadIng secdons ofthe Roman clt△ zen bod`Ⅱ was lIl deaIing
w"h these impalpable th1ngs that Caesar had昆 ncd when,with his usual
consistcΠ t△,he elltcrcd upon a course of action which must hav· c kd
forthwith to an unamblguoudy m° narchicaI orde⒈ 、Varncd by the fauure
°fh。 ad° Ptive hthe厶 Augustu5now sought and round the soludon of
ho ProblcⅢ in a pccuⅡ ar coⅢ Promise¨ seen from the standPoInt of
formal constitutlonal hw,the new order(28-27BC)seemed e却 ressˇ
and ceremonious灯 to restore the Repub"c whlch had bccn shakcn to ks
founda“ ons in thc turbuknce ofthc last centurv B c⋯ Tllc nesvl,· orgaˉ
n汔 cd republican c° nstitudon bestowcd indced upon thc beaFr of the
monarchical power a wh° le se"es of ftlncttons° f the greatest pol订 lcal
0即⒗cance Au叩 stu“ crgltlon can be underst∞ d,theⅡ foK,onˇ as
a狗 Ke standing outslde lbe rePub"ca∏ order,whose晌 carlon oftrust was
to supp° rt and supp1ementit咚
Kllnkcl points。 ut that R° man emPer° rs were Charged with ma1ntain:ng° rder
but hindered by a lega1and c。 ns⒒ tutionaΙ legac/that was in lact not suitabIe for
the task of go△/erning an emPlrc
Desptte the contln讧 ng e蛀stence of republican institu“ ons and values,
Augustus、 gradual assumPtIOn of c° ntrol ol/er aⅡ aspcct5°fC"“ and mil:ta吖
matters o regarded lll Roman hotooography as a rc1· oIu刂°nary deparulre iom
theIdeak ofthe RepubⅡ c How mu山 J,c Roman prhcIp欲 c仃 uly markcd a ncw
form of8° vernment continues to be debated,just as hotoria,ls° f Clllna d、 agKc
abotIt the c,xteilt0f the diIference bebveen tlle latc VVarring statcs kΠ gdoms andthe QlIl and Han imP甲 lal s泠 tems Bu1丘 om a compara",cΙ °ok,⒒ seems that
go° d丿udge mdler than black ktter hw、 For premodem statc buⅡ ders,dle realI~
d6屺疋mole comueX吣 cause they dld n∝ e”呷 thc lu× u,of a“町ψ kgdsVstcm in由e nrst Place氵 N° modern thinker has stated lhe dⅡ emma more doquendv由 an.Xtul升 ℃ a,。
·s cannotstand a⒗ nc⋯ br when thcy ar lmPlcnlenⅡ db/the right pcrson thcy sur,ive butifncgkcted lhcy dIsappcar La· ,o ule baso
br good gox/emment but由 c suPcrior man o the baso幻 r la⒕ s° wh∞ therc芯
a supei° r man,the law c浓 n fsparse,wiIl cover any s,tunt° n,but whcn由 ere is
嚣黻 坩 u,苷lIl:茫 抚 :∶|氵 i;Ⅰ∶∶l∶;l:皙 :毖岁%硼
^lelthσ卯砂”。汕
PIutarch`desc。 Pu° n of lbe actlv· ities of the lded1alvmakes s° lon,modlnesArlstotle’ s famous dictum thattllelaws must g。 仰rn the magist.ates ofsol° n heψrites aPprovingly:“ 【t。 said that he w孙 obscure a∏d amblguous h曲 cM"d~ing of h必 坛ws,°Π Purpose to increase dle h° n°r° fho c。 urts for since thcIr
dlfFerenc6c° ulkI not be adlust辽 d by the letter th叩 w。 uld hax/c lo brlng。 ll thelr
causcs to thc Jlld莎 ,wh° thus were in a manner masters。 f the laws`汐 ChineseConfilctans wou1d have agrced w大 h tho Portrait oFthc ide缸 lawgive巧 but with
(d154B c E λ forexamPIe,enjo,ed imperial pat∞ nagc tor h:s lo,al〃 fo the Liu
dan and kno谰 ed扩 of thc canonical εoo攵 ∝D°αI″εⅡ‘bLlt C1· enmauy earned
由e hatKd of ol/al o铄 oa1s and Ille teⅡ ito“ al⒗ ngs aIter subⅢ kting tr.ir9nCs△
s1atutcs to thc1a、Is and was ordercd to be e故 cuted in hls court robes in tlle ma⒈
ketplace4:Ho tate was not unusua⒈ 仔om tbe0me of shang Yang through the
Han,thc act oftampcring w"h thc laws onen br。 ugh1a"oIcnt end to the ncn
who dared undcrtake the task
this con贫 Ⅳati收 stancc toward a"ering the Ialv renects what puett caIIs the“ambl·/alcnce of creation” that character立 ed late dassltal thlIkng$Change,as
‘田wn″
'p〃
″氵珈″e lr宀 :砒¢por〃夕Ⅱo″ o,Fε 抑彡沼 旬
dle etlec“ c texts W订 h a Daolst slant con始 nded,alwals carrIed unforeseen dan
gers Laws were Changed ofcourse,buta d∞ P attachnlcIlt to“ thC Ialvs ofold” and
rductkln¢ to lInk llllers wi山 1eg“ ati。 nm孙 lxs thc records of thc actual Proc吣
of retofm,sfe do know山 at zhang%ng collected NArlIdI、 declsl° ns to be used as
Precedents in later cases but havc no evidence of h° w Partictdaf statutes anected
decisions^t lvo瓜 o what Hcn〃 Maine caⅡ 召d thc“ 忆gal丘 ction;’ h wh:ch newlaws were cons"ucted acLOrdlllg to the n,/th that tllc,simPˇ reh的 Ked tra由 -
‘onal values"Ban Cu,h hls treadse on punlshmcIltsin thc F勋 JIsllI‘ ,nea刂 y outˉ
uned h。 w tlle need to formulate w° rlvabk laws whik remainIn8true t。 trad"ion
worked ou△ “I wiⅡ PrcscIlt what has happc【 d slnce the Han arose-to sh【 ,w
how tlle la· ,s and regulauons have been nxed t。 c° nform with antlqtIl〃 Nenthough changed⒃ su“ the prcsent age∶
’‘;In early△ △Pcrial Chha,where pubIiclaw ne趵 r comPlete″ rePl谷 ced danlaw and mⅡ
"ary law,so too in the t【
an“ tlon
to empire h ROme,由 c process° f insdtlltio∏ alizing the magotrate、 courts and
曲e rok ofthe emperor h tglsladve and judklal afldis procceded slosvly Bv IJle
reign of Thetld° sius(37⒐ 455CE),especkⅡ y in the eastern half of the empire,
hw became more bureaucratlzed and lcss dePendcnt° ∏uie cmperors’ dlreLt
uivolvcment茹 llle day-to day bllsuiess of decldhg Iaws aⅡ d punohments In
Rome asln China,massIxe and orga血 zcd codlnm刂 on。 f the1axvs began only
after a Pcrlod° f crisi⒌ dl,Isi° n beovcen thc eastern and Wcstern empires ln
Rome,and由 c fau of Han and ensuing Period ofdlsunlon ln Chna
Thc hIs∞ ry otthe rogn of Jle third Han cmpero马 meIldl← 18lr⒖ 7:cE),。Particularˇ oLh wkh accounts abotlt wranglIIlg besveen the empcror and
court o伍 cials° v·er细 ndamental osues of g° l/ernanCe,】om how to ba】 ance the
Lntcrests of the imperial familv again哎 the necds° f dle state to de佥ning the role
of山 e cmpemr in rcIIgIOlls rites and legal dccisiol.s⒗ vVelldl had no need to
jusu印 his attentio∏ to hˇ”since llle fou∏ der、 promise fo mi0gate thc harsh lali· s
。f Qin ProvidCd a mandate thatlale【 eⅢ perors were requircd to hon° ェBudaxi·
Was not hls only concern:tcnsion withll the imperial clan for faxors and terri
toΓ”succession P⑩ bkms,an u“ tabk钸 ntIes。 nd the need to establlsh a v该 bkhstituti。 nal and otualapparatus consonant Wi由 ho Positlon as head° fstate aⅡ
demmded a仗 ention
What o lIltcres刂 ngin tbc Chinese case o” st h°w many men° fabdi〃 bclle,ed
that thc good。 f由 e state must take precedence o昭 r the llltcrest of rulers and
Ihe】 r kln and wh° then rose lo the dangerol】 s chaⅡenge】 n one艮 mo刂 s Passa纩
lncluded ln the histories,v0Jendl‘ intrePid rf,Ig〃ejtCommandant ofJusticel,tlle
hlghesdalv o荫 cer in thc realm,ar“ cltlated ho v芯 lo∏ of the relaton betv△ ·een dle
64 RD`氵 】召n″dC乃”l‘ l
cmperor and the hw whcn佰 rced by lhe emperor to justis/his decision to nne
a∞ mmoner,wh° had ignored an order to dear tlle way⒗ r the impeoal entou
rage Vsnlen the irdte emPeror protested the1ight sentepce,乙 ang shizhisct rorth
ho。 wn resPonslbnitie⒏“The冖″蛩 o o the one wh。 m“ ntahs balance血 thc
lvorld孔 al1ow四 en one dcvlation in the laws would muse them to no longer be
taken seriously^Jd then how would thc pcople kjnow how to behavc:’’He、vent
on h dai印 thc ruler、 po“廿on within the k钾 1sYstem∶“Thclaw mustbc uphdd
by the s。 n of Hc狎en and ho peopk dlke and th。 内the penal〃 prescribed by
la、¢’zhang admltted that r the cmperor had ordered tllc man executcd on the
sPot,that、 vould have bcen the end ofit B,t once the busincss of as“ gning thc
CorreCt punishmcnt entcrcd his ptlrvieˇ 6he was bound lo uphdd his duOy to
m击 nt前 n imparti碰 iγ MoreoveⅡ he threatc∏ ed“ If(the Punishncn刂 were made
heavie【 in tho case,the pe。 Pk would no longer trust the laws May I ask thcEmperor to consider thesc consequenccsF、 ~℃ ndl concedCd“ The scntence/ou
decided matches卜 he σimel” 氵
4 THF CRiTIcs
Thc most obvious critics ln the吱 dy R° man EmPte wcre assooated W大 h the
StOk schoo1ˇ △en Ner。 at使mPted t° denect a m。收 to IesWrect″子缸ε‘抑‘
(tfeason)as a punishable° fense,the stoic,Thrasea,oPPosCd thc dcath Pcn-
alt,,not on纩 ounds ofc【 emen,9but to guard Iegah饣 y The cmperor、 motⅣ e
seemed to ha`ˇ ‘〈:been to galn credit for himsdi of tlie re“ stance of Thrasca,
Bauman w⒒ tc⒊“It w小 aΙso a reaction against thc idca that demcncy was the
sl’ e0al prerogatWe ofthe heredkary monarchy that the1uⅡo-Claudian dynas,
had become To those stoics who disliked tllat s° rt ofrlller in prinoPle,the`咽6we【e the one sure shidd aga妄 nst o/ranΠ y” 4‘
X/。 yne has claimed tllat Ll e stoics
ser,ed as Rome’ s PrOtobureauCrats be iluse° ftheir d诒 daln for tlle cult of Pcr-
s。 naliγ and c° mm迁 mentto a rule b。 und legal wstem i° But whik indtvidual
6gures assooated with thc slok st hool did,at times,Challenge impe"al po、 ve巧
tlonaI,and thcy were mole devoted to fePubhcan values than the securir/ofthc
impe“ al apparat ls
It o onˇ later,孙 a burcaucracy began to del/elon that an ins伍 ncc simiIar on
the抛 rfa∝ Io zhang shizhI、 showdown with Wendi appea6,犰 trlc wrItlng of
the tourth century Roman h诒 torian^mmianus~1aKeninus w△ en thc EmPeror
%knunian l lv· ho was well kIlown钇 r ho aP。 plectic hts sshcn c∞ ssed-
‘nw田″'p″
″汕″昭″f切 而F Fc· ″″nf氵D″ o,FE/,lpirc 钙
Iearned that certain R。 man senators had Ksorted to mag1c and reh争 ous inⅥ Dca“on Potendally harmftIl t° ho Posidon,hc° rclered the harshest Punishments
aPpIied under a generalruLng that au such crimes be dassi盘 ed as treas。 n,wi1hs钉⒑Ⅱ ConseqtIences,as^mm血ⅡK∞ rJ¢
`△
whom thejustlce“ lhe anoent
‰F扰r岁::l】∶,盯雀I:崽;募:〖:∶翌衷rFi捃 :l屏蒜扌Ι
菠礴獠弼耳搬撰:巫苎鞲撒ri
p岱坩:廴 :∶扌:∶tj∶∶找:托吝且蕊l錾百rc器:盟措廴,s茹t
揞1描暇品生髁掖P呜k北m岫 epeal ofth∝ md妯α
劈雀嚣翁j摞11fu憾毖:蜡:m∶飧j鹫 :∶:f::∶ TⅠ;f:糯
藜鹫蝌:踯瓒萋Ⅰ錾I擀黑×lJ∶∶∶∶棠γ梦:扌絮蕊报F泺:∶氵:∶ l∶ l∶崽氨&莒絮l
t罗蓦紧搌袈絮茗gldIf帚宵:△:∶昭孟:ri;】 II1∶∶Ⅰ夏F甘:I
蓝茗:i:鞋礴蕊扭彀萎晏弼鞲黏骣夺鹭蘖碱蹲瓒要鞲蚺鳙 ~
蕙襻槲峭槲槲趸
66 Ro″ ig'河d, ∶氵I四
Thc αc加ated materials from the Q】 n aⅡd Han per⒗ds∞n钉m thatthe hls
tooans严 eoCcuPa‘ on lsqth the rda“ 。n bcbvcen monarch· rand hw was matched
by thc g。 vernment’ s attendon to admIni钲 ering the emPlre acCordhg to law In
the nnal an急 l阝is,howeve6the∞ dcs Kvcal tne worrics of由 c statc radlcr than
how Lhelaws wcK【 tuauy imp1Cmcntcd,and thc historians’ narrativcs of events
offcr our best guidc for砥 wing how ldc耐s mcshcd with ralitics_f only hom
a hrnited vmta墅 As0n Robins° n has noted in her studv of penal pollcies
h。 r tlellt ROme,℃ ur sources盯 e too h而 teQ,oo partial,for ar,yo” c吐 l,。 ,
statistkally valid,recognition of attitudes PcrhaPs,howcver,thi$is a positⅡ e
炙ature Ⅵ沦have snaPsho‘ of a仗 itudes t° sPCcinc events By de丘 nitlon,our
re● orded Cases ar unusualin them贸 1ves° ther,△ lse they wollld not have becn
reCorded They do not paint a uni钇 rm pkture,but dley a四 strnung becau贸
tlley Fpre鸵ntsomcthing of纩 eatimportanCe to伍 eir rocolder5” 弱E`叼 n thc Han
hotorians,who workd under the dirett gaze of aut° cratIt rtJle‘ ,betray q讧 te
wcu their atutudes t° ward law and P° we⒈ s1ma Q弦 n and hls rather created a
⒍agmcntcd narratiw about the lau of Qlll a爪 d the rise o+Han,but the hlstor/
is c°ns1ructed jn part as a messa挛 that the佰 dcd P。 Iicles of the QiⅡ regime
shouId sen/e孙 a warlllng lo Han cmperors wh° planned lo fouow ln虹 s path
sima QIan’ s doub1s ab。 ut tlie k昏 tnlacy of the dynas〃 he se、歃,mu·Jlation
on、乃Ιdi’s ofders,terrible experiences in P“son,and resentmcnt lllat a man of
his po钫 tlon be m妍ccted lo bodⅡ y harm a∝。unt lor some of ule ambivdlence
about the Dle。 f【a,v that surfa∝ s through。 ut曲e lext Hls biograPhies of the“harsh onloals” wh° ser⒕d、乃Jalrekcrate the C° nItlcian∞ nvic“ on that mcn of
sound moralconduct wiⅡ never go Wrong no mattcr what由 cir posItlon and that
h、vs and pun芯 hments° nIy encour,lgc htigiousness among the common PCoPle
Some sectIOns d∝ 叩 thC harsh appⅡ tatlon of1a叽 btlt°tller pas煲 旷s adnit曲 at
。fncia1s fa∝ d a hard fa酞 lil admlilotcring laws to keeP the common Peoue in
Ⅱne and acknowledgc lre need tor law∶ “Laws are made to guide the people arjd
pu血 shⅢents are imPlemented to p【 event evⅡ Iflhe mardal and clv/Ⅱ elements
are not in ba1· dnce,even law abidlng pe。 plc w迎 be ner· ous about爬 ma∶ning
stead昆 st‰ The H夕 ,is凡 〃,c° mposed nearˇ bso∝ ntuies late马 whe∏ the d△Tas〃
had suⅣ 加ed an htcrregnum,the thKat oflarge landh。 Iding fam且iesloomed to
encd,l,。 s no less pre° ccupied widl h叽 and,in fact,Ban Gu(32-92cE)added
a treatise。 n the dcwlopmeqt of1岱 v rr° m anoent timCs to h芯 hotorr B吼 h11ne with the times,tl,c la∝ r historian dispIa,sa佰 rm° re tolerant stanα toWard
halsh punishments than tlle sima famiIy,despite hls C° n血 cian leanings In Ban
crs vc【 si。n of the oⅡ gins ofstate砬°lcnce,thesage klngs made叩 od use ofla。 ls
and Punohments,ratller than virtue and岔 Fmp1aIˉ ,`conduct,to ensure orde△
∠`wt·
·'Pll·
o幻`″
ε″r,,rl e Fo″ ″nrir,ll∝乃″PI〃 ¢
The hfe and tiⅢ es° f^mmianus Marceuinus are better d。 cumc「 ted than thc。ady Han A Gr~。 ek r.om lbe oty° f^nt⒗ ch,a mi1itary staIf oilces a nrst hand
w止ness to war and pcrsecuti°n,JJllmianus ad。 pted the per” ect加 e°fsome° ne
潴:龙 ;∶l窝楹1∶1;:群 jI;茹:I扳寥踯 崽找 、∶3;:∶ :
黪锪禹槲
∶铲:留摺:∶埭,∶∶∶II翟t擒点F贯i找茁黯漱掖 Jλdurlilg fhe RePubhc was曲 c practke of allowhg otizcns。 f sufn0ent从 a。us wh°
梗 淄 蓝 垒 孑簟 辍 i莨l∶鞲 燕 妾 斟 蹒clite、 ,oⅡies that status w° uId no lon旷 rsene凼 a Protec讧 o∏ tom dishonorablc
casugated the Qin regime for auowing Petty la、 vs to prol1|erate and lor faning
t0C0ntrol the Ⅲagistratps,who“ took adA/antage of tlc numcrous,conhJ“ ng
l小烬 to make lile and de破 h deci从 o ns accor献 ng to their。 wn wanton hghfsJ’ 注
Q梳 and Han emperors c° n钉onted a dangcrous dilcmma on thc onc hand lhcy
$pted t。 centrah⒛ a"rel馆 ious actl,i"es in thc订 own。 砾ce血 o记er to Pre· ent
competing local cuks ε。m chaⅡ engng th。 r dom血 ance;but on the otbcr thcy
look upon themsel/es the⑽ le bIame· sllen imb引 anccs resLlted in“ g灬 ofHeav
Cnˇ disapproval Jia Yi(20l169BcE)warned the ru】 er who uscd his powcr
to punoh t° 煦us印 per∞ nal grudgcs that he would h tlrn become thc oⅡcct
°f vengeanc⒏“r the punishment o approp“ ate for the crime,you can Punlsh
manv peoPle with。 ut bcing,lt佰 ult r the punishmcnt is not right and you kI⒒
or,e perω n[not1iable lor c“m司 ” lr c“ me sln Derˉ p。ned ω hlgk丈 HeavenrpJid Heaven、 ,ould Kspond w止 h signs tb扯 eveΠ one in the empire could read∶“oPPre$ive laws and ordnancessdmulate plagu岱 ofinsects and乩 rthcrⅢ°rc if
theinnoccnt aF Putto dmth,the country wⅡ l dry up ln drtlught`’ ‘x
0nc ofthe Roman cas~。 s ln,【 llvlng punohment on a llrge scde tnat seems to
№ve cfealed unease ln Nero、 ro钾 re淘ked around the mLlrdeⅡ 盱 ah。 tlserloltl
slaYe`ofthe U此 an Pre‘ l:ct,Pedanius secundus The triahnvol、`〈
:d au f。 ur hundred
nembers ofh、 h° usehold,lndudlng ho d~es,who could be tortured and pu1to
de扯h as accomph∝ s,no ma吐 er what lheir individual role】 ltlle cnme cas“ us,
a“hald hn矿 stoic,acc° rding to Bauman,agreed th改 somesh,· es might be losal
tOo igΠ oIant to ralize the箩 dir,of thelr actlons,and that lhc ot.oab were
not Capabk of dothguohing talse⒍ om accurate Kpo【 岱 E△ en Roman cmPerors
wi由 a犯 putatlon允 r excess,Caligula and Nero,for example,displayed a lenicllt
attitudc tσ vard Posslbk cases of tre。 son More subt1e methods conveyed dte
mes弘 ge that by rc丘 ainulg to。 roer dea伍 ,utc emPcr。 rimp1icltjy daimed the
“ght to takc hfe,as Valentinian dcverˇ reⅢ hdcd the senate a夤 er agreeIng to
acquittals in treas。 n case⒌‘扒 pardon,consC0pt fathers,bran祗 those persons
whom it ffee⒐ kd。cs not佗 ke awav theinfamy of σime but铲 aΠ ts remisslon° f
puΠ ishment孙 a falo⒈ In tlhe case of one of b· fo aCCu缒 d persons,dl芯 may bc the
right c。 u‘ c He who Pa【 dons the senate condemns the senate|’ 7‘
ln the earΙ y em∮ re,pgr,,″ d`氵 o,the。 ld term that aPPlled to an act伍 at threa1~
ened t△,e wdI being of tle c。 mmu血 t,aBd could血 clude milita,lnc°mpetcnCe or treaChe叩 as we11as omcial h“ al momanagement,Was mcrgcd with the
notIOn that treason Could apply to acts tbat damaged由 e greatness,″“i饣s忉‘,of由e Roman Peoue户 £cording to Garnse” when tne wellare and dignis· of the
emPcror mirrord the healtb ofthe斑 破e,no Ⅱm"se⒗sted to determine how
treason might be construed;i Atthe dme,sencca beli四 ed"posslble to dist血 -
guoh bebˇ een Crim笛 th,lt tru⒈ threatened the pubhcinterestand σimes agahst
the empero巧 which in fact mercly o∏ Vnded°ne man、 digniγ∶“《ngs should
°nˇ put peoplc to death when they are saus6ed that it is lll曲 e pubΙic intercst,
lor brutaIity悠 for0rants” =唇 But as Har“ es points out,由 e pr。bIem.ested in
dennhg what copstituted dle pubhcinterest whcn court p° htics all foo o盘 en kd
to charges made「 or p。 liticaI gain rather than to protect the emperors and their
authori0Harri6dcscrlb6hoW the ambiguous【 egacz ofthe republican n。 tlon
of trcas。 n led to abusc undcrthe emp订 c∶
`~、iΙ e the securi〃 ofthe empir。 was
not h缸α at risk flom outsidc e∏ emies,the apphcati。 n° fthc p召 石dΙ¢J′讠口血屺r
pret,ltlon oftreason mattercd lcss dlan伍 e emPeror`(and his c° urtiers’ )obses-
slon With ho(a∏ d their。 wn)securiγ and铗atus”’
In China,clites had htde to lose in the订 ansidon f|om the vs/arring states t°
cmpi芷 Thc early phⅡ 。‘°phical trca“ ses that callcd for vonsistenq h punish-
ments did limelo temperthe bruta【 ,nast,,and sh。 i⒒ ves ofa、、ne who attracted
the displeasuK。 fthe strongmen who ruled w汪hout any nccd io lcgltimate theIr
deoslons By Han讧 mes,。nCe thc Liu dynasb/estabhshed⒒ ser岱 Iegitimate,
淡was its foundes prccedents,and弪 mples,否 weH as reigning empσ°rs,that
72 R口 ″IcnⅡ d C乃 冖Ⅰd
鼽 踯
灿 叼 ″dP“ 赫 ”
`″
召汀氵冖i Flle FOn″ 耐 o″ ofε″ΨJrg 乃
nount a vendett,i againstthe Liu famny、 ℃td煜 spik Mrendi`eloqucnt aIgumcnt
against collecti,· 。punishments,We knosˇ fr°m the Han hoto“ caI sourc6that
punohing thc rdatives of tllc criminal co ltlllued Moreove鸟 thC Qln and Han
passlon⒗ r standardi祀 tIOn did not apPly to coll∝ u,e Punishments as LeWo
shows,the members of tlle descent group implicated h such punlshmcnt varˉ
led ρ It is possible that VVendΛ vtry sttldled attempts to us~。 his atlthoric,for
seemin献y bentgn rasons When he advocated Pliminaung tl.e collectiw punohˉ
me"s Constituted“ euergetismr as Paul、`爸
”e has desσ lbed the freely ofiered
bene俗 cttoⅡ that o∏ 灯a忙ader with e“ ess powcr can o0e⒈:Btlt as the mⅡ y
a∝ ouj ts0f punohment apphed sometimc$without"iahn the h芯 to"es and
heaW per,al〃 for a comⅢ oper’ s llle丘 ol a jadc ring attcst,when the iⅢ Pcrid
。utho“ o,w孙 thFatened,the emperor became a ru山 less ad旧 cate ofthe harsi
est Penal艹 The case oF the major Han thinker Dong zhongshu is instructl,e,
佰r hc exPcriCn∝ dh抬 undcr a O/Iant Who both rearcd and needed thc support
of in1dlectua1s11ke himse1ξ and he oPerated on both“ dcs of thc la叽 g·/ing
adx/ke about doubtmll鸲扭cases when callcd upon and su“ Vring improonmellt
when tlle emPelor sllspec弪 d him of using his蚰 owled$about dlc connectlons
beO· cen thc physical and natural、norld to start a丘re ln曲c ancestraltemple小 沮d
f Gary Arbuc妊 e’s狂gument伍 at Dong wasindeed capab抬 of trc孙 on o corrCt,
the cmperor had good KasoR tO suspect· dlls man,who ma「 Ipulated ldeas abo△ t
thc qdcs of hotory to Place a kosmolo∮ ca1death sentenCe on thC ruΙ c of the
Llu clan氵’:ArbucⅪ e sug旷 sts that Dong had himser in mind西 tbc rounder of
a new dyη ast冫 、△atever Dong zhon鲈 h矿 s motlx· cs might haw bcen,the most
eIfectivc mcans to destr° y thc dynas,was n° tt° move again纹 t虹e cmPer。 r but
lo dcmonstrate that tl△ e elaborate symbols lhat suPP° rkd the dynasty`righ1to
ru【 e no longα rmained vlable
冫 B0D】 LΥ HARM
ln`Varring States China,despik the mlth tllat“ the mdtⅡ atlng punohmcnts do
not app″ tO thc superIOr peoplc,” in fact,e1ites e” o/Cd n° le轳 l protectlon佥omthe harshest ptlnohments Ⅱ was n⒍ ollly ltllels vvllo attcd arbltlalⅡ y;ma呷
tdlcs in the的 urc$sllow h。w men oflikc status harmed° ne another With crc-
aur rieth。 ds-b°i1ing dir was one tcChnique that enjoved a certaln p° puIar-
i旷 s Han emPcr° rs dld not havc to contend with a dass ofpcoPlc wh° Cxpcctcd
scr,itude apPear on the books'"Ban GCs expositlon on Iaw and punohment
betra阝 a rar m。 re tolefant att"ude toward severir,than carliσ Han write^Hls
aCCount of a debate about punobment in Jingdl、 reign(157-141BCE)shoWs
the empcror and ho oHloals盯 guIng over the Preose number of s△ Iokcs and
whcrc bcat血 g sllodd陕 aP丬诒d on the“雨 nd bOdl/wIth伍e em晖 ror∞ ⒈
dudingrThe basunad。 。the mea“ io lcath them Therelore regu妇 te the si贺
of rhe stick∶’ltiδ hard to know how much this passa吕 e renects h。 to“ ca1reality
and how much the sterner at“ tude taken by the emperor serYes Ban Gu、 own
behef曲 at harsh Punohmen‘ must be legltimatcd BLlt the argument tnat bodllV
harm can be rationalized by advocating for care缸 uy mcasuring ks app⒒ cadon
points to the da∏ ger of as$ociating bureaucratlzatlon With humane punishˉ
meIl岱 ValL6甾 sochted with W曲 erian“ ratIOn汕 t’ Ⅲch as u血 tormi“ dari艹
‘mˇ 四″〃P″ 〃沁儿`″
″ l,扌乃e助 r`丿 7nr氵 tl· 矿 E·氵Pz〃 Bl
and standardizatlon,did at"Ines Prclvide rritics with rhet° 。cd ammunitton t。
揣n∶
崔撒黥呈E糨:,揣 lj∶ l∶;l挠i捻拧抖摁t
群盯膦瑙舞Ⅰ茁器瑛:;iii∶遐:l弼屦ofru【 ers and their amb沁 ious灶n dId attim6Ⅱ anage to hnuencc detislons,but
incvkabl” emperors b∝ ame cnδ conccd in the p。
"0ts°f the“inner court” and
cent"乩 gal for∝ s。verrOde the inΠ ue∏cc° fthe burtaucrats⒓
汝t lhe blueprint⒗ r balanong pat“ monial and bureaucrauC血 terests crcated
du^ng the ear灯 Han llled on and° 涣rcd a汶 h source钇 r heroniodsand rd~ers to Cau up。 nt。 supp° rt their proposak and deo∮ 。ns F° r example,XxJcIldi、
幺mous ofncia1zhang Sh” 1w孙 at tim钋 celcbrated by lat,。 r re佰 rmcrs For hoabih″ to witltstand impclial Prcssure and by° thers cas“ gated br sξ 饺ing a danˉ
gcrous P四 cedent when in由 e case。 fthc commoner who startIed the cmper。 r、
hors6hc c。 nceded t。 lhe emperorthc rjghtto have tle Po。 r wrPtch c× ctuted on
tlle sPot” The sciptthat oudincd the rulcr、 duties to the Iegalsystem continˇ
ued to be drawn uPon,and Han act。^Provlded a rich and c°
ntraddory乩 nd° f
Pr“ edCnt户血crthe dcmoe。fthc Han,ewn non Chinese ruΙ e.s tn"iated the订
reigns by° rde访 ng thc饣 offloa‘ to re“ sc thc codes/"and worricd about their
respon“ bnir,⒗ r cap1a1pu汛 shment Jonathan Spence oH诒 rs a wry accesslblc
each man c° ndemned to death,and thc reason for whth thc death penal呼 hadbcen givon Then【 wo谜d check through the hst ag缸 n with the Grand secretanes
and tleir sta仟 and we w° uld deCidc who might be spared?’ ⒖H° w much tl,e
written laxts might afect th舔 e decl。 i。 ns made at dletop dependcd on山 c∞ rt° f
message tlie emPer° r wanted to convey and the politicalimplicatiOns。 fthe casc
0ver the coursc° fthc t,v·o thousand ra阝 that the imperiaI system managed to
survive,atthe top emper。 rs P1ayed tllelr roIes°ut as Parental ngu犯 s,wlllch Ie昏 t
imated se,c⒒〃when necessary and bcncvoIento when αpedent"‘ Atthel° lver
lel/eIs,ma昏 stratCs,trained in the C。 nnlclan dassks rather than Iav‘ 培nored° r
manipulated the Ietter° fthe la△ v as necessary to keep° rder and mah扭 h theirp。sitions The c。 ntemp。 rarY legal reformer and scholar Hc Wufang c。 mParesEnglish c° mm° n law with impeoal ChineseIavⅡ c° ndudlng thattlle dottine Of
s沏沼″艮。。neve.ˉ look hold ll China,where thejudge“ $neraⅡ y prcached a1lhe
82 Ro7,】 en冖 ll C`冫订m
par“ es or rep/oaChed them ethicaⅡ y,quoted° r dld not quotc the law artic1es,
and曲 cn rcndercd ajudgmcntto the doptlte Hc did notattcmptto est,lblish any
Iegal princlplcs to be bllowed by later judges丬 ΓC° n乩 c妇n△raLled judg6had
little need to challenge the s,stem,which provided tllem with salaoes,bene缸 s,
and st。t,ls Moreol/eⅡ a命ertbe Han,the Con钆 cian famⅡy hierarchy was backed
bylaw wlth bene丘 ttoward patriarchs and tcⅡ ibk costs for womcn and youth
Finauy,whne chincsc dIeori$ts durhg饣 hc Han wo,ked丘 om thc锱sumption
dlat aⅡ humans operatcd wtthll a∞ mmon moral univcrse,in ract,th这 r epo-
temologkal assumptlons ab° LIt human naⅡ rc remained n盯 rowcr也 an ulose
that Prv。iled in Greece and Rome Truc,C∶ cero、 Yi“ on of lllc“ rcasonable ma矿
who could participate h poliucallile斌 、 connned t。 a small gr。 up of ProPerf,
owning residcn钅 s ofa smau ciγ statc But oWr omc a morc exPans"e id田 of
par、icipa“ 。n dcYeloped that lormed tl.e basis br an independentjudiciary at
the higher忆 x/e‘ of go1·crnancc and tnal by a丿 u,°f pCers at tbe lomllc【 1As
He、Ⅵei昆 ng laments,“ The EngⅡsh Practicc ofle吐ing Ⅲitcrate common PeoPIe
take part dlrecdy in” dIcia〃 activities through thejury syskm w。 s unthinkabIe
h tradlt⒗ nd Chlna尸 路Bmman copdu洳 s ho stuψ “ crbile and punlshment
in Rome by d∝ laring∶¢It was not by aCcident由 at tlle crimlllal l孙 v mosed out
on the a∝ olade that greeted i‘ pr11,ate counterpart oⅡ r thc long centuries fo⒈
⒗l,△ng the raIl of ROme∶ "⒚ 蚰 d yet,孙 Is"由 c past and present,thc pcrsotcn∝
of rcpublican ldm‘ abou攵 pIOceduraljⅡ uce lc太 a positi沂 1cgac/on which later
common undcrstanding ofthc rights OFthe accuscd remalned-a trlalto bc held
ll public,witll a订 Ltstcd vouncⅡ fo翕 amc the decis讠 。n,and a chance to mount adefense In a comparatl1· e hght,a trla1dccmed unldir bˇ Roman standards o∏ tred
far m° re chance for altcrnative voices to speak° n beha1f of thc actalsed pers° n
tnan a ma轳 strate、 inves‘ gauon ul china,which presumed guⅡ t佥om the out-
set and allowcd br no dc饴 nsc Profe$or He notes that the Chinese statc ne收 r
pr,皿 0ed to mai∏ tain a legal wstem to protcct rlghts or ploperrJ Law exlstcd
∶ as a means to preserv。 order and garner thc resourCes needed to maintain thc
∶ lmp汛 铋apParatus,,,lld0lItes,w lPtlσ C,nlllc血 n or Communlst,has· C allvals
decided ma仗 ers0fhre and death The svstem has Worked for o收 r bvo thotlsand
years B,t the human costs have been high l「 deed
£伢竹钐c乃 ~q,丐
^乃
//ze″ ,伢″‘氵rJflp召 彳伢J Cε勿rFs
Maria H Dc仗 cnholer
EuNucHs have g敲 ncd a securc口 ace h anoe"Chnese as呶 Ⅱ asancient European hlst° ry More° κ厶they seem to be a Phen。 menon that o n。 t
rstrictcd to thc ancient M· cdd°6for that mattcr,to any gc° graphic。 「cuItura1
r鲳 lon in particula⒈ Many sooeues knew them and madc use ofthem trlr。 ughout the∝ ntu】 l6Many examples arc to be found in China,India,persia,【 A=abian cultJre,tlle R。 nan EmPi.e,the Byzantinc Empire,and Rllssla∶ eunuchs arc
acommo∏ anth∞ P° logica1妾 atuK
Eunuchs appe盯 in x/er/dilferent c。 nte怼s Fori∏ stance,they are mentloned Ll
dlc Bible In Matthelv I912,we read,“ For u.erc。re cunuchs wh° havc been so
仔om birth,and there are eunuchs Who h狎 e been made eunuchs by men,and
yattendants,。 r pmxlders° fsPeod er。 tic scΠ ices Howeve6onIy the c。 ults of
ccntraⅡ y or叩血zecl emPres° iered an en“ rOIlmeˉ攵whero曲eywe爬 auc° 轳htremcndous p° Iiticahnnuence and le箩 nd狂 y wmkh Theeunuchs,stem hclPed
8艹 Ro″ lc.a″tI Cl7氵
`∶
″
m⒋ ntaln the myste“ ous dtstan● e beⅡ een ll· e rdcr md ho subjects砥 ⒈com-
mented examples in antlqui〃 lndude the courts ofthe E阝 tern Roman emPcrors
佥om the fourth and鼠 丘h centuries c E° and the Chinese court丘 om the nrst
emperor Qin sh】 huangdi unti11912But what made thcse castrated mcn so suc
cess凡 hn Pol⒒ lcal s阝 弪ms ul荻 a1s。 dcs·elopcd ehbora,c Careef Pa收 erns for the
arotoC:a吖 to servein the go爬 mmelltz vN△ly did these LOunterparts to the omoa1
and a“stocratiC malc wofld become the Perfect courtiers:And what madethem
s° specIal that they became a^rmˇ estabhshed P° we[at the grand6t coufts of
1he ancient wodd
i】 Bccc,氵 冫Ιi7氵 g“ ε"″
Ⅱc九 ;山亻0扌
`IotI●
n″tI Rgnso″ ‘
The one thlng eunuchs a11had in commo∏ was a de6Ciency of thelr genkals,ln
mo玫 cases caused by the irre,erslb【 e act of cas"atlon Let us6rst take a closer
look at dl茁 erent b pes° f castration XVe encounter partˉ castra“ on,where onIy
the tesudes were lemoved%t甜 Castration was tbe alternativα k enta⒒ed thc
removal of both the penis(Pen∝ tomy)and the tes‘ desˇ弪thods Yarled tlo"
a shsh of a slvord to a clash bet,v· een tlso stone‘ ;To眨 I castra"on had a h螅 her
morta"ty rate and seemsto have been the Πorm ln China
The age at which四 stration took place als° plav℃ d an importantlole Most
eunuchssecm lo have been αcated bc佰 re pubcrty as castratIOn in cbildhood was
less dangcrous lor the eunuch to bc the evidence shows that the Ⅲortaliγ rate
was h培 her arter Pubertv Howeve‘ there were se攻 ralreasons for the high num-
ber of castrations of adult men In ancient China,castra“ on was a tradkional
Punohment,lor lnstante,债 Prisoners of war or traitorsδ Ⅱen highˉ n-ng。nl。ds c。 u1d hcc tho fate9slmiIarly in tlle R° man EmP订 e and Byzant,um,
Castration was prac‘ ced as a pend〃 for P“ soners of Wa巧 pohtkal opponents,
sCXllal offenders,and doobcdlent sIaws⒑ 【tc° uld a、 o be emploved asa mean‘
of tort“ re
If thc testItles were removed a丘 er Puber弘 the eunuch was stlu capable of
achleving an ercctlon“ nce,akhough hc would be sterile,he continued to rcce"e
testosterone through thc adrenal g1ands⒓ Numer° us⒆ urCes曲 oW that eunuchs
、ere highlv· v,alued sexuaI Partners;moreover,they interacted with both scxes
In Rome,sla△ es werc castrated so that they co议 d be used lo斑 t1s即 tllelr° wners’
E〃"Ⅱ
d】 ‘,ˇ炀”Ie″ ,n” d△,pσlo`Co〃 r‘ 岛
sexual deslre岛 toung mcn who had d田 ady bee且 castrated werc hkewise regarded
as usettll add"ions t° the household Ⅱ They had t° play the desPised passive role
in hom。 sexual reladon$hips and welc therelr。 re Caued p“ ″:饣氵,meanhg“ tho巽
、vh° 昏vethemsckes hk a· s·oman`’ "In China,too,eunLchs werethe submiss1· /e
sexuaI PartΠ els of m° st ofthe emPerors H° mosexualiγ was a ΠormaI Part of a
Prince’ s life Princes and eunuchs had grown up and bcen educated togcthe⒈ ”
But cunuchs’ crotiC serxices were not⒒ mRcd to homosexuaI acts,eIthcr in the
East or in the、 ℃st泅 Nsjcalthy、 v。 men prefefrcd inteKourse with castratcd sIaves
lor a good reason∶ 1here was no rok of pregnanc吒 r In the fourth and n丘h cen-
turics c E,、 Vomen、 interc°urse with eunuchs had become a widesPread top:c of
public debate汴 the、〃an1en ofthc emPcror、 palace in Ch1na als0腔 em lo have
rehed on eunuchst° allnll thelr sc`ual desires”
扌2 刀冫C Pro¢ ″“犯;A Λroder″ Etn″lp佗
Nuleteenth century acc° unts shcd light on holv the castra刂 on ProcCdure was
undertakn in China where total castauon was the n° rm and tl,c巛 cunuchˉ
maker” lvas a sPeclaI° ccupauon ln preparatIOn for surgeη 6the Paden“ abd【 l
men and upper thigh$、 vere ughtly bound、 汀th‘trings or bandages that le矸 1he
Pen。 and5c.otum cxposed Thesc wcrc then washed dlrec times in hot pcppcr
water whⅡ e the Pa“ entsatin a semir∝ Iining posltt°n onah臼 led piece° f血 rnl-
ture kn° wn in Chinese as the Rl`苫 The“ eunuchˉ makeP’ repeatedly qucstioned
the Patlent whether he reallywamed to即 through with thc su呜 c呼 rdlc patleIlt
c。 nnrmed h。 c° mmitmen1,he was nrm虹 heId d° wn byas“stant5whdc hls pe∏ ls
and the scrotum Werc cut ofl、Vlth° ne sweep° fa razo⒈ sharP slck1eˉ shaped kn:艮
the urcthra was pluggcd and blocked off a∏ d the、 lound was c° Vcred by paper
soakcd in cold water;1熄 ht bandages were app1诒 d The,△ ssistant then had to wauk
the patient around for^vo or dlrec hours before allowulg h1m to Iie d° wn Hels.asforbidden lo taI【 e nuids f。 r three da聆 A丘ertho Perlod was° 仰△the u犯 thm Plugwas removed and r urlne gushed out,the opcra“ °n was re护 rded as a succ6s If
no urlIle aPpeared,the prognosis was that tlle man、 volI d soon die an agonIzing
death AJqer cas订 atlon,the eunuch‘ gen"als、 s/ere putin a c。 ntainer where they
werc pickled,after whi.ll th吖 wcre rCturned to him for safekcePing Thc eunuch
would ha仰 to present them for advancement in rank,and a丘er hls death,bIs
扩n止als、vodld be buried to旷 dler witll the co【 阝e⒛ Thc、 oounds usuauy he缸ed
laoly castrated themsclv· es in eady Chrls“ anitv,cmasculat⒗n was pracdced
to ensure chasdtu The“ church father” 0rlgen is the mo‘ tt。 m0us eXample3
^阝
tonishingIy,this modc1tur∏ ed outto havc no钆 ture h tne Chris‘ an church;
emascula“ °n was sub父 que∏t圩 c° ndemned It was the soˇ ereIgn、 palace that
raPid灯 became the most Promlsing pIace for eunuchs,whether in China° r in
imperlaI R°meIn add"i°n to belng a fofm of Punohmellt,castration Was als° as驷 bol of
conquest as wel【 as°f revenge in ancient EuroPe as weu as china Hcrod° tus
gives an αamp坨 in the vendctta beⅡ een pe"ande6the t,Tant° fC° rintll,and
the Co“ nthlan⒌ He sei犯 d300sons of noblc lam"ics in Cor.,ra,° nc of lhe
su匀 u墅 ted ci刂 es,and they lvere scnt to sardis to be castFated” By scvering the
吖mbol of manh° 。d iom pr话 oners of wa〖 they were t° be madc completely
subseΠient A s】 m"ar pattern Qn be佰 und lIl Chha Mrc know IIle sad story of
1he)oung prince° f Lou1an,a walled state on the western border During the
re,gn。 fEmperorˇ ∽Jdl,he wastaken h° stage and castrated FoⅡ owing the dcath
of dle kng of Lou Lan ll192BcE,the Pe° Ple ofthC count〃 requcsted tllat伍 e
Prince bc returned to take the throne The rulcr of Han r㈡ ected the request,
hoxveves for k w° uld have bcen most embarrassing r thc prince、 c°untr menhad found him to be a eunuch=c Ill sP⒒ e。 fhis noble bir伍 ,the P“ nce c。uId not
rcturn to hls homeland because of hIs shame6d derormitb n° rc° uld he cntcr
forcign socic吵 Wudl、 dCslre ω demonstrate∞ mplete c°nquC5t o evldent h
addi“ on to the p。 Ⅱtlcal uses ofcastratlon,“ was als° part ofearll/Chinese crimi
na"alv:de,ath sentences for CaPltaI° 涣nces c° uld be∞ mmuted to castration彐
By c。ntrast,Custration never became a仗 andard penal⒐ in R° man la⒕
, CouRT EuNvCHs∶ 人N OLD CHINEsE TRADlt1。 N
⒉丿 spcc,dJ5灯 JJs nⅡ
'D〃汀芬
As Ukk Jungd has shown,the Chhese hnguage orers a number of ve〃
ma△ refer to any“ ms"故ed mar’ in general orto one、 vho sewed in lhe imPeri扭
Palacc in ParticulaR’j In佰
ct,加 ““`召
】1n″ 。the cxa。 t and。fn。 alterm lo descnbe
tltosc∞ stratcd n″ d empI° ved at the imPcrIal collrt as servants CIJ四 饣】s the gcneral term lor%fhoal” ln Chinese E爬 n an cmpσ or`servants w钰 eo伍 oals andFJlerefore somc klnd of苫 Im″ This gives us an indlcatIOn oftheIr sooal Prestigc
Eunuchs、 vere also caued‘
`″
″1n“ rf″ ,thc,j ncans to serVe,whⅡ e沼″alw⒔ ys
Ⅱ sv‘ tQo,us‘ ”orDI,″`ⅡⅡ"10;
~_~一
~_·∷∷一一
_~~~∷一∷~_一一∷~~一一一
86 R秒9Ig`″〃r~l″I`
in about l0O da聆 ,whereupon thc nel,· cunudl s·ould proceed to tllc岫 PerlaI
householdlorinstltlctlon Attheendofthen阝 t ycas tlle eunuch,,olJd be trans
feⅡed to thc白 mPerlaI palace to take uP hls new occupadon Ⅱ
9J Ro,e″ “″ce ofEl· llⅡ cll‘
Apart fiom some noble y° ung men iom su” ect trlbes who hdd been1aKen as
ho丈昭 s and tlien castrated,eunuchs mme⒍ om thelowests"dta of soCie“ The
sourCes ofsupPly were the samc as br slaves ln thc Roman EmPire,曲 e markt
than for normal slavts,which泌 hardly surp“ sing given that slnce thC end of tl,e
丘rst centu叩 cE,castratlon had been forbIdden on R° man so"Thc cmpcror
Domkian had Passed a law th欲 prohib订 ed c西"a“
°n against somebod/s wlu
Pena⒒ ics were severe± Thc poet MartiaI Praised thls1aw山 at restricted thc power
of thc p四 ·。,r/nf,l″ 氵“·severd laws that morc or less· ekeratcd tho llljuncdon
follo、 ved during thc subsequent centurics Therefore,most eunuChs aPparendy
mme【 iom outs【 le the emPIre:there Was no Penal〃 °n owningthem户 Most of
them werc“ aves° r cxˉ shvcs=尽 The Provenance of Chinesc eunuclls‘eems lo
have been ⅢLxcd At nrst,eunuchs werc coⅢⅢ0nly obtained∞ m outslde伍 c
empte、 Bul toward the end of the Easte【 n Han DtTas“ there see皿 slo h猁 e
been a hrge numbcr ofsel← castratcd men Voluntary cas订 atton was based uPon
the economIc princlPlc° fsuPPly and dcmand Demand,vas stroⅡ g enough to
encounge men t° a∝叩tthe nsks ofc孙"ation ln the hope of ma⒗
∏g a career
asa eunuch A cdtured man had IO smdˇ manγ yeaFs to pass the statc examin⒉
u°ns in。 rderto attalp a Positlon ds an orn。 al s。 melowerˉ Class ind~idu扭 s who
lacked the means|o attend the Con钆 oan schools and master tlleir eklmhation
system cho$e a different road∞ innuence,wealth,and sooalstanding by castrat-
lng either themselx/es o【 as° n In the1a“ er ca鸲 ,the缸 ther was usu龃 y responˉ
“ble for lho decisi° n As a Palace eunuch,the son,vould be exPectcd and able trl
suppo.t ho lamil`j
【n both cuku【 es,cas订 a1ion was a means ofgaining emplowIcntin tlle impe
rialhousehoId Atthe Eastern Roman imPe“ al c° urt,a纩eat∏ umberofc刂 nuchs
were cmpl。 rd in domcstk and adm ll谄 tratir乩 nc“ ons,organlzed within a
scparatc hier盯 chy and touo△iqng their dlstinct career paths But rehglous mot⒈
vation also Played a signincant r。 Ie in the Vsrcst In the pre-ChristIan period,
⒗llol啶 rs of the cuk of the ancient motheI goddess Cybele sometimes voIun-
88 RO,`Ic n″″C丿 :`″“
stands fOr“ human belngj’ Gentlally speak△ ng,ˇ r曰】dcnotcs those whO servξ
other PeoPIe butin our contextindicatts the eunuch,thatis,thosc who wcre cas
trated so that lhcy could serve the households° fthe empero`Thc hkrahcrmtoreunuth w$,,″ rg冖 BtIt/n″ ,meaning“ castrauc.n;’ was rare’ useo,exCePt ln
attempts t。 slandeL For exan1pk,o茹.ldls might use the term,.,″ zei(a Castrated
lhief)lo scold a eunuch iΠ a disPute As、 ve can see,山 e word’ s modern connota
tion【enects the sublcct、 historI
one reason for the str。 nginnuence。 f eunuchs° n tbc son of Heaven、 vas dle
hct that h“ mate relations bebveen eunuChs and emperor were cstabhshed Il
eany ch"dh。 od Assoon as he W孙 °ld enough t° leavc ho nu【 sc、 “de,animPerial ponce would bc instrt cted in spcech,table manncrs,dcportmcnt,et咱 uCtte,
3nd genera1kn° wledge by c。 urt eunuChs"【 n add“ ion,eunuchs als。 fo。 k an
intercst in the natural sciences and teChnoΙ°莎 lt was a eu∏ uch who in收 nted
paper in105cE卢 As well as the po∏ ce’ s teachers,eunuChs、 vere also ho c。 m~
Pani。 ns Even his6^tsexualcXpcricnce was o丘 en shared with a eunuch茄 Pdlace
eunuchs shared the most indmatc moments。 fan emperor、 h饴 Thc impeoalprince(or child emPeror)was surroundcd by eunuchs and by women,m∞ tˇ
hls mother and her虹 nsfolk,and had h盯 dly any co,ltact with more independent
men,espccially not with men lr。 m olltslde thc courⅡ e· ·en eXccut"e ministeIsWere eXduded仔 om dose contaCt h thc。 r≯ the CⅢ pcror reξned supreme Btlt
h practice,becau腚 °f his seclusioll,thc s° n of Heaven dcPended ahoste∏ tireΙ y
on ho eunuchs_and on the炻 nsmen。 f thc empress。 r more usua1l,th。 sc。 f
the regcnt do、 vager emPress r
ε、℃n str。 ng emperors were subject tO eunuChs’ innuence,espeCia⒒ y where
the scxual asPects t° lheir duti6were inv。 1x/ed L呔 cm。st Chinese emPer° rs,thc
血Ⅲ°us X.olldⅡ ,ho broughtthc Han D qlas〃 fo"s Peak。 fpoweⅡ wasboαual;and
a丘er伍 e dea山 ofhls ra/o"te c° nCubine,he ttlrned to a hancls。 me eunuch,namedLuan Ta,、 vho was血 Inu路 r with magic praLtces^der devating h△ n in rank and
conferong upon him unprecedented honors and pr6tξ e(whkhinduded maknghull alanded marquo with dle虹 ghtto c° uect t徕 esliom hundleds ofhoⅡ eh。 lds),
hc pFscnted him wi曲 a Palace,a血ne car“ age,and c° J=ndcss“ a,es He even ga迎
him ho daught∝ asa b"dc and bestowed on him an。伍cialjade seal and由 c00c“Gcneral° ftlle Hea,· enJ)Wa/’ L砹 c马 b⒒ erl,tlls,△ PP° inted,、s/udl had this eunuch
cXeCtlted⒗ r daring to try to decelve the son。 fHeavcnMoststories about Chinese paiace eunuchs comc iom the23standard Dynas-
tic Horo“ es j氵 But h`torlography was the m。 n。 P。 ly ofthe C° n钆c路n sch。 Iars
that dominated Chincse otflciald° m C° urt eunuchs and Con乩 oan tnined
90 R刃″c`冖 ′rˉl】 ″7‘ l
A eunuch who hstallcd a PuPPet emperor must haxe bccn a斑 ghtmre for
all o瑟oa‘ zha° Gao was foreveridenu6ed wkh usurpatlon,pol⒒ icahntrigucs,
and murders The st° 吖was reported p“ ma【i1y by thc Han historians sima Qian
andJh u,b° th。 fwhom hvcd h【 he ser。 nd Cc,ltuγ B c E As C° n乩oans,they
°pP。 sed Legalism,thc First Emperor’ so伍 oal PhlI° s°Phy thatsupported thc idea
of centralized t° tal Pσ ve⒈扌O They consequent1y Po止 ra阼d Qin sh由 uangdi as a
murderer and。 Ppressor Who ⅡⅡed to rttle with humani〃 and righteousness
But the⒒ vid rWalry beb哞 en o伍 cials and eunuchs at the pala。 e also shapcd thc
鞲 搬 I唇踏 亟 懋 鞲 l黼court eunuchs In21o B c E the emperor died on aIOuthe ulspection touェ Immedl改 el” c° ncems w。 re raoed about who sh° ulti succeed h血 lo tlhe tlhrone,and an
黼 章粼瑙鲫 :鞴茸膦氨鞲鞲l崔醛孛多F硼抒Ⅰf搔霉Lisiknew mo四 伍an he wassuPp。 scd to ab° ut,lle订 sccrets and had nOw bcc。 mctbe biggest threatto the ncw court W止 h ulc x。 ung CmPcror。 n hls slde,Zha° Gaoreplaced Li si、 叱Ιlc c。 Ⅱ°lIsly but medlOQlcaLy pu呜 伍g Li、 ass。 oat。sH。we仰6popular dlsc。 ntent mounted and withln。司y a tew months,rvobeulons br。 k° ut
擀 琳 蜞
鞲 攒histoⅡ eventuauy bccame a ωsual,。 f ulls c。nniLt⒚
εl,″ lltlJ‘ ,lˇo″ e″ ,‘l″″``llP召
r氵σ′C。 I`r‘ 91
audien¢s、 flth° lIlcia△ ,she remained d悠 creedy c。 ncealed behind a screen° r
Curtain she upheu the custom that denicd uncastrated mcn dose contact with
impcoal w。 meΠ ThⅡ ,订 w孙 hcr eunuchs wh。 transmi仗 ed statc memoranda佥om the ministe‘ ,d.·liκ red herimpeoaI dec.ees,and granted°【denicd access
to hcr prescn∝ Ⅱn feturn,she end。 wed most。 f her eunuchs with ge∏ er° us land
grants,including tak revenues l’
The story ofempress do、 ,,lgef Lu、 ru1c should be seen n° t。 nΙ y as an cxPh~
na“ on ror the“ se°f eunuchs at tle impc【 iaI court,btlt aIs。 as a plca against
womenin p。 wer bythe Con缸 cian htto“ ographers、 1ore。 ve巧 they were su5pⅡ
Clous ofComphci9becveen eunuchs and w。 men Thus,under her male succes~sor Xsiendi,matters suPPosedly took a turn for thc better,alth° ugh the euΠ uchsdid of coursc remain"It ls e访 dent that C° n乩oan Chincsc hlstori° graPhcrs
considered both1· /t men and eunuchs t° have been an ev"innuence。 n伍e
thr。 ∏e
k占 t苔 热 扭 ;紧 凇 T铞 苫 吧 窜 揲 呈强 Ⅰ惑 r暮an innuential昆 miˇ wh° had entered the palace as a wi佗 °rc。ncubine,a womanfa∝ d柳。crucla1dtltic⒌ aPart丘 om giviΠ g bir曲 to as° n,shc was αPeckd∞ pro
mote tne ma【 e mcnbers° f herldmⅡ y to innuentlal p。 “d。 ns in tlle Palac· kt"would h胛 e bcen difncuIt奶 r a nels/c° mCrtO gaIn access to the emPcr。 r bccau腚
evcn the mostint血 ate asPetts。 fthe empcror’ sh炙 wcre su切 ect to etiquette and
∶省 11∷ 甯 :J∶∶p∶嗲 ⒒l骨营苄 贳 弘:丨盅 ;l∶l∴∶狂if玎tr‰∶1镞 孓o质 .e that deak exdusl· ely with tlle llldmatc relatlons bcb爬 en the empel。 r and
empress and his。 the.wivcs and concubin” 、Ⅳ△en the cmPcror engaged ulinti
群 愚 蕈 !搀 IiF苎 娄 :品 :l鞍 Ⅰf漶鞯 甘居Ⅰ∶lⅠ1
Castrated men were∞ nsidered the perrect变^qnts and guardia灬
br womenACcording to刀Ιo〃″(“ B° ok ofthe R"cs。 fthe zhou D,qlas9” ),tlhe炻 ng invested
onc queen,three madams,ninc concubine$,△ 〃ent卜 se【n va“ ed ranks of con
sorts,a∏ d ogh,one c° urdadics ror dutics h the【 nner Court【 nc。
"凵
nCdon
鞑槲 :i丨i∶∶o∶i蹒j荽簿:羰襁距雠拈⒕J£溲|l、tl÷宽i∶∶∶I凡挠lllF咖
°fP°wσ h伍 cp,l ac⒏
人ND EUNucHs∶ A“ NATuRAL” ALLIΛ NCE
The evⅡs oftˉ lc eunuch svstem haVe been the sublect of much dcbate in Chinese
h。ton。 graph乒 Thelootcau敬 Wassought h the extensiVe sy.s弪 m ofcOncublnage
in the Impe“ 胡Pal犯e ln the case of Chha,itls easy to see hoW ths condusion
m,lv be r臼 ched;nex,crthc1ess,a comparatl△ /e approa山 to this Phenomcnon I】 ld⒈
cates dlat tho need not ha· ·e been the truc rcason Although EuroPe had aban-
doned p。 lygamy ccnturies earlie马 eunuchs rose to Power at the Eastern Roman
Court Atthe same time,thcre o no dcn” ng that w。 men and cunuchs sharcd a
sPecial c。 nncc“。n and common interests in China签 well as lIl Eur° pc
In a"the dynas‘ essucceedtng tne Qin rdeェ court eunuc`Conthucd to肛owin numberand h丑 uence and,ukimate]y,became an important p肛 t。 f China、
aPparatus° f iⅢ perial rde At丘rst,tlley suiered a sctback under the跖 under
ofthe Han Dvnas“ Gaozu Fully aware of the dama旷 done by one eunuCh h
the Qˉn dynas“ he kptthese p创 ∝e seⅣ an灬 under tight control Eu⒒ uchs盯e
seldom menu。 ncd in the hotones。 f his rogn Instead,he graduauy deveI。 Peda burc,lucraCy based on C° n血cian PrinciP1es Thc eunuChs’ Comeb∝ k started
Mth Gaozu`wi炙 ,empress Lu刽杌r Caozu was su∝ ccded by hIs meck,sen钫 -
dve⑩n Huiin195BcE,ho mother-no、 v empress d° wager-<aInc沁 O her
olVn as his rcgent Υ°ung Huidi was said to sk° n the throne“ witb fold煜 d hands
and unIuf⒏ cd garmen“”whⅡ e his m° ther ran the g° vemment4∶ During daiˇ
92 RO″Ic n"dC宀 扌Ⅰl`
In the Zhou DvT,asO1the number of women around lhe throne repor泾 dly
totaled120I∏ the ro】lowing ccnturles,the numbcr ofconcubines seems to have
increased s1四 ddy Ⅵ`udi was salcl to hklve acq讧
red scx eral tho“ ands ofbeauii钆 1
Women tor hls hareIn,which came to be nued t。 capa,i,F° uovv· lngthe emPer-
or’se、ampIe,the custom to have as many conciJbines as Poss1ble soon became
wid6pread among both scplloldcrs and wealthy o伍 cia‘氵And asthe number of
concubines gre叽 so dlllthe number ofeunuchs
0rganized eunuch pα ver took° fi under the Eastern Han D” astv Again,
、,omen、 ambltlons seem to h,ls· e been responsIble Ι‘In tho Perlod,tlle eunuCh
agen吖 zhongchangshi was feco∏ stkuted,whkh made k Possible tor highˉ
rankIng castrated cour“ ers to gain acccss lo the emPeror and thc empress,sk
do,唿 ge〖 eIllprcss6suCcessivcly Promoted zhongchangshi eunuchs to powcrFol
posltlons,u仆 “"ln配
y sowlng thc seeds FOrthe dmas〃 、d。 wnfal⒈-accordl1· g lo
Con缸cian hlstoriographers,that o Ιn135cE,the eunuchs were permitted lo
adoptsons,and their power肛 ew with thcir wcalth assome ofthem owned la唱 e
agrltulturaI lands Eady fl189cE,emPeror LIngdi died at the a莎 of illir氵 ˉ
bVo,and beCausc l△ ls son,the new emPeror shao,w“ only tht⒃ en阼 ars old,
the empress d° wa旷 r bytlle name ofHe_look oxer the helJn ofthe statc she
immediatelv promoted her oldc【 brolher He1111,who had earLer foug“ the“涣⒈
low TLrban” rebels,to be thc Grand Commandan1and appointed bvelx· e grand
eunuChsto mana墅 the1nner Court zho∏ gchangshi He】 in,h。 wewr,slded With
the burcaucrat‘ and put his“‘tes the empress dowage“ under pressure to remoVe
the eunuchs,chargingthem with mmPant c° rrup"on and abuses ofpoweL{’
Thc in破 showdown伍 mein septembcr of189c E when thceu∏ uch Quˇl,J
slew thc Grand Commandant Hc1in during a court audience He∫ i矿s depudes
in tum brought tllor troops lo the caP订 钮Ltlo”ng and kn1cd m。 re than tlvo
thousand eunuchs in retribu1ion The chicfcunuch zhang Rang took the teen-
aged EmPcror shao and tlle EmPress Dowager He and ned n。 rtll△ vard to△varcl
tl,eV011ow R"e⒈ But aRer bclng suⅡ °unded by his enemle$,zhang Rangjumped
∶nto tbe river and drσ ″ned himseIξ whiIe ho patron and protecto〖 He was forced
t° take Poison The E】nperor shao was then deposcd and succecded by his oght-
ua「old haI孓 brothe‘ the empcror Ⅺandi Butthat wasthe beginnhg ofthe end
ofthe dynast≯·c
4 V√o、ΙEN AND eUNUcHs IN lMPERI^L RoME
It is uselu⒒ o comPare the ftlncuon ofeunuchsin China with practicesin anoent
Rome,alld in p,lrtrular to订 y o ldenti⒍ dlIferences and∮ m⒔征ltts in thelr
£"″
l‘ cl】 s,ll o``∶ ε`b口
冫】df’ l pgr|n`Coz【 r‘ 93
aulances w"h women In thc pursuIt ofinnuence and p【 ,△ven Howeves since the
develoPment ofthe role Played by Roman eunuchs0shght1y dlreIent疔 。m what
we nnd in chinesc histooo砂 aphv,itls important to start by consider血 g the llIs
t° 吖 and structu犯 °ffcmale powerin Rome ln general,as wcll as the precursors
t0the∞ urt eunuchs,the freedmen
4Ι 啪 ″臼ll″d Pom。 ,o`助 wer枷 R口 ,lI召
For sex/er扭 reasons,the$ituauon of R° man women diHtred substantivcly丘 omthat of thCir ChInesc counterParts F° rmal monogamy was a prinop1e that had
ncver bcen seI⒗ usˇ ques“ oned in the Grecoˇ Roman xvorld Indeed,by the cnd
ofthe Repub1ic,Rome had already dex/eloPed unusu创 rights for wom召 n UPon
c`Ⅱ四″c巾四rlo,aw° man was able to hx/cl,ldcpcndend/rlom a father or a hus~
band and setde her own aflalrs;Even so,thc rightlo hoId o伍 ce had ncver becn
extended to the female half of dle popula‘ on A、 ⒆man see虹 ng in∏ uen∝ on
Pol"ics had lo puˉ sue tho goal by innuenclng a man behind the scenes0ur
souKesseem to become mo.。 c阳 nsitke to the Issue of female PoIitical血 nuence
with tlle creatlon of th¢ Principate From Augustus’ s reign。 nward,thc women
ofthe mⅡ ng famⅡ y auracted a great deal ofattentlon殳 om historical w“ ters and
werc commomy suspected of maniPula刂 ng their husbands and sons,ifnecessary
tllrough the usc° fcrimlnal methods Thlstraditlon commences wⅡ h Augustlls、
wife and Tibcrius’ s mothcr Livl。 and reaChes its丘 r‘ t peak雨 th Agrippina tlle
YOungeェ Both w° mcn managed to estabIisll tllcir son‘ (by PrCvl° us husbands)
as horsto the throne As emperols,Tlberius and Nero are both portrayed孙 sui
fe“ ng under their mothcr IIlt“ gues v
AgriPPina、 vas the slster of thc notooous CaligJla and the daughtcr of the
conso腔n刂y popuIar Ccrmankus,and hente a direCt descendant of the founder
ofthe Princlpate,Augustlls she dready had a son,Luo“ DoⅢ iuus^山 en。 barbus
Ncro,when she became lhe∈mPeror Claudius、 lou【 th wire in49c E His decislon
to marγ ner、。ds based on d” asu∝。n⒍deratlons A汾诬ony Ba玎 e"has a【卵ed,“Clauclus woultl nccd a wilc,not for scx or companionshlp, but because he
needed a P。 htkal aⅡ y to help him keeP at bav the lorces stiⅡ tllreatcnhg to top
ple his principate He had toed to seek bIlks with lJlc noblc houses and they
had%iIed Hc must has/c rea⒈ zed that曲e° ∏Iy etfe¢ive secuoγ w°uld come
丘om a union l,i″ :i″ dleimpe“ al house”:〗 .Kpart f.om由 is,suetonius daims that
Claudllls、 decIslon ma⒗ ng had ahva,s been lIlnuenced by h:s lvll/es and⒍ ce汪
men廴 V¢hat is m° rc,becausc of hcr dcscent,^唱 riPPina might have become日
dange「 to Claudius if she maroed into ano山 er house,an argment ascribcd tO
∷一一一一_一一一一≡一〓≡
〓一一·一〓一∷~_一〓〓〓〓∷〓〓∷〓一一∷一一一〓∷∷∷~一〓一一一一〓一一一
94 Ro″】en″'C`:∫
,:夕
tlle hnucn“ al freedman and con丘 dant pa⒒ as5i FamⅡ y ues were already d。 sg
⒏ $d茗 措 羽 拓 滥 器 黯 1:甯器 堂l贯 :l:Fξ ∶
’J扌
she recelx,ed the d刂 c° f‘
`ugustaF’
shc was thc贞 rst v△·lIc°fa1i订 ng cmPerOI to
shar h the distin.tion ofth01iue弘 i。 re。 N· eⅡ she receixcd anothcr important
:鞲麸芷:l∶∶∶∶搭虽置t丨槲邋槭鞲点汪℃1J扌骂描黥叽累T拣1茹豁岩1F扌△拉耦
∶lrF∶∶翟fl⒒∶午飞揲 cI:1瀑;I1袈胪:厶⒔⒒留:找&∶↑Ⅰ
擀槲蔓辙雠槲撤拭黼搂五:千:弪晷I蚶u磷菪瑙茧
甄擀堇豫茁章囊薯骚蝌槲I;;Ⅰ;罐l嚣∵品荃:窑:卩贺:子:变 1∶∶l眼pi,了莨铝::〗〖】Cuald,as··ell孙 thc People and the senate,,xould swear allegiance to a woman,
whlch was consIdered shame血 l讪
Lˉ ″ i↓
`Cl9‘
,lˇb″Iε
",`冫I'△冫VσlrIJ co“ r‘ 95
42Foren亻 〃·le阝 犭 渐ec口 〃/r El/,″ 宀⒌ F/eε
'`冖
召″
i冖 ″昭 Ro″ ln″ Pn彷留
^″
l,l而 o`rnrJo刀
lt was Clauditls who c。 n∝ ntrated p° wer among the admlni哎 rators at his palˉ
aCc to pro访 de a countcrlvcight lo hls p° L‘cal ovals,thc senators翊 though the
osc ofthe frecdmen had alrcady begun under内Jgustus,m their hnuente sIgninˉ
candy ulcrcascd under Callgula some impcrlaI丘 eedmen ss/erc already Performˉ
ing dudes of a naglstr8te and ln cmcrgcnoes were even entrusted W"h° 砾cial
po$ts1n32c E the;ecdman Hlberius hcld ule Prelccture of E钾 ?t for somcmonths;in48c E Narcissus was made Prc攵 ct ofthe Guard for° nc day⒍ V叫△en
Claudius succeeded Caligula in41cE,he was backd by the Praetohan Guard
and the paIace rrccdmen but not by the senate,which had been dcbating whether
meaΠ s to estabhsh a more P仍 I· errLll prsence ln tbC dany liws of most pe。 p【 e
lo2 Ro,″ en冫 Jd C′ :氵
`】
夕
丨:∶fi黼I}昌ljj∶萎:甘l:li∶【∶j∶;Ii!∶j∶
i∶
∶⒊岩l氵:T石蜜苫J扌艮:ETf揿浪孟汪茹蕊:↓叩窟&拶hshment of tlle Han"lbtlte吖 stem,whiCh attempted to r吒 ulate the sphere of
in弪rest Ofthe Chinese EmPirc h a hierar~hy of订 曲utary re1ations‘
蠲锪鞲攥躅They sought to b0ng south East Asla and countries lining the Indian0cean
£谦狲撩黻Ⅲ茸群l点髑j黻瘛 定洫 ‘
y官
贺 1∶∶;J∶I::Γ点 :1∶,∶:Ψ :拾 9黯 1nP。 me咖 鸭 聊 m护 m‘
Co″ l,l四 ″〃`″
gn” d CD`:,Jl,J切 g`hε Ⅵ勿r`d lo3
withln thc orbit of the ChInese t“ b lt旺y sy丈 em and四turned triumphantll
laden with pro妾 ssions ofsubmosion by loreign rlllers and proous o切 ects,r。 ri-
位es,curio“des,and maΠels to rencct the wlde reach ofthe emperor`mighoy
sways The Roman gov。 rnment never acted0n its trlbutary ins“ ncts to conCeiX/C
a simi1ady⒐andIOse廿 ading Poh9∴ But on a smauer义 ak,Ⅱ did加 aⅡ itsdf of
swerd stratc昏 es dlat we al的 nnd empIoyed,though probabl,· ham°【e Ws
tematk fashion、 by lhe Han Chincse court’ Thcse lnduded at伫mPts to c° ntroI
the mo· ement of men and goodsin仔 ontier K吵 °ns lor taXatlon purp° ses,the
maniPuhtion of boldering订 lbes by莎 anting o【 wiLlholcl ng the prlvⅡcge fo
trade on imPerial territor” In1Ike fashion,prohibiuons were issued on exPort
of goods of str哎 egic value such as iron,nint,wheat graIn,and salt The Roman
CmPer° r also poded himse1f on.e吠 1,·hg at court dle Cllle丘 alns of dlellt tibes
aΠ d lungdoms that subm改 ted tribute In return,tlley werc gcnerouslv showered
witll Presents and,佥 equentll also reco攻 d thc Prix·lltge of takng with tnem
goods fortheir own Pers° nal use,howeYer dehned,fiee of export duo,⒑
tilbutary emPke was a waV of Colltrouing and dlstribut血 g we。。1th It aimed
to exPand the level,range,and diver5it,of resouK6avaiΙ able to山 e ruling c1ass,
group)or peop1el,hen shghg the praiscs of Rome,a∝ lent a哎 hors regulady
c° ngratulat。 d themsel· /es。 n the Vast nches and abundance of goods now血 g to
the caPila1thc∞ nt·r of human ovdlza0on The Powerto command and conˉ
sume the world in aⅡ 止s gredt vahety w“ Pubhcˇ celcbˉ ated and prodaimed
ul grand triumphal ova“ ons that fou。 、ved milita【 y· /.ctory Llsten to JosePhus
deschbing the triumph ofXresP灬 ian and his son Titus a庋 cr the幺 ll of Jcrusalem:
“1tis imPosslDle adequ仓tely to describe伍e multitude ofthosc mar/els and t「 eir
magniR∝ ncc under every im鸭 inabIe aspett whether in works ofart or dll/ersi〃
or riches or raridcs of natur6for aImost alI the oblects which mcn who h剐 c
eYer been ble‘ sed wi1h fOrtunc haVe acq洫ed one by one一 the wondcrful and
precious pr° ducu。 ns ofv征IOus natlons Were gathc【 d on this day in nassed
forma讧 on to deⅢ onsoat~。 tlhe grandeur of Rome"|Gone Was认 e“ Colden Ag¢’
tlle era of satum,When natuK had readl″ y1elded its Products and Ⅲan had
been佥 ee fioⅡ lo扭 But empire held odt伍 e promise,to tlle pri讧 leged⒒ ctors、 of
e”吖lIlg。onothcr age of pl· nry and prosp。 rir·ρ TrlbLtary em口 re,1水C marl【e‘
,
embodled an eco∏ omiC strateg∴ It enabled ule vttors to Pool and command
a wide seΙ ection of regi° nalΙ y dl△·erse sPeCialities and riches It was∞ ercion
Io4 Ro`″ e四 〃dr,i″ 四
kadhgto c。 nsumption1n tole rcmainder° f thls chapter,I wnl$kctch° ut lhree
eConomiC dimc∏ sions。fthe w° r炻ngs° fa旷arlan emP订 c∶ (l)emp饣 c as a trIbu
tπy enterprisg(2)trlbute e反 radi。 n and c。 mmcrClahza“ on;and(3)邡 ab“茁condu“ 。n,impe“ al cu⒒ urc ofconsumpuon
The celebrad° n ofthe wide range ofrare and w。 nder⒖ ⊥Produk,s made ava1ablcthrtlugh the acqui“ 0on of empire resP。 nded to tlle expeoence° fa、四dd char-
aCterized by smau,l。 cahzed c° mmunitles It was a w° dd where m。 st Products
never le丘 their p】 ace of° rigin and c。 nsumPti。 n was heav"y dctermined by what
the⒗cd geolo勘 ‘climatc,and ecolo鼢 duowed t。 be g⑩ wn。 re延 raα ed Pca弘 nt
agrictlltJre reigned suPreme,and the Poten“ al for gIOwth was narroWl,ciKum~
scrlbed It was llhe w【 ldd ofsmau,nca【 alltarklc c。 ⅡⅢu血 tics known各 。m Plalo`R¢PI油″G and,as the Creek phⅡ °s° Pher candidly cxPlained,if Peop1e desired tohavc acccssto mo犯 than the um"ed ch。 kc avaⅡ ab1e to lhcm,lhe c° mmunih/had1。 Pursuc a strate鲫 of war and impc"ahsm。 Only succcssm Conqucst wouldbong m。 re tcrntoHes into their possessi。 n these were a necessary require
ment fo obt汪 n control ov/er a greater炯 ier/and a hrger am° unt of res。 urces
In Eiscnstadt、 妾1icitous expKs“。n,impe“ absm almed at σmthg“丘ce-n° atingreso urCes∶ "Byimp。 sing订 lbute,emp订e IOrced resOurc~ˉ s out of伍 c semIc1osedce“ oflo臼 l∝°nomies and broughttbcm hto a wider sPhere。 f ckculatlon
菇 找 l茬苫Υ妻1:∶稃 £l1扌:戒 :;£△ ⒘1u∶岁 1叩琵宝 :numeroussm钲 Icommun止 i岱 a∏d concentrate consumpdon。 fthe accumuldtedweakh t° a re玫“cted numbcr of prl· /neged pe[s° ns and Placcs The resuk was,
br instance,to tJrn CaPital ot诒 ssuch as Rome,Consta∏ tinopIe,Chang’ an,aΠ dLuo卩 ng into preindustri缸 曾ant conJrbadops With P°
·°fc° nsumPtIOn。 pP。 rtuni11es bIn Romc,al】 由ew。dd,dlm°sniterauy came t。 gether She was“ the great whore” ofthe Re〃 切汀。″as well
as the“ ccntcr of tllc univˉ rsc” °f her panegyr内 ts,a phce that receix/ed dle best
and the ls· orst炱°m ex·er,Where EmPirts1认 elleR° man and the Han can therelore be dcscribcd in ec。 n。 mic terms as订 ibute producing entσ pr沁 es
Tbe main cost。 fthe impcriaI enterPhse was thc arm乒 universal empires h狎 c
a weu earned reputati。 n IodaYish expend订ure The R。 ma「ls were no ex~ePtIOn
⒇c}∶n泔T`漾 i}社 ;;∶;舅:∶;Fds颉d№d‘ 记s,lll山 L岬 ng货 e⒏ d臼““n咖如瑚 and
1o6 R口 ″昭n`7″ C乃 氵冖'
gencrany only employcd1t$vast miIitary mi甘 lt with circumsPectlon Failure tO
recognize this general princiPle h凼 mlbled modern commentators on a number
°f occasions,mOst notab1y When they ereded an elaborate theory of dclcnsive
RomanimPeid。 m ln曲 e sevond∝ ntufyB c E A丘 er tlle v1.toly at P冖 na lI1168
BcE,having denniti· fely de妾 atcd tlle kngdom ofMacedon,Rome was reIuctant
to anncx the teⅡ⒒or,of the conquered foe Instcad,thc e斑 s0ng Po1itic钔 enti〃
was dismant【 ed and IcpIaced by four sc1← ⒂Yeming rcpubllts These,howe收 r,
We了 C lCR With an obhgation t。 submk an annual trlbute to the Roman victo6
°nl” 订o true,at haF the⒙ 始of由 e old royal tax BLlt tbcn agaln,Rome had no
intentlQn° f gaⅡ isoning rlle formcr M∝ edonian tcroto呼 p。Iic血 g and dctenc.。
against bordcring llibe$wcre the resP° nsibiIity of the ne谰 y created polities0n
top oftho,mines(so me° fthem dosed for a brkf呷 ell as a result ofthe ri砘 lrie·
of Roman domes6c pol次 ics)and Probably dls。 thc old royal estates Were Co爪 -
nscated th。 w。c。 not reluctdnt or de庀 nsive impeoahsm;⒒ wds an attempt to
enjoy empi田 on lhe cheaP and collect trIbute with the least possiblc eⅡ。rt and
exPense【ˇ
Tribute obtained through
:撼骣爨藜襟薮鞲鞯囊垂蘑瀚撼辙鞲麟槭l辚擀瘛 :豫
茹靴强槲 鞠槲 槲 Ι垩槲ambitlons The empel。 r and hls mhistcrs sh° lIld rather`ultⅣ ate benevolenc∶and"ghteousness,to set an examplc t° thc peop1c,and e双 end wide their访 r
蝌搏茗i鞲瀚槲飚i鹦practices bcnevclent adminotra“ °n should be matchless ln thc w° d山 r。 r him,
搬I茹槲鹬
掖陬乩Tm
湎 畀 滥 ;丨 :讠i濯 扌 诎 :∴
ek’ °· ”‘、e EunQ"on.s no.I灿 cr,n txI ri跏 由官∞mp。 s
mininum of e「ort remalned a key prinople
C口"″
″″〃切g四Ⅱ″ˉD阝〃″切g liε V/or″ Ⅰo7
cxP。 sition in thc work。 f0、ven Lattimoreˇ Bcstowing rich gi丘 s。 f grain and
sik on n° nadic chicFtains ll return for a token tribut· ·,nominnl recognltion° f
Chhesesup四 maO‘ and peace were muCh lc“ expensivc than the h,aging ofwars
with no end in s1ght and Iitdc pr° sPect of plundcr and gai,l capable。 f众 nanc
hg the e筘 orts against a m。 bdc encmy that rema,ned hard to com.oΙ Equau弘
such tIlbes could be u· e犰Ⅱy cmPloycd h war agahst other n。 madic gloups th扯
threatened impehalterr迁 。fy
To bc sure,the p° tentiaΙ dra、 vbacks° fsuch P° licies、 vcre佰r佥 om neg】 igi
bk,asthe westem R。 man emPerors d、 covered in the n丘h century c E B° ught
Peace was lrequcntˇ unstable0ien the power oftrlbutary chie丘 ahs wasinsuF
nc泾ntly cons° hdated to guanntce a h斑ing arrangement Therc wus a、o a osk
that a∝ css to ule Wealth ofthe impe“ al g° 1·efnment did not sa‘ s,demand btltr扯her whetted lhc appet"e of barbarian kaders and their warri° r retinues ror
morc Thls cOLlld pose a se“ °tls Irlrcat if tlic ulⅡ al aⅡiance w"h the empir。 hadhelped strm爹hen lllC sooal and mi1ita〃 organization of the订 Ibal band Impe
“al Powcr and barba“ an tribes c“ sKd in an uneasy equ"曲 “um Nonethclcss,
fiom thc imPeoal perspectir,the nnancial rewards ofth。 se pdkles l,equentˇ
。ub啶 ighed由 c risks Thesc,aner a1l,could n。rmally bc handled By c。 n攵 nst,the
Costs of Waging war against the barbarians on the仃 ontier dwarfed the expcnsc
of buying them。 Il widl gi丘 s and miIitary scwi∝ The sou【 ces rIre灯 enabIe
“ to make preose calculauons But k^someumes possIblc to镐 rm a rough
imPres“ on Chinesc ngures,l。 r instance,seem to suggc5t that a set of Puitive
mmPaigns against。 nc grouP° f bnrba“ an nomads h tlhc decadeliom lO7-n8
C E Cost thc impeHal g° Ⅴernment6xe to sLx times the en“ le amount spcnt on
b征 ba“ an aPPeaseⅡ ent∶;In Lhc I° ng term,Chintse cIrlpero阝 undcrstandabIy
chose uneasy a∝ omm°d"lon over Cost灯 mobnizad。 n
The impu、 e to sas/e on tl e∏ umbef ofsoldlers wⅡ tr6istlDle In dils aKa,
eX加 nsiVe emptes such as Rome and Han ChIna erIjoyed one advantagc they
drew t.lei resouK6fr° m a very broad base Even atloW le· eb of mobilizatlo∏ ,
tlley were stiu ab【 et。 ncld unpressi、 馆numbc【 s The di伍 c·Jkics αperienced by
Roman emperof· in waging simultanc° us乩Ⅱ sc敲 e wars on Thc Gcrmanic andpersian iontiers have olten enough been mentioned as one。
f the weakncsscs° f
thc empire Yet汰 ought to have been possibIe temporarny to exPand th辽 “zo
Ofthe armY Atsome b· cn,-丘ve to th订 〃 lt· gions,the impcrial a【 my w9cs big-
gcr than the pcace dme force retained bˇ the rcpubhcan government h Lhe late
60s B C E to guard"s much1ess e对eⅡ l·/e territori6,btlt sma【 ler tllan由 c Peak
numbers reached during the钇 lI。 wing decades of conqu6t and revolutIOnary
strug妙 es theimpcrial缸 nη‘乩rthermoK,inc.easlngly drew"s lecrul‘ toⅢ all
o·/er tIle emPlrP whⅡ e th£ brun饣 °f thc burden of nelclI.lg the v峦 tarmks。 f the
of Roman impellallsm孙 r centuries It may be worthWhiΙ e to dwell on the
MacedoΠ ian example a li钍 le longer It suggests that one of the sec【cts behind
the succ6s° fthe R。 mans was the achievement of economIc‘ of scale Thc
Maced° nian arⅡ y was a1nlost wholly dismantIed vl△ thotlt t【 igge苡 ∏g a slnlilar
hcreasein the number oftroops on the Roman side Globon already commc∏ ted
on lhc rcla“ vely smaⅡ number of soldic阝 that the impe“ al statc m缸 n诲 ined to
(the numbershi佼ed acro$time)that e文 ablished the hlerarkhiCal poslt;ons of扯
free malesin the cmpire Th6e mnkshad oo咎 nated in the、 Varring States Pe“ 。d
as rewards lor milihry ser,· tte or for prOviding grain for the arη 6and they had
become the破 rdctllring pripclPk ofthe Qln丈 a弪 疔om tIle mlade ofthe fc urth
“ntu叩 BcE Th吖 werc dosely hnked lo the emperor`“ ghtto mak aPPoint-
ments,and the hlgher ran芯 lIl tl e hierarchy were calqued onto the hieralvhy
of bureaucr,△ 0co茹Ces Th吖 were c,rried foΠ vard lnto the ear圩 emPires and
Kmained a m匆°r structu“ ng prhcIple of thc state at least into thc bc昏 nning
ofthc Eastern Han in the earIy nrst century C E In the Qin pcriod such ranks
entaned the righⅡ o own speCined am。 unts ofland and command曲 e services
of a specined numbcr ofse「 ,/ne lab。 rers(probab1y convicts or captl/es)】 n the
Han Pcrlod ule primary benc6t ofrnnk ho1ding,apart疔 om status in thc loca1
communib,W笛 Pr"Ⅱ egcd△ eatnent in Iaw,凼 cc[tain punishme∏ ts could bc
ledeemed thlough伍e surrender of ran“ p。st.lumously a1· ,ardCd ran‘ couΙ d
a‘ o bc trans彘 r丘d to de“ endan‘,who would“ mdarly bene缸 仔ona them’
As mllIt。ry ser呐∝became lessimportant undσ the Han,with tne co∏ centr⒈
tioI】 of丘 ghting at the饣 ontiers where Peasant lesies were of no use,thc ranks
、啶re primari9a、 vaIded on happy occa“ ons ln the“ 缸mⅡ¢’hfe。fthe eⅢ peror,
such as the b订 th ofa son orthe~。stab1ohment ofan h⒍ r,∞ t△ey became a form
oflargesse that un“ed the emPcror with his peoPle ln shared celebration‘ 、lany
occasions on which ranks were granted included the distribution of wine and
meat to l0Cal commuilI‘ es for purposes of the celebrauon,with the quanuues
given to cach indlxidua1dctcrmhed by【 ank,as o indicated血 a math primer由 at
gave problemsin di·nding up meat dePend】 ng on the rankb ofthose Present
C0吁 Cjt〃 hrlo″ d″dC乃 d rIr,"rhe H'″ d″ d Ro`″夕″~F`冫 lDI〃 s I23
Thls shi盘 from rewa[ds lor military service to perlodlc“ u血 vctsal” aw衍 ds ls
弹槲 黼 ;圣ΙⅠ节辈l拣l‖iI箨o ver,since at th。 time ran圮 were largcly universauy awarded FOr cmpire-wlde
e,/ents,rathcr than bestowed on ind订 iduals ror thclr speci丘 c achievemcnts,thc
rardungs in· lhc Han camelo d。 sply coinode wi曲 age C° n5equentⅡ tllC sγ stem
relnforccd the Han P° hcy° fh° norlng lhe aged and thc general emph否 。。nage as a basis ofstatus and authoi,in the village communiγ
otl】er gi盘 s that
were speCi6cally targeted to the aged as e1enlen‘ °fthis poⅡ c,wⅢ be discussedbelo、‘’
Tho was the d。 sest伍 at Han China had t。 a dotinctiYe pubhc realm tllat
鞲蔓j撼、豕、丨丨W茎邃麒:1∶槲tlle records that曲 e state kept。 f订 s subjects,marked status h recurrent1° c,△ l
celcbra‘ °ns,and bcstowed c1mr legal Priv"eges,the emperor‘ bene丘ccnce wasmade vi“ ble at tllc I° cal le仰⒈and h灬 rolo as patron。 r Protector° f thc c° m~mon Peop忆 was given manifest instkuti° nal αpres“ on The blerarchy c。 nsti
tutcd through these ranks was ds。 intended fo dictate the termsin which peopk
Wcrc to bc graded and judged This“ si° n of the sociaI order was ardcu1ated ln
a mem° “al by Chao cu。 ,wh。 p° s止 ed a rkdkalten“on bebveen an ideal but
unreah贺 d“ Pubhc” order marked by dle I孙 v and ranks and a subxe、 ive° rderConstitut。 d lhrtlugh prl/ate w臼 hh and°伍cial coⅡ up"on that p∝vadcd actualCus饣0ms and valucs:
Now the ldvs dcbase merchan^,but merthants have bec° Ⅲe rich and
honorod The laws ho∏ °r peasants,but peasants ha· e become poor andbase Thus what。 h° n。 red by cuⅡ ent cLstom(s"o trtated by the rulcr
aδ base,whⅡ e th° £wh。 ar sc°rnCd by the min° r ofFoals are hon。 led
⒊冱摞罂JTr∶器盅找变嚣锷氵;ll:∶Ⅰl盅崔cnIorccd
∞拽【莨段泔1苔Jl捶黥 :r器嘿iF戍押滥mole valuab讵 Thc way to make glain vaΙ uable o to aⅡ Ow thc Pe° ple to
use k to secu,/er。 wardsand redcmp"。 ns丘 om punlshmcnts If” u call on
lhe pe。 pIe ofthe empire to present grain to the l° cal onlcials,and therebv
to be砂··en nn‘ and als° t° redee皿 Chm6卜 vhith was a缸 nc‘ on° lrank引 ,then汶h peopk wHI№ s/e ranks,严锱。Il‘ wⅢ have m。 Ⅱ”and
⒓4 Ro″ tc nnd C`li冫 ,●l
龊 喜蛋鐾鞴扌槲
蓁锪
C∮ 0汀〃′夕r南″'″
″¤ 昭冖zJ山l珈 e铷 ″n″〃Ro″】d″ ε″∶p氵rgs ⒓ 5
the eadyimperial penod,although th内 may simply Fnectthelack ofs°lld docu
mentation佥 °m the Warring state$period
In additi° nt° universal pardons,there were also more speCific pardons
restncted to a sPecined region or categorv of the poPulation tet a dl订 d△,Pc
of Pardon was the Pohcˇ of“ inspectlon of cases” in Which speoal agen‘ of the
empcror toured the local admin:strativc cities to veo印 tllat Pun。 hments were
CorreCt and lo ovoⅡ uk any cases of pcr∝ ived injusuce。 r exres“ Xe severiCr In
the【 ater Han tho bccamea【 itual p· rbrmed as oneCl逞 mentofattcmPtst。 rehCx/e
droughtin which the emperor pcrs。 naIIy visited prisons and besto、 ved佥 ee acts
of grace on lhose being held on suspioon Ofrdat⒒ ely hght σiⅢ es A x/eIsion of
tho clcmenˉ y resthctcd to membe6of the ehte was lhe regtllar practicc of the
tatlon of a sw° rd t° cut one’s throat and b° 、d to catch the bl。 od一呕 her tlla∏
su臼飞r the humⅡ iadon°f pubhc cxecu0on or a pun0hmcnt of phy“ cd muti【⒋
tiOn such as castration苫
The reas。 ns lor thls poIlcy of routine pardons are not entireˇ dear and may
have vaHed∝ ross time护 d1rcc。 rded cases justined the acts as resp° nses卣 ther
to happy el/ents ~apPl1△ g ofan hei6establ1· hment ofa ca莎 talciⅡ Πamlng of
an empress,mar,· l° us e△·tnts that indicated cdesdal approval or to mi茹 or
tunes_nooCls,drOughts,marVelous ernts that indicated cclcstial c。 nde皿 n⒉
tlon Hσ vex· cr,there are Ⅲany records ofsuch even‘ that do n° 1eudt a pardon,
so"seems that a1l。 f lhese were p° ssible occasions lor an【 t of grace but not
a slI伍 oent mot"e sex/er11reColcled paΓ ts of dccrecs suggest lhat thc ac‘ wcrc
in焚 nded to reduce Poptllar discontent,whiCh Could manifest⒒ self“ magically”
in inauspti。 us c,ents or more realisticaⅡ y in banditry and rebeⅡ ion k is not⒉
blc t「lat pardons were lilVaoably g1· ·en in thc spong° rsumme马 thc seasons of
grolvth and uf。 thatin the ritualcdendars ofthe period were to be deⅥ Dted to the
h炙 g1·/ing aspectb° fthe emperor、 rok
Jlothσ signincant p。 int is1hat sev⒏aI of the decrees,as Well as the a佰 reˉ
mendoned poΙ icy° f“ hspect⒗ n of cases,” indkate suspicIOn thdt Ioca【 。伍cials
maniPlllated the law t° thor own bencf】 t Tho same suspici。 n。 f。晌oals act-
ing dt odds w止 h lhe la、 v and the emPeror’ s wnl was articulated above in Chao
Cuds memood Finau” lIl the Eastern Han,、 vhen the bestowal of gr·矿acts of
gra∞ bccame routlne,th6e pardons became a regttlar s。 u.ce of manp° wer for
ulc斤°ntier armies,which were continu龃ll restoClxCd W止 h men pardoned的 r
caPital° ffen¢ s’ 【n Condu“ on,"secms that the Han cmpcrors c1ear灯 recog
ni~。 d tlle need t° babnce the scYe讧 ,。 f heir kgal adm:nistratIOn,whlch was
the physlcal狗 unda‘ 。n。 f thcir玟 波e,with regular manlfestatlons ofbenencence
G∮ Cirα汀四fl p〃 nⅡ‘JC乃 四冖″”】r乃 e fi z″ 四″'尺
o,· n″ ε`″
p″6 ⒓7
be acting on the model providcd by the empe】 oⅡ were also rec° lded dotrlbJtiΠ g
sOme ofth扯 hn“ to necd,n宙鲈bo‘ "
A Rih and nn耐 m。 de。 fgi丘 gi访ng⒗ peasants was the re叩 lar昏 受s由at were
not mendoned in由 e“ Chronides” shcethey w⒏ e routine thc mo时 dlstinctl,/e
of tbesc werC the Presentat讠 ons to the aged,which indudcd g1· ·ing dove stalls
to anyone who had reached the age ofsevent≯ as、Vell as a sta荭 and ar】 n re“ to
hdi“ dua‘ who werc no long· r rcquked to attend C0urt(The ch° ke of do照 s
in the decora“ on ofthc sta跽 is explained in sevcral wa,s,the m° st pefsuas"e
。f which灬 that they were a bird锱 sociated with spring and the rejuvenation of
lJe)The dovc sta抵 would have been)`Ct another dis‘ ncuve and visible s:gn of
the imperial presence in the vi11agc commun“ ≯for ex· en Klativell small,1Ⅱ a扩 s
wo111d have had a fe、 v“ dividuals who rcachcd the age ofseventy and hence were
entIt ed to Carry Ihe statl Llke a11oblcc‘ assooated with tlle cmperor,these sta∏、
ouId h,lx/e been charged with a numinous powef and pres“ 莎 Tho咕 cltady
shown in a legal case recorded on some Wr⒒ ing strlps dlsc。vered△la Hantomb
An。 nl。a1struck an。 ld man,thus causing him⒗ drop his stall whiCh bro炷
when Ⅱ ftllto thc g「 ound slncc the o叻 ect was a gi丘 oflhc empero厶 the。 伍oal
was eXeCuted for having bloken大 ”
In addi“ on to these nve m。 des。 f distrlbutlng honors and goods to com-
mo∏ ers,the emperor also sho、 ,ed conspicuous genefosi” to° fhcials and nobles
Apdrt from bcstowing addkionaIranks on his o⒗ cials,just as he did to the com-
moners,and to paying their salaries,which was a‘ o a lorm ofimPerial generOs-
iⅡ the empcror also g洲 e仔 equent gi丘 s to all ofhoa‘ or to chosen indlvidua1
these girts、 veK nlo“ commonly cash,as was prcsumably thell sala“ es,which
Were lo【malⅡ measured in qualltities ofgrain,but notinlrequenuy the emperor
dso gave speci丘 ed dmounts of precious metals,especia⒒ yg°ld This pratu∝
dated back to the、 Jarring state5peiod,、 vhen preoous metals、 ve【 c uscd as spc
cial gi鼠 s awalded to o伍 ci铋 s whom the rulcr wished to honor In addkion to gl± ts
oted in the“ Chronlc16、”some blographlcs of o伍 oals also descrlbe recelx· ing
such gi仟 s缸 om the cnlpclo‘ usua1灯 whell the o伍 cid retired As wdl be discus贸 d
bclc l吗 tluese gi丘 sl,· ere sometime5in turn d、 t“ buted by伍 c orlcloal to his伍 mⅡy
or neighbo‘ ,so tl atthe o伍 oal acted ds a c。 ndu订 that dirccted impcrial chariγ
dσvnwardto the commo∏ pe。 pIc h
The range ofthe emperor`giⅡ s also extended fo the non-Chinese pcoples at
tlhe斤 onuels°f曲 e Han state Th6e g lts included the” B〃加 ofe“ ngs of gdd,
鞲槲槲撼鞲黼獭
鳙躅
12s Ro″ le夕 仪氵C乃 i`】 n
鞲擀i薮鲫 郦 瀹鞲黼§槲麒弼辙莛“1注lfl∶浓F1斟:∷
l器::£ }丬 :诺J甘I:悬抚:)暴↑阝+∶嚣i拶$:奋热;七甘:η rt爪
c∮ Cjr"fnrio″ n”〃C乃 四r∶ 〃加 ,lle Hd冖 d调 尺o″】夕Hε`冫
lpJr6 129
PI:ncipate was a diⅤ ine gi鼠,and that the description of o仟 erings to the g。 ds as
“gi丘 s’
’(do″田)was a collVentiona1usage′
1n addi“ on IO au thcse f。 rms of concrete or instituuona1giRs,one must also
examine the rhetoric ofthe period Thus,a request to retlre、 ⅥDtlld be descrlbed
as asking the empe【 or for the“ gi丘 of onc、 skeleton;’ “n∝ 由e emPeror con
订olled the Pels。 ns of hl。 °moals and had to glx/e thcm back to thel.hmuics
be⒗ re they wotlld be allowcd to dePart llom the Court similarIy a reply钉 omthe empe[° rto a memorialfrom an o伍 oal was a‘ o descrlbed as the bestowal of
a gift|’ such Phfases are to a Certain extcnt rhctorical,but thcy arc also asPects
。fthe phenomenon not。 d byX/evne in which曲 eR。 man rulcr’ s very cxjste∏ ce
and evefy act that hc Performed could bc trcated as an ac1of bencvolcnce or
gencrosi吖 :t
As noted ln the above hst,scx/eral of lhe fOrms of imperlaI砂 鼠gi访ng,such
as dle dotrlbu“ °n ofland to p臼 sanⅡ ,Were imitated on a smauer scale orlower
level by membe、 oftheimPc"al f。 mⅡy orthe court In addl讧 on,loc钲ˇpower缸 l
缸mⅡ lcs a1s° en钾g胡 in⒗ Ims ofgi乱 g1··hg orcha“ ,as。 Il de皿 C∏t0fthp订 status
and pαvc⒈ 0ne reopic∏ t。 fsuch giRs was thc cmperoⅡ lvho re∞ lXcd tbc trlbute
°fgoo凼 and Peouelrom tnc di涣 r∏ t regions° fllIs rt甚 mˉJlothcr form、 vas the
gath函 呷。f“ 眇est reutn。 rs(㈦ 氵·、vho condnu记 to bea mⅡ relˉ。ment oflocaⅡ y
eminent households(as weu as urban gangs)in Han China Par心 cu1arly in the
Eastern Han thc Practice oflocal chao⒐ and poor F1ief also ngures prominendy
in the biographlc accOun‘ ,stone inscnP“ 。ns,and PhlosoPhicd e$avs。 f thc
Han grcat families The pomary reciplents of suCh cha“ table actions were more
dotant klnsm迢 n and1。no、v Yiuagers,but at certain Periods thcy sPread more
broadlˇ to lncIude wh° lc commandCries TheimPo效 ancc ofsuCh∝ 讧vi“ es to the
°rgani猛 tlQn and the∝ ⒒vkies ofthe Han lo.alelite o one ofthe m。 lor dlemes。 f
tllle Han sources from the Pe“ od,induding the stone in“ ⒒P0°ps that members
of the great兔mⅡ ies commis∮ oned for their own缸 n and tllat tlius demonstrate
how th6e pcoPlc u∏ derst° °d thc bascs oftheir own cminence∶
such cha"ty to。 k severd钇 rms First,weaIthy men oRcn entertained虹 n and
neighbo‘ in great banqucts In se,。。raI Cases,tlle Wealth仍 r such act~iti6o
expliotl,desc“ b趸 d as coming fr。 m prior gi丘 sb)'the emper° r。 r members ofthe
imPeria1佰 mⅡ)l one。 fthe mostinfe渡 s“ ng o the c凼 c ofshu Guang,who had
rece∶ved a quantitˇ 。f gold⒍ om the emperor as a ttirement g】 丘and who Jscd
⒒to灸ast aⅡ his ne碚 hb°阝 、、△en me】 ηbcrs of hls f。mil,had Iie vⅡ agc elders
Iem on⒊ rate that he was wasting too much of his fami圩
the state auth° ri“ es who mLxed l,000“ beaudrul and ugIy” coins in a c° nta△ nerand then sealed t,but also that these c° ntainers were to be opened if the gov
cmment needed lo usc thei【 c° ntent⒌ henCe,coins reentered orculadon not in
:∶∶:揣;黯扌里f:艺 I∶}I甘垄Ⅰ⒊罗:Ι嚣窝⒒l:lI1搬 !
盯濂 槲l黠蝌 鞲 瞰Gl△/eI· the contin山 ng Per沁 tmtc ofvo梳 wcighing“ ∝belo叽 sec“ 0n3I),themo呲 lkely scena“°may be one° fan unea吖 mLx° f stateˉ enforced rules and
∶∶IⅠ帚f捻el∶∶Jl∶r∶:∶厶:∶∶程:1罢 扌秽tξ∶雾:严甜⒎盯
雄嗔‖懈热涌轴珏j:∶;搬搭热置
擀J[罹鞋茗菸槲V槲数茨蹒报(section8)
∶lT蕊l);乙 :诺:⒈1∶Ι⒊λ芗;D
鼽 踯 鞭婴泔抵咒荐找且r瑟c∶;1:IJ泯〖∶t:呈 i扌拊戆 :=i:
瀚i遐璀捭荃i嚣蹒七I薛昱撇磷i
吣 ∴ 扌rl「黑 挠 Ι:】 献
硒
t“’ ’l砬hs,o“ n犰 mx,Petken· o1· h山 ⅥR哓 u ar i per.汛
〓ii∵
讠
Ⅰ∷i“
〓
144 R田`】
gn″ ,|C几
`″
田
su CCesso r,∶sthls would documentthe nrst。 fseveral crisls driven debasements
oflhc impe“ al period
,/lhen the Han seized p。 wes the gold bronze吖 stem was maintained In旷 n
eral,we obsσ re strong∞ l△ tinJlψ fr°m the Qln int° the earl,/Han pe"ods”
a刂 y been aPpro⒗ matcd by statc authorltles to moF re“ o“ c“ andards of8z凡Ⅱand then吐 z宀″’In anal° gy to“ milar cvents in the R° man Empire from tlleth订d∝ntury c E° nward(see below,腚 ction61),these reforms Ⅲlght best be
扳鞲 鞲揆辩擗涮 鞲 扌∶£⒈罨λ∶;∶l扌丧l楹ⅠI∶}‰l努:紫jI∶∶::;丁浆:tI∶扌I焦measurc oF debasement、 vas required t° motivate p“ vate individuals to manu
捃陬扌r嬲瓒猛榔 揣
辙 槲 于
胥嘏T淼擀攒〖搬f螂鞲韫
裂辘鞲熟蔓季营鞣鞭襻pIy reporting° flicial pronouncements,Hatˇ C。 n订adiCls the n° d° n that use^habitually accepted c。 ins at th钍 r路 ce s/aIu⒏ ratheb the actu。 l exchange Υ耐ue° f
money was determFied by its welgh← that ls,“s(p四mmed)metal妃 luc(barˉ
monetary systen△ Tho interpFtation o supp° rted by the兔 Lt that at the same
dme the statc a‘ o in订odu∝ d no· /el forms。 fnonbronze foken moncy lsrown as“white metar· and“ hide m° nc¢
’rcp° rtedly t° reduce the state dcncit,0The latˇ
tcr va“ c,apPears to have been a fairll stIaightfOnvard mone严 sPlllning scheme
des碚ned t。 incrca鸵 the governmenrs share° f the surplus app【 op“ated by thc
empire`ruhng dass、 1ade ofthc hid6。 fwh⒒ e deer keptin the emperor’ s park,
a square钇。t Plecc° f hide was P“ ced at4oo,000cash and handed out as gi丘 s
响 noblcs visiting the c。 urt who were eXpeCted1° return the tavor with glfts of
genulne value As such,“ hlde m° ncy” can n。 t have had any“ gnincant imPact
on the generd m。 netarˇ sys始m“ 、hite meta【”
(bnJi〃 )was tne tCrm used forwhat was_supposedlv_China’ s earhcst colned sJ/er money Made ofan anoˇ
。fsnⅡ r and tin,itcamein three den° minau。 ns,the round“ dragon” c。 in weigh~
ing8Ι j″怒(c125g)and vaIued at3,∞ o cash O e,3,000⒋ z宀“coins),the square
“hoI茹
”c° in tor500cash,a∏ d the oval“ t° rtoise” co:n lor300c孙 hH。 weveⅡ rar
from containing any signincant am。 unt ofsiker at an,r。 und“ dragon” c° ins th改
ha,e appeared in the archae° logical r∝ ord arc e"her made° f bronze or。 f lead
and“ n i This shows these0?es wCre c。 nke"ed° fas puK token issucs This o
consotcnt w油 一ne“saldy exaggcrated rcP°Ⅱ that as a resuΙ t,counterfe止
hlg offJle new coiΠs took ofI on a drama“ c scal⒏“severaI hundr~。 d thousand”
people we【 e supposedly condcmned to death for counterFeiting,and“ °rra mⅡhon” 。the【s were deared。 r pard。 ned,whⅡ e“ tlle law breakers had bec。me sonumer° us t】 latthe auth° “ues had been unabk to innlct pun。 hment uPon thcma11;’
;=Be that as"ma≯ “whke metaI” was conscquendy ab° hshcd⑽ on a宋 er ks
incePtlon,in l【 7、 l15,or113BCE“ EⅣen allowing lor ramPant hypclbole,tl△ lk
story probabˇ c° nt急 hls a kerncl° f outh∶ thc introducu° n oft。 ken c° inage
would have created massive incenttves for c。 unterf。iting Ncverthdess,"is pe「
haps m° re lⅡ 《ly that the detllmental ctects。 f%丬△ite mctal,” whne neghgib1c,、iere grOss1yexaggeraledinthemoFgeneralcontexiOfthe兔 iltt犯 °f° ther允 rmsoftokn money that had becn intodu。 d at roughIy the same time,such as the
gready。 vewa〗ued“ rcd-rim” broΠ ze CoiΠ ⒌
As was to be expe.ted,the new5z宀 I【 c° in was undermincd by undenv注 ght
V¢heK锱 complete withdra1· /al of e斑 stlrg c° ins mu丈 have been hard toachieve,tlle cⅡ 订a1government e· ·cnfuauy suCceeded in impos血 g a uni凡 rm驳andald b/raolpg coll。 utput to enorrnotls kvds Be∽ ″een n2:c E andtheopcning years° fthe n、 t century C E,oκ r28btⅡ ion t9:fzlIΙ ‘c。 hs were said t°
have bccn Pr°duced by the state,‘ O bra mean。utPut° f∞ 0million(or750tons
of metal)pcr ycar or7to8c° lns Per sec。nd“ 1t wa$in that perlod lhatthe Han
∝hicved monetary unincatl。 n aCross much。 ftheir far nung坨 rrit。 r平 户dthoughusable data are scarce,priCe stabili〃 appcars to haYe maintained for much° f
the员rst∝ ntury B c E Thiss阝 tcm required nscal dlsopⅡ ne at the∝ ntral mhtand、 vas theIelore sensltI、
^:to Changes ln revenue requirement⒏ thanks to thc
retum to thc订 ibute s阝 tem to appeJse thc Ⅺongnu a丘 cr Wudi、 relgn,dramaσ c
spikes in f,nding dcman凼 wcre absent,and the tcmPt肘 IOn to devaIue(and thus
龊 瑙 戴 搀 菇 鞲 芦 F鞯 擀 募sanCe and incompetencc at the ce∏ traI mint_“ OliCidls and artisans alk steal
fr。 m the pton芯 。fthe m"‘ m。 reo/e马 they Ian t。 ensure tha攵 c° ins are made to
】琵J嘿 哩 础 箔 强强Ⅰ梦
咖 忙诋 蛳 债 Ⅱb鸡 孙曲e蚰 per1,ll
33Tll召 Vfo″ m〃 R咖 r· ‘q厂 Vˇh鸭^犭
四烬
Thls equilibrlum w峦 upset durlrlg tlle usu屮 atlon ofWhng Mmg(6/9-23cE),wh° sought tO estabhsh hl,° wn neW dγ ηasty Xin,to rcplace the Han"Internal
resistance and renewed external connictincreased丘 scal needs whⅡe unrestinter~fcred widl revenue Co"ecti° n Tholcdto a whok seⅡ 6ofbewⅡ de.in砂 yc° mplexCurF∏ q relorms that were c。 mpressed into a short per⒗ d flom7to14cE^Ⅱ
莶括 思 罗 E∞md tlle血 ±泪utilor Or pew仍kn∞h蛔 啷 咖 莎∝s
The所 st refo.m,durlIlg、 hng Mang`regenq ln7cE,crented three ne、 v
denomha‘ °n⒌ tne dLi饣 初刀,aI2z宀 “vvc1ght c。 in v乱 ucd at5o“ mes thc racc
找菇瑟义li茗絮f雀‰苜窝屯£茗u:罗埋℃甯i盅at500Han,vI⒓″〃(ie,°跎ndued;loo times)or28~29g and valued at5,ooo
蝌鞲鞲鲽槲黼鞲憾弼阝丿磊}各〓:刂湍::潆崴J;绊
°··咖卧飞°m*n⒚胝8啊 n⒎珀R朋 l99+n∝⒕
Tl】 e lVfo″ gfd〃 sl‘
'召
″1sq厂 r” ch,″ ″td Ro`″ 四″ε钩Pircs 149
由e cental govemment launched⒒ s own verslon of the5z乃 “coin,valued扯
5cash° r5dmes the Prtvi° us(plovincial)丿〃″g″口w″ ll〃 and k△ own asthc“ red
“m” c。 in(chj¢ w〃zh〃 )vshne the ex水 t meaning oftho tσ m:s° bscure,宽 thc
ConkXtshowsthat k mustreferto的 me knd ofsa始 〃feature that was suPp° sed
to protect tl1。 sc token c° ins fiom c。 unterkiting The authorities apParendy
app四 ciated that the creauon of a t。 ken coin would great1y increasc thc incen
ti欢 s for∞ unterfciting and sought tO prc收 nt this⒍ om haPpcning Moreo收 r,
the underVhg oblect如 c_to replaCe乩 sting mital c° ins by more h∞ vⅡy。 ,cⅡ
va1ued tokn col11sto shore up lbeimpe】 】al bud旷 t can hardIy bcin d° ub← as
only these c。 ins wcIc to be“ aljowed to circulate lor payment。 ft旺es and o伍 cial
usc” and° nll thc governmcnt was nlcantto be ablc to manulacturc them,c虹st~
hg乩 ll metal colns Would have to be handed。 ver t。 trle auth。 rities(fc r rcmelt
lrig and.eostllng al a m∝ h hther缸 ce v胡 ue)ul exch,iIl墅 FOr the lnew token
茳搬赛树莪擀ii|i∶∶|∶∶嚣鲫 ~
恣莨F甘:盅1F伍
y∶器fl;∶愚蓬::Ⅰr找弘莒琶Bl黑凭菇In由 e me谷 ntime,the new sa【 tand t° nm°noPoly° f the ccntra】 g°κrnmcnt
set up ln117BcE m呷 h猁e incrcascd re攻nue$su⒗ciently to permit tbe state
to ab。 rt its railcd experimentati° n with t° ken coinage宽 h° raround n3BcE,coin production by the provinces and ne恁 Was。 udawed By1l2BcE,a govern-
苫1踹罕乩苫s泔链璧t1Ψ止Tt】器 &∶∶瑟紧崔留sidiaries,and au earkr coin was_adm蛄 n the。 wˉ妃emonct立 ed From lllat
p。 int onward,thc monctar,syskm stab山 ,ed,and∞ unte踉 iting rcp°rtedly feu
to muCh Iowcrlevds A con收 唱ence of several Iaα °【s avvounted for thIs deYe⒈。pmen⒈ tbe ab。 h‘ on。 f°vert token Coinage rcduced incenuves f。 rc。unter-
辙槲烈瑟宦:鞲i鲫薯邋襟:Ⅰ毳:杼鞯Ⅰ扛l舞l垂强榭Ⅰ∶茁c。suy
刀】g llro″ er,vs9s'′刀‘oFrllC正汤″伢″
'R°
,。】日H£仞p:邯 I51
(⒈ e,overvalued C56o times not c° un“ ng the mIrluscule amount of gold in1ay
in the insc【 ip“ on)∞ This army∞ exJstcd with the Han w〃 z扭 夕c。in旧 lued at
l cash Pr⒒ ate°wnership of gold was oudawed,⒛ d subleLis wcre to subm“
thcir holdings to the trcasury in(∶ ,(chan旷 ⒗r cash lt may be由 atthc new large
denominat】 on tokcn c。 ins were d6igned to abs° rb private goId at⒗ wc。st Onewondcrs to what cxtent由 ls regdation colIld be enfOKe出 h。 we,/c61eP0rts。 f
hugc stocks° fgoId atthe end ofWang Mang`rcign(see below,settlo∏ 42)sccmt。 suggest that由 e goⅤcrnmem was not eptire灯 unsuccessftlhn tll。 ende孙尕D‘dthough compu【 slo∏ may weu have been a moF imPortant佗 ct° 【than fa止 h in
the new token currcnc· /1n any case,We are toId that thc creation of token couls
wasimmed】 ateIy fOuowed by a surge h counterfeiting。 ·
UPon his atcessi° n to thc throne Il19cE,Wang Mang aboⅡ shed tbe″ 〃珈“coin as wcu as h芯 。wn蚯ife∞ ins The formcr was r。 pIa。 ed by a⒈ ll“ coh l/aI~
u龃 at l∞ sll“ e,"讧 vklknt in face Y础 ue to tlle now扯 monctlzed Han″〃拓“coin and dlus。 vewalued5timcs)The洳 q汤 ″co.ltinutd tO orculatc Th。
rcform rem。 ved the vastl,· °vervalued kni艮 c。 ins once tlley had accompⅡ shedwhatexer they c。 uld do to draw chcap buuion血 t。 the treasⅡ ≯
铞shlfiing jnstead
to a low^dcnom△ natlon tokn coln。 f%r gleatα p° tcn‘d孙 r wid6Pread us~·
that consequent灯 promised new streams of revenue拙 In orcler t° ctlrtaiI c° unterfe⒒ lng,Pri,/ate P° s鸵ssion of copPer° r chart° al was prohibi饴 d,讪 a paten刂 y
iⅢ practicablc injundion th扯 ule state c。 uId hardly hope to enlOKe The ngv
⒈z苡
"c。ins met w⒒ h a prcdlα abIe responsG oWng to the miniⅢ al h位 insic
valuc oflhc new den° minatlon,the poPulat⒗ n comhued to usethe Han I/〃 Ji“
C0lIls that must haYe been avaⅡ able In abundance"ln conscquence,the new
coins‘‘丘naⅡy did n。 t circulatc” i=Hoarders of Han coins werc t。
be dep°rted奶the丘 onuers,and lar阼 numbαsof∞ u·lterlckrs received h。 rsh pcnal“ es’
j
In l0cE,massive war preparatlons agaInst the》 △°ngnu promp铵 d a newround° f monetary r。 forms By creating an e对raordinati圩 c° mplCx new sls-
tem comp“ scd°f28diierent dcn°minauons。 f郢 nerauy cxtrcme1yo,· ewaIuedcoins,thc state appears to have sought to bo° st re昭 nue h由 e run up to ule
camPalgn Thc nc、 v systen featured g。 ld and sⅡ 硬r lngots,tortooe sheus and
cOwric she“ of paiKd value,and16ditcrent炻 nds ofbron/c coins(s诙 ofthemround and ten spadc〃 pe)^‘ lI· the pre· l° us rar,dle b孙ic un"was a⒈ ~ash
滞J胛擀热鞲ⅠHl醛t忑Ι$l芯盅辟l揣揣嗍
〓〓∷卜卜:∷
〓"沌
:〓●△一I丿
〓
〓一·∷一·一·一∷一一一一一∷一一一∷〓〓一一一∷一一一·_一一∷一~_一一~∷
~~一
一∷一∷∷·一一∷∷一一∷··∷一∷一一∷_一
∷_
∶蓬
阳:〕萎黥 冫黥 豪茹齄 l∶:;i甘 r足ⅣT雀:【∶∶:
rife Tho account cnta11s a parador the new t° kcn coins could not have bcen
widdy re丿 eLted四汀d haκ broughtp面 n"。 c。 unterFeikrs atthe same time More
imp。 rtlnt灯 ,tlle+ormcr daJp is inc° Ⅱistent w虹 h thc la呜e numbers ofspadccoins that have bcen recovered not merdy au over eastcrn China but even in
Κo[ca” In四 ali0⒖ 凡r a few years the l,ooO cash spade c° lns,tlle5cash″ 访Ⅱ ″,
plece weighing l z加 〃but equivdent in Ⅴ缸ue to the discontinued lvl扌 zh〃 coin
The degfee of over旧 luati。 n of highe,denominati。 n pleccs rose With the订 f。ce
Yalue艮 om l,567Percent forthe lo round cash c° in weighing3z乃 “to a stag旷 ⒈ing20,733Perccnt lor the l,0oo cash sPade coin wcighing24z丙 〃i● 【t is telhngthat thc top vaIued spade c° in(equivalent t° l,000Cash)survives in伍 r gre且 ter
numbcrs than the° ther n血 e den。 m血 ati。 ns in that rormat,eⅡ hcr because thc
governnlent put ParticuIar emPhasls。 n the most° verYdued denomha刂 on orbecause c° un峦 rfeiters dlcl
The suc∝ $0fthisreform o undcar On the one hand,1ater Han souKes aver
lhat p“ vale uscrs r~。 leCted m。趾。fthese ncw cu.renoes and counterfeihng was
coins to pay tne订 taxes(at th过rn° mind value)whil。 govcrnment o伍 cials wh°
【eCelVed haIf° f their salary in cash w。 uld red the pinch when thc coins lhcy
received fa讧 ed to be accePted at佰ce valuc in private transactions In l4c E these
0Vo tokcn Coins were ab。 hshed as wen and replaced by thc南 〃Oq〃 d″ wcighing
5/l″ and w° rth l cash(ie,essentially thc old Han″ lfz乃 1`coin)and a丘 du~
oary spade coin(” Ⅱo汕 )of25z几 Ⅱ vdued at25c峦 h,and thu$overVa【ucd bya laαor of s、℃ Thc c⒗ sting l~丬 z1‘ c。 in sin】pIy ce脔ed t。 count as legal tende厶
whereas lhc l⒉ z几 ″5o casΙ l洳叼ir· l was to CircuIatc for another sLx years at a
reduced value of1cash The lattcr provoion was pardculady odd g如 en th破 ⒒undcIvalued the coin reIatl△·et° the others∶ n tprms of metal value As a resuk,
both denominad。 ns werc hkel,· to bc mclted down and【 ecast to manu缸 ctule
counterleit2⒌ cash spade coins As the imprdctkal ban on p冖 vale ownershipof copper and charc° 缸had dlready bcen Kscinded h】 3c E and penalties for
Counterfciting were signincantl/rcduced in l吐 cE,nlicit pr°ductlon ofthe newspade c。 ins presumably c° ntinued ror aslong as tho denomlrlaton wasin ctcuˉ
1adon Ιn rcsP° nse,pcnaIties were r。 oed agaIn,Pro“ ding for the ensla爬 mcn1(t。
the mi∏ tin Chang’ an)ofany culpot`员 r neighborIng ramilies”
Since wel。 ck Pri∝ data for th芯 Pcriod,"。 impos“ ble to dctermine whether
succ6sive waves oft° kcn coins drow up markctpoces,akh° ugh exiremely h乇 h(a⒖ e"pos“ bly symbohc andl。 r deliberately innated)p五 ces1· or riCe and莎 ahsare reportcd for dle Iatter rars° fvsang Mang’ s reign s刂 Enough Han co1ns may
ha,re been ava吨 ble to m茁 ntaln Pre Xln pri∝ levds In that case,⒈ z乃〃∞ins
valued at】 cash c° u】d have been used as dc【 acto丘 acti° na1c°inage,at丘 ve to
a9l〃 zh“ c° in,and larger denominau°ns avoided Howe收 ‘in as nuch as new
c。 ir.s with hlghcr face v赳 ues werein use and thc govemmcnt was ablc to enforge
accePtance of6duoary coins,their pre父 nce° ught to hal/e had an innau° naryc跪 ct spcomens°f、氵0ng Mang、 currenoes su rv加 ed in grater numbσ s than
Wudi、 eIusiw“ 、hi弪 metal” osucs and cann° t haκ been comPIete灯 sideli∏ edby Ⅲoney use阝 wcn during thcir vcry short pe“ od of cirtdation The c° Ⅱe
quences of succ6sive dcmonet该 ations must have been Particular灯 sevcK formembe‘ 。fthe tl汛 e who had come to hold llgh denominatton tokcn coips lhat
subsequendy l° st their va1ue The resu1tant raⅡ °ut need n。 t have been cntireΙ yunintentlonal,as Mfang Mang s° ught to acCumulate preo° us metal stocks in
手甜 :∶F絮 :lΙ∶型F圭、,ell as grain served as the primary media° f exchanse and“°res of vaIuc during the佰 urth and丘 +th centufies c E,whnC Han,v〃 丬】“c。 ntinued t° 0rculate
架拈抚钿嚣背l瞿置曳找呢ξ苏窑猡Ι且扌元:生暮
擞缴撤醛谶雩蛋隹皙髯箨槲骚鞋胪鼽 遇硼谏
4 MoNETARY usEs。 F GoLil人 NDIN ANcIENT CHINA
〃` P诏
氵〃p钌Ⅱl`P诏‘砣6
~∷~一一∷∷一一一一一一一~一~
All known to° lc° in$a∏ d round c° ins were made ofcoppes br。 nze,° r occa-sio∏ ally ir。 n Given the Prevalence。 f preci°us metal∞ ins in all。 ther mon~etary s阝tems。 f thc ancient wodd,|lom CeIuc Br"ain t。 Cupta India,this
at20,000伍 sh″ i″ ,tbe valuc° fanˇ onC° fthesespcomens WouId eKeed the Han
poⅡ tax ofbebvcen80and120cash for adLl‘ agcd15to60u byan,·,here丘 om300to2,lO0percent Yet the margins are suCh that gold use need n° t har becn
comp1etely。 ut of reach lor rarc big ticket transac0ons【 f higher rtp° rted tax
rates lOr merChants are a i,thing lo g。 b≯ ㈦members of that Plofesslon wollld
ha9e more frequent灯 been invt加 cd lll“ gold slzcd” transa.iions、 V△ether gold
was in fact regu1ar灯 ex~han箩 d ln such Contexts remains,of∞ u^e,an open
rl诏 Mα lcrl〃 sts招 ″“汀·lle H`″
`″dR口 叨四刀E叨p`昭‘ 167
question The archaeo1ogical Kcord merely suggests that this cannot have been
∞mP1ctely unheard° E In subeli⒃ orclcδ,gold may have been u挺 d primarⅡ y as a
means ofstor"g wealLh In thc eYent ofa cTisl,,“ theComm。 n pe° plr were货 en“父Ⅱhg gold,si]ve△ pear‘ ,jad。 ,and preclous° 叻ectsJ"臼 Mo【 eove‘ go1d maynot
havc becn dⅡ ccdy usablp for Purchase⒌ in a sto〃 ab。 ut llle Eastern Ha且 period,
a“Po° r and siclJy sch° hr” carr讠 es【 0丿Ⅱ∶of g。 ld under his bclt,one of wh记 h
then纩ts so1d to mect the exPcnses for ho血 ncral呖 On the othcr hand,one of
the mathematicd αer~ises in tl△ e`Ⅱzhn″ g,饣 ,.九 “giks pri∝ sin in″g ofg。 ld
lor l,s·o grouPs ofseⅤ en cattlc and sheep each,whereas cash is Consistendy used
ln alargc number° f°thcr case⒌ each head° f ca吱 le o valued at1619Jj夕 ″g(or
G25g),and° ne sheep costs o952Ι i夕刀g(or c14g)淌 GⅡen the persistendy down
to earth chafatt~。 r。fthe c。 ntexts proVided狗 r the mathematltal problerlns,由 osCena“o may weu haYc been consldered plausIble∶ at tllc very lcast,由 erc。 no
indicdtlon thdtthe use ofsmau units。 fmcasuKmentsuCh as`lI冖 g ounces米 rVed
some sPcci焱 c mathematltal purPose掳 One ofthe ex趸rcises menuoned abovc
enYisions a group° f33mcn who poolthei res° ur.es to buy gold∮ Φother one
taks abollt“ a man∞ rr,qng12'Il。 f gold bcyond thc佥 ontle⒈ Tlle仔 onf er tax
o one part ul的 n Now atthe仃 on‘er抑 o丿″ol gold arc妇 ken,and山 m纩 o·
5,000Cash is given in【eturn” I“ 1n all thesc cases,gold usc is1ocated in n° naris-
foCra“ C ConteXts,and bunion is P。 rtlaxtd as a commodI〃 lo bC purch凼 ed with
or exchan莎 d lor bronze cash
ACCording t° Peng’s su「 ·ey,⒀ thc sources for thc Eastern Han convey tbe
:mp£ sslon that far fewer imPcrlal昏 丘s werc made in gold t№ n du扛 ng tbe盘 rst
h扯 f ofthe Hdn Peood Tnus,the砀 Ⅱ铷"‘
乃〃records a⒗ 钮I of21,740,,· ,l o·
54tons)of(putat打 e)gvlcl,compared to ovcr4o times as much in tHe Westem
Han perlod Howeve‘ lookd扯 mor doselu tho din℃ ren∝ 。a1m∝ t ent订 。ly a
r。 nctlon° fthe ab义 nce of Vcry la唱 e grants in the later centurk⒊ almost eight
ninths ofthe much largcr`Vestern Han tauy。 made up ofthree huge donations
The relativc dist“ buuon。 f gold(or招o记”)gi“ remained the samc,lc hear of
85+曾丘s of2-1,0oo丿 i″ and13gi丘 sin αcess。 f1,00OJl,in the丘r斑 pen。 d and
°f8+gi丘 s oflll l,oo0J氵 冖andjust onein excess of l,000丿 氵″in the second Atthe
sametimc,lhe os/erau l,l。 dence ofrecords di扯 red dramaucaⅡ y∶ 9g。 ld gi迁 s and
18扌 Rε砂/J¢ ″″rh″ε《冫X●|o"Ⅱ hP· ng⒚ 9⒋ 〕5n9
ΙB7 σJ,″彐汩嗲
9叼小^〃
8⒔ 凡ra、饣吖JmJar prouem、viL,lhe same anima厶 und cash P0tes
(puto刂 ,·c)mct龃 value to° neˉ elghth ofthe or馆 halstandard1n the later烬 ars of
tl,c waⅡ the unoalstandard bccame thC norm(l“ 西”=27g,or one· 6veIfth of dle
orIgIndl,vclght)These smaller c。 :ns came to bc oslIed in largc quanutlcs durtng
伍e nr“ half。 fthc second centu甲 Bc£
In tontrast to Chna,holscl/e‘ the Roman^ItaⅡan monet。 ry systen was
cmbcdded ln a much Ιarger and ollier htematlonal Currency s泠 tem based on
coined“ lveL^s a resuk。 fintensif,ing mⅡ ita〃 enga纩 ment with tho sPhere,the
Roman statc gmduauy adopted a bimetaulc s泠 tem thatPa"ed trad】 tlonal bronze
witll“ Creetsblr sJver iom the late fourth century B c E onWard,the CaⅢ ˉ
panian state/(falIing,beb忱 en G310and24oBcE,rrom73to66g gross and
Tj〗 c Jl/ro"饣 忉 rl s,· s″`″
sq厂 ″:e JorIlI日 ″dR0〃 4`IF/J``彳‘ 169
and8∝ ∞,o0o丿 ″of sⅡ κ⒈“ Reα angLhr and bo扯 ~由aP记 s山 er i鸭。‘h。vc
oCCaslonau,/∞Ⅲe to hgh△ Pcng o弪 s fottr lrls.rlbed specimens lveξ hi呜 125,
205,356,and403grams that date iom the years57and148cE⒚ ’A丘er a Pro-
订aCted hiatus,thesc kems rcsumed the traditIOn of casting s山 tr ing° ts that o
nrs1d。 cumcnted forthe spring and Autumn Pe“ od(scc abovc,secuon41)
1onetary usc° f gold and sllv。 r gready hcrcased under thc、 Vestern ⅡnCold may wel h″ e incrcased in阳 luc relative to∞ ppcr,and Priccs began t° bee【 Pressed in sd炊⒈C°in由 aped gold and sJx· er entcred circulatlon,as did cakes
and ingots Ⅲ The rest。 fauonlst Tang regime rcturned to cash pricing G。 Id and
sllver were used largcly as a st。 re of value whne sⅡ ver ingots were inCrcasingly
employed ln ultcrnatlonal tranmctlons t° ’
, PATTERNs OF lMoNETΛ RY DEVELoPMENT!ls· ANclε NT CHIN八
It o possiblc to d:st1ngu】 sh be冖″een four princ】 Pal stages ln the monctaryhistorvof anoent China In phase l(仃 om very roughly IO00tO G220BcE),indi"dˉ
ual poIiucs 。r pr"ate沆 dl,· iduak within them supplementcd and gradually
replaced∞ wries by casthg bronzc moncy ul the form of m:niaturized to° ‘and(狂 om thc fourth.entury B c E)a‘ o in the钆 rm ofround coins、 hi】 e the
most urbani9ed states lil the‘ entraI C【 eat PIain used b° th the△ °wn`su6aΠ d
those f|om neighboring states,more periPheraI polities devcloped dosed and
putat加 elv· state Controllcd currenq syslems The southern state ofChu rollowed
a货 parate trnjeC1or” combining bronze imitati° n cowrles with smau Punch
ma【ked gold plates In the other states,湟 “Dld and sdx· er reportedly circulated
as buui。 ∏but renaIned ra.e in the archae° Ioglcal【 ecord Thc f,vo dotlnctive
Chu currencies were dlscontinued uP° n conquest by Qin,and n° 血rther coinˉ
slzed goId units were issued in the unlned emPirc In phase2(c22lrl12:cE),
the imPeoal center tormaI灯 LmPosed a bron贺 currency c。mp。sed of∞ lns° f
monopo1y on coinulg alternated with th° sc in which prlvate lIldI△ ·lduals werepermit弪 d lo contribute to the m。 ney supply Cold circ讧 ated in tlae钇 rm ofbu⒈
‘on but° fnoalˇ c。unted as moncy ln phase3(l12BcE-G170cE),theimpeˉ
【ial government upheld a state monoPoly on∞ in Productlon and for most° f
the timc mainta伉 cd a“ngc毖 ed welghtstandard ExPcrimentatlon w"h loken
money beoveen7and14c E provcd sh。 rt hvcd and unsuccess6且 G° ld btdho“
刀饣△勿″gfFr,驷佗″‘ρ厂rll召 fi,i″ 夕″〃R口 ″夕″£″p″es v1
fiom68to64g siYer wclght)was used alongside the孙and its fractl。ns Thc
菸联群胖搬镞f槲勰 弹撼茗鞑搀荻崔嬲 撼盟群撺姿垄:樾撕 皙燕撼蛆搓您宝:糊
川tnough lar莎 ∏umbers° f bronze c。 ins wet turnCd outin the丘 rst haΙ f° f
墓擀擀槲撤≡萑鞲辘槲蓖I齐麒澍蝌鞲瑙iJ丨l;祸:翼绍估:谶描氍拣摞掳:;漱 ;Ⅰ茗J;;∶
·"e″
m哎记m“ψ
裟钅j;:岳;l嘿觜::∶
j:在状:1导:甘jlr恣挂:l∶父【;;1Ⅰ∶¥
ond century B c E,Macedonlan gold c° 血sc。 Ptured ln thc wars of’ oo`197and
茗荃狳r孱嬲廴蘑嚣渊器嘿l黯涨摞揣
洳△雀虽泔狳r流气谳瑟l瑟捃脎找渊智甘茗捂盅胛器扌赫程拊留投旺坩罴嚣VⅣa黥笮菇∶1r絮皂:i:讠赞岁;:F黥;莨莨:⒊扌;打男芘扌:堇:陬品友0suCs h the West exllibited1ow nneness。 f95perccnt down to36Bcε ,therc~
段槲辙膊槲雠擀醛Gold coins reaPpeared under sulla`dictat° rship(s订 uCk at3o to dlc pound)
to provlde donat"es to the n山 tary,and agah in49B c E The gold/suvcr ratIo
一靓镔袈
和迈哿+((枳
导翅
172 Ro″ e四"dC乃
i″ n
had been as low as8to l during thc210sBcE;but as sdver innows increased,
these coins were melted do、 vn tO take adYantage of a market ratio of doser to
lO-12to l By50BcE,Caesar、 conquc玫 sin Gau1had lowcred tI,c market price
东 %∶ J孺 饣 Ⅳ 啁
’
⒊ 玄 ∴ 括 r∶ r∶JIⅠ l∶ 嘿 Ⅰ器 :
ofgo1d=l,000〃 ε9I四 r``,ror a goΙ d/si1ver ratio of115to1Under Augustus,the
'“〃I`s Was issued in virtuall,pure go】 d at40to thc pound,whereas the〃 g″ n厂
打‘continued to be struck at1`84pound,its silver content rest0red to975-98
gr6scd aCCord.ll砂 y:bcbseen323and445CE,the value ofthc soJ氵'“
s rOse rl。 m
6,000″召刀四r订 co〃 l,t“ ″sto up to42mⅢ ⒗n,or tom240to7,000ˉ 7,2QO actual
b"lon″〃J,i″ I扌
ln369cE,produ.tlon ofbⅢ 。n co血s nnauy ceased,onˇ to belepl∝ cd,dc lure,
by anofJler pure suver c。 血lllat under,sent hea、 γ debasement aBd dc· aluati° nhthe late fourth centuη 6andlo be continued,de幺 cto,by,/arious denomJlatlons of
bronz。 co血 s、 among w,hlch the cf〃招″io″曰′ls(2去 5g)bccame the most imPortarlt
De迁loPments l’ l tl△ e丘fth∝ntu,cE钆 rthCr leh佰 rced由 c即⒙ blon贺 cur-
renC,system由 at had emergedin d1e second half° fLhe dliⅡd~entur,c E DesPite
。ng。 ing losses of buⅡ ion to亿 relgn p,x· ers,go1d expanded its doninance,Is the
sⅡver per烬 ar(° rsome sOtI bO0kg at41g Per Tang° unce),aIthough one source
re殳Ⅱ lo as many as25,Ooo ounce5,or op.e metllc‘ on∶仓9Thesc rates are exiremcl,·
Iow comPared to R° man sⅡ lcr production in spain Vnder the s° ng,outPllt was
boosted t° 145,oo0ounces in998and a rcc° rd883,ooo° unces in】 022bcforedroPping to2〗 5,o00-220,000ouncesin l049/78thc most produtt加 ?prefecture
was then cKdited with lO0,0oo+ounces pcr yea⒈ ⅡO These annual°utput ngures
rangc丘om6徊 9tons Es· cn the Peak in Io22,at36tons,merely cquals Roman
producti° n le· /cls in a sln璧 e Province Ιn the same pci° d,g。 Id w笛 produced atannual1evels of‘ lO,ooC△ I5,000° unces,or400-00O klograIt,s,an e"irc ordcr
of magnitude⒗ wer than outPutin any° ne ofthc most proiltable ROman Pror
inces r an,ihin⒏ Preclous metal yleldsin the Han Pc0° d must have been loivcr
扰吖t橡T找I∶:黯胬找漶r毖紫臀:器搜辟hot。 rical g° ld mines in China were aCtiVe in tha‘
Peri。 d"suver wasˇ irtually
聊鞴龉蹒换逮戴
18o R口 ″氵cd″″C′Ⅰ氵″n
unknown in central China P【 io【 to the、
^`arring states Peri°
d"=Tho mctal o
generally nre in central China and c。 nccntratcd im thc佰 r south,and the ea【 li-
est eVidcnCe for thc cupella“ on ofa【 gen‘ 丘rous s llphide°res comes佥 om the
Tang period∶ B1n fact,because ofsupply con“r泣n‘ ,China aPPearsto have been
tllCapable of establohing a sohd“
`?r based currellq sx.s弪
m untⅡ ma“ i收 “⒈
κrimpor‘ 丘om Ⅰapan、 the PhniPpines,and thc New Wodd beo汊 een the mld-
sktcenth and the mld seˇ enteent虹 centuries inlected some7,300tons of thls
metalinto the CpInese eConomⅥ"Conslderd togethe‘ these variotls r· P。 rts,6“ mates,and c°njectures su爹
gest伍 atanoen攵 China might not hav~。 been caPable ofsustaiΠ ulg a highˉ,olume
preclous mdd Cufrency sys⒃ me昭刀fthe auth。 r淡 讵s had、讨由ed to do so Atthe
same timc,tho notion m培 htseem di跪 cult to rec。 nolc wi犰 the hotorical record
ConCeming thc scale of go妃 st° cks and dobur‘ ements dur血 g the lJestem Han
,lnd Xin peri° ds(sCC abo/e,seCtion4刀 lf Wang Mang had犯 tuaⅡ y m,ln邵 ed
to aCCumtllate an阝vhere near150tons of g° ld in ho palace,a“ bu11iOn scaKi〃”
exPlanati° n lor the Presumcd unsustainabih〃 of a preciou⒌ metal cuⅡ enq sys~
tem in anoent China would bec° mc more di氙 cuk lo sust茹 n Ps noted h scctlon
cε In° rclσ № m“ ntah由 扯叩缸was co泗 P四m汕矽 “盯“h mclem C“ m_that is,h relauon t。 wcstern Eurasia v· ew° uld have to assume that the Ⅺngov· rnmcnt was able to c。 n¢ ntrate a muCh Iarger曲 are of owrau gold st。 clvs in
⒒s own bands This。 血deed whatschol。 rs hale been prepared to bchevc,though
FOr no better reason than a genelic(and,to a” °nehm山 ar w止 h the standards of
cntlcism aPPlied t° creco Roman texts,someWhat nalw)beliefin the ovoraⅡ rel:
abil” °fthe contemp° raq hoton。墅apllml tradⅡ ion_and tb ls in thc∞收 rs
oflhe contral g° ·ernmentto implcnent a mcasure as sWccping as the“ nationa⒈
讫atlon” of(a very substantial share。 f all)Pr1· atoll/llelcl gold st。 cRs,witllin a··e呼sholt pe"。 d ofume"=This o notto say that a m。 del Predlcltcd on the notIOn of
a high degr。 e°fg° x·emme1it h° ardlng in eady impe扛 al China o out ofthe ques-
tioⅡ rePorts;° m tlle Northern s° ng Perlod p° Lltin the same d订 ecuon’ 。
In the end,tllere ale seⅤ eral wa泠 °f reconCdlng the Ⅱterary tradid° ∏aboutgcnerous Han and Ⅺn gold st° cks with ll,c more modest archaeological record
甘【-∶
l谩Ι捃l岛 T茹宅J∶芹r拈:T;啻苜Ⅰ去::絮;1濯:靶)浏y跏曲e same order⒍ magn lt de凼
182 Ro`刀en″
'/lllJ】
夕
In the\VaⅡ ing states penOd,the m句 。r po、 t,e^drew on con“ ript armics。 f
tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands°f peasant$and eVCn in the Qin and
Mrestern Han periods,univeIsal conscripti。 n proppcd up rhe miIitarˇ appara
tus of tlle uni丘 ed cmptc It was not unti【 the E孙tErn Han pertod tllat profe孓
s,ona、 ,Convicts,foreign scmcrs,and mσ cena“es took o,/er旧 How werc thesc
conscripts Provided for?l am not aware of any evidence of reguΙ ar monetary
and l9tcr outpLIt⒖ gure⒌ the eady tallics may be exaggerated;they necd not
alwa)'s rpfcr lo aCtudl gold;or they m吖 be corrett but renect thc success£ ill
seque时 ration of a§ ets by the state Regardless。 f which option、 ve prefer,there
can be1ittle doubt that gold and especially silver were scarcer in ancient China
than in the ancient Med⒒ erranean Hot°Ⅱcal compa^son曲 o、 v‘ that tlle meta1
supply rcPeatedly pla阼 d a cr扯 ltaI lole in determini∏ g the cha./acter° f dillerent
CurrenCy s阝 tcms The eadicst‘
`egean”
c° ins were made of eIec“ um found°n
Mount Tm° l。 s and h the Paktol。 s Rl状 ri∏ Lyda Snver d。 mlllated the Creek
CurrenCy s阝 tcm than“ to the depo“ ts of Attica,ThraO,⒌ Phn。s,and Samos
Central Asian and hdian g。 Id supported the Kushan and Gupta dinars C。 ld
0sues by Celtic P° hdes were driYen bysupPl≯ just as bul⒒ on imports缶Om Nubia
and由 e sencgal`Niger region acc。 unted for the腔 mporary shi丘 lr° m snver t。
gold currenoes in the early I引 amic Midd讵 Eas“ the°pening°f new minesin
b,。 I丘h and thirteenth century EuroPe ended the previotls monetary rcC6“ 。n;bur1ee∏ th ccntury g°ld imPorts rrom Guinea facdltated the砖 h订oduCtion。 f
gold coiΠ age in lat medieval】 taIy;the docovery ofoch Tyro1ean si1vcr mines lll
the n丘 eenth century and subsequent mⅡ six/e trans攵 rs命om the newˇ acquiled
SPan恣 h territ° ries of、 1exico and Peru sustained the productlon and cVcntu,91
dominante。 fheaw“ l·er c° insin wcstern Europs and Braz∶ han gold supp° rtdthe hcr British go⒙ currncy∶ r户dl tho sugges‘ th扯 the reIativc stdrClty。 fpr←
ci° us metalsin anoent China mn"ated against the creati° n°femPir⒏ wide gold
or silvcr currenCies
7J 0"″ m氵 Fr,d0阝
thc impact of suPPly cons订 ··lnts mη `have been leinlOKed by a lack of struc
tural demand br normed h培 h value l。 w-weight m° netary hstrumcnts in the
FOrm of preo° us~metal coin、 hⅡ e thc re孙 O ps奶 r lhe creatlon of Coinage h
飞cstern A“a、hn。 r arc co∏ trOVerslaI-and曲 e desire to pa,mercenaries may
not bc the m。 st comPelling soIu“ on on o涣 卜 and whⅡ e archa∶c Greek toin
a莎 ,oncˉ ad。Pted,w凼 弁eque"l1· used in prls/a弪 m“ket exchan扩 (as the gr° w-ing es· idence br smJl⒈ denomina“ on siher c° ins v。 ry c° mpdhngly bll。xs s),
subsequent im订dtions。 丘en apPear to have becn triggered by mihta甲 need⒌
th、 o almost certainly true。 fthe Hclknlsuc klngd。 ms,imPσ ial Carthage,and
RePublican Rome,and probab1y of va"ous【 beoan,Celtic,and Iranian pohties
as weⅡ In the late佰 urth century B c E,the area of c。 in use in westem Eura“ a
suddedy hcreased se爬 raΙ 0mes by folce of arms aIone,and this exPanslon w孙
subsequenuy sustahed by m"itary mnding dcmands
刀】e Mo″ er,zr,岛“″羽s吖 汕c HillnⅡ
'R。
″`″
助,p rFs 183
light°n the imPortance of∞ in h a mⅡitary setting duringthe1ate Westcm Han,
Wang Xlang,and earliest Eastern Han periodsF(Xralucs we【 趸generauy expressed
in cabll term⒌ m。 re speCincau≯ whue mIlltary sa1a,entldements we【 e always
quantined Ln tllis wa” the actuaI pa0lents could be made eithcr in coin or in
klnd。 ;】 t has been ar囹 △ed that cash paplents predomina腔 d,and Hclen Mrang
notes tha攵 the龟 ct tl at llle pr。 posal to resumc w】 I ll〃 p【oduction arter thc Ks
toration of Han rule was KP。 rtedly madc by Ma Yuan,tllc go浓 rnor° f Lon抄 i
(Gansu)may rpnect the demand for cash at the northwestern丘 °ntie⒎∶“How-
e· ,。马Wh⒒ e th6e te·ts1ea收 no doubtthat°路∝rs and assooated o访 Iian o伍 oals
Were at least in Part c。 mpensated in cash,it话 not at au clear whedler ord⒈
Πa〃 s° ldiers c° mmonIy rece"ed p呷 ments in thc form of c。 in For instance,
the monthlv allowance of3%sh油 。f graln tlequCntψ 。sued to regular ser,ice-
men_amountingto66lIters and Cqulvalentto someWhere around20l0dOo cash
as we⒒ as suPpΙ emented by sdt.atlo∏s and smauer f。 。d alIo、vances for ramⅡ y
member卜 m呷 weu ha· e repr“ ented thc total c° mpepsatlon of pri叼 tcs and(at
vertcd into aⅡ ocati° ns i且 kmd0r rctained in personal acc。 unts·’:Thu6,in the
Chhese casc,initial rohance on∞ nsCriptlon,an emPhasis。 n paymentsin khd,
and the ab货 ncc° fcompet:t° rs operathg Preo° us-metal curr· ncy s阝 tems Fancd
to C四 atC strong demand for large quantities of standardI,ed hξ h t° mediumˉ
value and I° w~weight m。 netary oblects夕’
The extcnt to WhiCh dirferent demellts。 fthc P° P llau。n uscd preoous metal
for monetary purposes is a№ r澍cvant here A much latcr obsep。‘C,u⒕△-in hIs“ kc° rd of DaⅡy K五owlcdgc,” may hal/e cIaimed that“ du“ ng Han goId
orculatcd among both upper and lower c1asses” Ⅱσ H° wever,later rep° rts were
ulumateˇ spun。 tlt of rcp° r‘ oflar旷 amounts ofvcuow`″ handed。 utby Hanrulers and need not rencct anv genuine knowlcdgc of P锱 t conditl°ns As】 have
〓郴揆裂轴到卦<巛
圣靼
184 R0冫冫:e田"dC乃
i`Jn
out⒗ cd above(settlons41-2),gold usc was Pomarnyˉ albelt not exClusⅣ clγ`-孙sociated with ehte pfot,ngonists Iftho image renec‘ Kali0⒖ Ⅱ might be helPml
t。 dcnne the imPeod monetary wstem in tcrm$of“ transactional ordersJ’ 1、 ls
concept,d"dopcd by paⅡ y and Bl° ch and reccIldy apPhed by Kurke to t,he
study° fexchangc and mo∏ e‘zadon in archaic Greece,derⅡ es fiom the° bse「
v,ltion that“ mally‘°cleties cons“ tute thc acuvities° f exchange and economics
as“Vo sepa【 ate but organicauy ar伍 culated transac“ onal。 rdcrs、-a“ longˉterm
transacti° nal° rdcr卜 ha刂
`alw呷s pos:tix/eˇ valued,insofar as"o percciwd to
perPetuatc aΠ d reproduce the la唱 er s° c诒land c°smlc ordcr and a short term
ortier in the sPhere° f indi呐 dual acqu砾“°n that“ t.ˉ nds to be moraⅡ y unde
termined slnt~。 ⒒concerns llldiVldual purPosCs whIch are largely iⅡ elevant to
the longˉ term order刂 In the eady Grcck c° nte纹,珀Jrke singles out binarIcs‘bpposlng the s-bohc‘ renned g。 ld9of aristocratic加 纟rrljr0氵 t° dle圮 un诒 rfeit
c。 ir。f the c“ luded k,lko氵 ,opposing the stabk and secuF orcu⒒ of eLte gi丘
exchangc to the iΠ docriminate and Prom芯 cuous orCulatioR of Ⅲoney in the
Pubhc sphc【 eJ’ "=
Thc memo“ al of Cha° Cuo,set in【 78BcE,might pro缸 ably be interpreled
withl】 ltho⒍amσvork,cmphaslzlng as it does thc subl/ersts e PotCmlal of higi
value o” ect⒌“Peads,jadc,goId,and“ l,/e【 are⒒ght,sma"articks,and are easy
lo hlde H,△ ving them in one`grasP Ia personl can tras· d all a.ound withln the
seas Withou“ he hardshlps ol hunger or c° Id These mLtse those in go1· ernment
Posi讧 ons hghdy to turn their backs upon thcir rulers;Itbese causel peoplC indii
fcrendy to go awav⒍ om thet naux· c loWnshIPs⒒ llese gi收 l thle1· es and r【 ,bbe阝
the incen“ ℃ 丨for c“ mcsJ;and Ithese makl lu矽 ti收 s able to hax/e1ighdvelght
weahhr=’ ’By c°ntrast,the text gocs on to relate,grai∏ or textjIes are too hc肿 γ to
carry around,)net essentlal⒗ rsuR· l1· al the imPhtatlon bclng that dlose with-
out∝ Cess to preCious lowˉ weight tems are reduccd ω uslng dlese∞ mmod“ ics
and henLe safcls· pinned d° wa“ F。 r this reason an enⅡ ghtcned ruler csteems tllc
咱Ⅱ 莎ains,’ and lXespoes名 old and`dC'卢 dth° ugh tho tcxt docs not say ln so
many words,the pbvsical burden rePrescnted by highˉ value amounts of bronze
coins would also haⅡ serV· cd to c° lnstraIn undesirable mobdlb·
Nev·.。 rthcless,with regard to Han China,tnnsaC0onal cons"ai“ s may wdl
havc been more rclaxed:n practice:the anecd° tcs relatcd∶ n sec〖 ion⒋ 2sugˉ
gc纹 由at commoners Were仔 ee t° handle gold in as much as they were ab1e to
afford to Dc facto,howev· e6most Pe° Ple,for most° fthe ume,nust have been
excluded佥 °m the gold cconoΠ
`At nrst slght,dle sltuatlon Ln the Roman EmPlre丘om3臼 c E Onsvard,aIld essenllaψ al【
eady slnce the2ω scE,bears a丈 ropg
!ciik ωvntti C tl“ g0mongˇ Ⅱe Pk.r丬c;whc¢ 西 gdd knd‘ to bc p° n,呻闷 否 drm%“ ng h m° re p汴 uot
184 R劬Ⅱε口氵ld Ch氵`:“
r,u山 ned abox· e‘ cctIc,ns4Ⅱ 妙,驷 l i tlsC was prularlll/ dbeIt nct“ dus"clY
t。 denne the imperlal moneta,s泠 tcm lll terms of“ tnns∝ tlonal orders” Th:s
concept,deve1oPed by Parry and Bloch and recendy apphed by Kurk to the
study ofeKhange and mone“ zadon in ar。 haic Greece,deril/es flom the obser~
vatlon trIat“ many sooetles constitulc the atilv"ies of exLhange and economics
as t,v· o seParate but orga而 caⅡ y ar“culatcd transactional o记 趸rs”_a“ longˉtcrm
transat“ onal order Itha刂 。alwa冷 p【 ,sitix· cˇ valued,i∏ sofar as⒒ o pcrcoved to
perpetuate and reproduce the larger social and cosmk° rder· and a shortoterm
order in the‘ phere of lndi访 dual acquoitlon that“ tends to be mo了 alˇ unde~
1ermined∮ ncc i1conce【 ns lndlv· ldual purposes which afe largdy irrcl四 ant to
tlnc long term ordeFJ In the earll Greek context,【 Jrkc slngles out binarles
%ppo⒍ ng thc svmboⅡ c‘【c丘ned gold· of aⅡ stoσatlC幻¢rrl`ro氵 to tIle℃ ounterfeit
coul’ of the cxdudcd k四 火oj,oppo“ng the斑 ablc and secure circult of elite gi众
cxchange to the ind;scriminate and P【 o】n:scuous circulau。 n°f moncy in the
Public sphere”丬
The memorIa1of Chao Cuo,set ln178BcE,might Pro丘 tably be in弪 rpreted
within lhls tamework,emphas讫 ng as it does the subvcrsive potcn“ al of hlghˉ
、alue oblcc烛“PeaHs,jade,gold,and siIl/er are l熄 ht,sⅢ au artkles,and are easy
to hldc Hav】 ng them ln onc、 gmsP〔 a personl can"aVd al1around witbin thc
seas without the ha【 dships of hun纩 r or cold these cause those lll gove〖 nmcnt
posi“ ons Iight灯 t° turn thcir baclxs upon their rllkls;"hcse causel pe° Plc indIi
terendy to go awav from thclr na1】ve townshlp⒐ t由 ese g】 ve1·JllCves and robbcrs
tlle hcentl1· e丨 lor crlme引 ;an i Ⅱhese malsel iIζ tl,6ab怡 to M⒕ Ⅱght,o,e唿 llt
wealth∷》By con仃 ast、 the tcxt gocs° n to rdatc,grain° r te对 Ⅱcs are too hea、γ to
tar/y around,rt essential允 r suⅣ i△ a⒈-the impbtatlon be血 g dlat those。 mt怔
out ac∝ ss to preCious low-weigllt"ems are rcdu∞ d to dsing these commodi“ es
and hence sa佗 灯 PlnnCd iown“ FOr thls rcason all cnll逭 氵1怡ned ruler estecms the‘nve glainsF and desp△ es gold aqd扭 deJ’ 妒dthough tho te× t docs not‘ ay lll so
many、∞rds,thc ph阝 icd burden represen贮 d by highˉ aIue amoullts of br0nze
c。 ins would also h羽 escwed to Cons‘aln undesirabk mobiIlb/
Ngertbeless,with regard to Han China,trans∝ 0onal∞ ns“ alnt‘ may Well
have bccn moIe【 elaxed ul practice the anecdotes relatcd ul scttIOn乏 2su⒏
ge酞 that commoners werc亻 ;∶ee lo handle gold ul as much as they were able to
a【ford tO De facto,howes· e马 most people,for most° f thc t山 e,must have bccn
exduded fiom the goId econom乒 At丘rst slght,thcsituatIOn in the Roman Em萨 rc
命om367c E onward,and essen刂 auy址 ready sln∝ the260scE,bears a strong
刀昭M仍昭ro〃 sl'‘ fo″ s∝ ●·g fit Ⅱ·。Ⅰ″Ro`″四″ε,,P氵 ″s !Bs
resemblance,l】l formalterfns,to thatin Qinˉ Han China∶ in b° th cascs,tllc m° netary s泠 弪m was bu"t artlund a“vo~“ er struα ure of gold and bro∏ zc Lookedat m。 re d° $eI弘 h。 weve‘ Profound dl臼 tren∝sc° me to the fort Thc late R° nans阝tem reIied on(coined)g° ld as an anchor whllc bronze or copper wcre Pco~
odicaⅡ y aband。 ncd to debasement and dcvalua“。n This m°dus operandi was
嬲 紫 丑摞 黑 R∶扌社:∶愚t蓦 :t∶:Ⅰlj∶:;;∶∶〖:∶∶泫罗 Ⅲ 窝 棣 Fablc)base metd den° mha0° ns,creating st∞ng structur胡 demand for goId由 at
had no parallel in ancient China h fact,as the Han b【 onze coinage remained
stable ror most°f曲e time,theimpetus for a“ ∏ight into go1d’ f⒒ exlsted at au,
h·ouId have been much wcakcr than in dle unstable monetary environment of
the later R° man Empire】 n consequencc,gold use would h猁 e rcmalned m° re
(sociaⅡn hmited than lI,theIater Rom8n Empire
CondltIOns in anClent China m呷 have had morein common Wi曲 those Ιnrepublican Romc,where g。 Id bulh。 n腚r火d asa m钩 ns of paymcnt,store of
weaIth,and unk ofatc°untˇ △ne its。 x·e弘 n“gnincan∞ f。 r the la侄 republkan
economy o di伍 cult ω dctermine,Hollander stresses the casudl way In which
dite sources(cspe。 auy cicero)reler lo the uˇ of un∞ hed gold and sllκ r h
monetary transadlon⒌ btluion was deady regardcd as a usenil and n。 t at all
uncom m° n form of m。 ney∶∶日On occasion,rcciPients collld evcn be low dass,
such as s° ldiers。 r even slaves B50verall,howeveⅡ buuion订 ansa欲 ions apPear lo
have been hmited in thc丘 rst instan∝ lo the state,the Weal由
`and traders~Thekey diHtrence he‘ in the reIative abundance of$nver that c。 uId be turned lIlt°
C0lIlin thc W℃ st and its nea【 absencc⒍°m early China
Howeve6thc exJstcncc of a stabΙ e bronze coinage systcm,the apparent scarˉ
ciW° f gold and especlalˇ su,· e6andlow stucmra1demand for p·eoousˉ mctal
c° in are Insu伍 cicnt to a∝°unt fo【 the faα that gold and silx· cr did n° t nor-
maⅡ y orculate ln coined torm-″¤r召昭″i河 lIl彷 fc″ q“o″ r氵艹氵6∶ ;“ The stamPedg°ld plates of Chu,sould have pro” ded a w。 rkable temPlatc,and later° n,the
Chinese st征 e encountercd“ Grcckˉ sⅡ e” coins in its western protect。 ratc in Bmˉ
jiang H,· brid Ⅱwcstern” Ⅱ屮e∞ IIls that Combined№ ro晶 thi(ie,Indian)and
Chi,nese1egcnds were in fact produced at the intersection of the b,· o moneta吖
sPherCs,∶⒘yet Were n° tim"ated in China proper、 vhere precious metd c° i灬
we【e onˇ osued under foreign domlnatlon3s1ater arrl1· als of sasanld and cady
dotlnct饣°m tllat ofits medium and envi⒍ 。ns monetaryˇ alue as a ftlnctlon
of state6at、 1oder∏ “h。 larshlp tends to stress thc metallotic foundations
ofthe R° man imPe“ al and Prov· 】ncial currencics on thc one hand and the
nduciary character ofeady Chine父 c° in on thc othe【 ∶小H° wevcr,lhe implicd
contrast between these t、 v° systems ls in large Fart ima昏 nary∶∶栅it ncglccts
both the疯 duciary dimcnsion° f Roman coinage and the ph阝 ical cons1raints
that govemed c° in use in China Dcsp扯 e Profound dilferences in terms° fthcrelatii e,·alue of the∞ ns"tucnt eIcments° fthek monetary° blects,the t、 vo
currcncy systems had much in c。 mmon ln b° th cases,thc cxchange vaIue of
coins was determhed by a combinati° n° fthe订 intrin$It mctaI-vaIuc andusers’ wmingness t。 accept them at their n° minal value,a wilIingness that in
turn dep辽 nded° na wh° lc range° f factors such as informatlon costs,trust,
and ch° icc,au of which were to s。 me extent a funcdon of state power andp° hcies
The“ nduciary moder’ °f chinesc money surcrs斤 oli a variety of probkms
For examPIe,"n∝ ds to account forthc factthat Qln c° ins were exp⒒ odyIabcledwith a weight den° minatlon(0n″ ′lrl呜 or“ ha1‘ ounce”)Llat the state at kastlni心ally s° ught to adhere to∶ 艹0ne re∝ nt° bser,er notes the“ app扯 ent conˉ
traclIctIOn of ha△·lng a nduoary∞ Inage where the coin inscr∶Ptlon indIcated a
precoe weight`’ :I‘ But tho contradk‘°n bec。 mes apparent° nls in retrospcct,
in lhe context° f gradual woghtl° ss° vσ time H°wever,thc in∞ ntIOverjble
lactthat br much°fthe third century B c E c。 in weight订 ended1owcr mustnotbe i∏ tcrP四ted as a“gn that k wass。 mehow i【 relex/an⒈ compeotlon by underˉ
coins of thc、Veste【 n Han period in ovto(paruy overlapping)modern samPles
exhlbit a beⅡ -cus· e shapcd welght dlstrIbut∶ on that leas·es no doubt that state
mints aimed for a set target woght that was sublcct lO peIiodlc adlustment(ng
ures72-73and table7I)
Itcatches the eyc thatthe cadiest w“ ~ˉJ】“0sues(l18113:cE)tcnd to ek.eedthet n° minal weight°f52宀〃by an alcrage margin of20percent(or lz凡 ΙJ)r metal c。 ntent mattercd to use【 s,thls would havc been a suitable means of
estabhshing the credlbiIi〃 ofthe new cuⅡenq that may howwes nothaw been
and the“ nducia「 /” monetary tradl“ on of China are at best。 xa幽erated and at
196 Ro″ f四`】
dC乃 i"n
Worst se“ ously mlsleading The matuˉ e Han curren吖 system accommodatcd a
signincant dcgree ofsogniorage due to the ba“ c佰 ct that producdon costs br
base皿dal C0in are nontrWial relati,/c to tllc p“ ce ofthc raw matcoak、 1oreˉ
over,Centrah狞 d mass Pfoduc“ on of care钆 1ˇ normed c° ins and lcgal injunc
tions against pr&at issucs raiscd thc cost of countr灸 iting Takcn together,thesc
俗ct。 rs supp。 rted a relatlx/e灯 high m。 n°poly pri∝ of state coinag⒏ under the· e
circumstances,exen if the n。 minal value。fa wⅡJm coin e玫 eeded"s met破
l/aIue by lO0Percent,thC use ofstate manufactured base metal coin破 nomhdexchange rates remained thc least costˇ op“ °n for the genera1pub1k Itw岱 ollly
when Ihe st,ltc in"oduccd cash that was overvalued by a margi∏ tnat was high
enough to be both conspicuoLs and renderimita0ons pro丘 table that“Gr6ham’ s
Law” becamc ope【 atlfe,priCe innati。 n ensued,and countcr妾 lting proufera· ed
Mukiples of300,500,and3,00O cash undeI XN udi,。 f5,25,50,and up to l0,000
undcr Wang Mang,° fl00,500,and up to5,00O in the Thrce Kingdoms,and of
I0undcrthc Song a"缸 ll in tllls c仓 tcgory∶ ^The s阝 tom tolcrated onˇ a moder~
ate degree° f currency maniPulatton
Tho hmkcd dabiicitv of the rato of intrlnst Vduc to nomtnal VallIe was
by∏ o means unique to earˇ China r日 Regarding th话 relaoonship,comparl⒑ n
bc“l/een the currency s阝tems°fthe Han and Roman empires rel/eals文 riklng
“mll。 n"6Theta呜et sil/σ contentofthe Roman de”'r冖
阝ofone ogh吖 -foLlrth
ofa pound(c385砂 rem宙ncd unthanged lor b∞ ∝nttlriv。s from tlle180sBcE
until the cady nrst century C E lnstances。 f eXCepdonally intense Prcssure on
state丘nances oCCasioncd° nly rclatiwly min。 r and sh° rt hx· ed debascments
ar【 lund90B c E and in the3佻 BcE(see abovc,secdon61)Flom64to235cE_Very蚰 、vIy at⒍ rst and敌 an accelerating rate late⒈ the mean silver con-
tent of the d召 ″四″〃s fell by ab。 ut56pcrcent=i’ lt is un蚰 own to、vhat cxtcnt
P“ces rose in resP° nsc to tlle deCrea“ ng intrlnsic value of newly minted coin
a纩 :飞 vsable sc“al pote data are la昭 ely c° nnned t。 R。man E劭Pt whe【 e the
mcan“ ker content of the pro呐 ncial川 exandrtne tetradrachm传 ll by around
30percent bep,· /een the6os and thc16os c E whde prices rcmainCd stable and
by another50percent bcbvcen170and192c E The lattcr drop coincided w讠 th
rlΙ c ΛⅠ。″crnrl sl‘ 扌E`″ 5ofrlll,HtlⅡ 伢″″Roll'″ ε″P'6 197
a rapid d° ubhng of prices=i=This n】 ight be taken t。 suggest that suddcn largc
changcs in metal c。 ntcnt wcre more hkely t。 imPact poccs than slo、 v gradual
debasement Ber,△ een238and269cE,as6sc汛 demands pscalated a∏ d Pmci。 us
metalsupphes dim血 ishcd dueto incessant mnitarykampaigning and temporar/
血ternal;agmentad。 n,the“ lv钌 content of the new imPeoal sil· /cr coin(thc‘‘d。 uble” dc″ ‘lrⅡ、known as n″ 匆″j″ in″ I/s)fen by98percen△ g【°“ c。 irl wcight
was almost haked whne nncness was reduced仃 。m50to17pcrcent=;:0n∝again,the consequcnces oftho prˉ ciP订 °us sl记e remain ob义 ur。 Much the兕 皿e
is true of bimetalhc exchange rates The g。 ld content。 fthe imperial n″ 沼Ⅱs hadgraduauy been⒗ wered by55pefcent beo een the earˇ 丘仑t cen1ury and the240s
cE,traC灯 ng but n。 t ttllly keePing uP w⒒ h the concomitantloss of75pcrcent
of the siWer curKnc,、 inton“ c vdue【 n thc250s and260scE,as the扯 vo⒈
oprjnent of the n“ mj,~wh∝ e intrin“ c valuc remained rdat1· ely stabk_was
丘nally dec° uPled贪 Om the dramatk debasemcnt of si如 e鸟 n。 minal exchange
ral钋 bcⅡeen g。 lcl and sllvcr colns are llkdy to ha,· e comc untier郸 ovving pres-
sum Unlortunatel≯ tbc ex/idence sheds htue hght。 n actual。 utc° mcs in most
Parts° fthe Roman飞“Drld In EgyPt,prices apPear(。 havc remaincd佤 irl,“able
thrc ughout由 o period butsuddenIˇ rose moF than tenfoid h the mid270scE
whcn the imPeriaI gol/ernment o伍 CiaBy retari仔 Vd the imperial sⅡ ver c° inage
in、旧ys that aPpear t° hax/e muscd k to be conspkuou“ y owrvducd reh扛 1·e lo
c、sdng丈andards A sim"ar hnk beⅡ een orrCial retarirnng and sudden p“ ∝inna“ 。n has been suggested ror3o【 c E when the state d° ubled thc nominalvalue。 fsnver and biuon c。 ins reIative t。 g° ld∶ price c。 ntrols that1· er← unsucˉ
Ccsslully△ mposed immediatel,afterward may have been an attempt to curtan
an ensuing° r anticipated rise i∏ Prices∷9
Tho suggests a c° mplex KahtJ/in which b。 th° moal valuatons and the met蔽
yalue of c。 i∏ s were° f relwance and叨 dden goⅡ mmentinterven“ o∏ was thc
principal cause。 f thc market’ s reilsal to axˉ ccpt certain r厂 pes of coin at龟 cc
valuc卜 01ust$the Qin state°fthc third century B c E had s。 ught lo ass鸠na
un1form vdue to c。 iΠ s° f di“Vrent w。 ghts“ eˉ ab°r,secd° n2),thc R° m all
authooues exp∝ ted t。 determlne the ra诒 s at Which δtate manu幺 ctuFd c° ins
annual rate of wastage was as high as that,creating a total′‘h)/brid’
`tock of22billioR coins By comparis。 n,ifwe assume alowcr annua11o“ ratc° f03percentand_probdb灯 unreallstlcdˇ_douue t陕 s讫e“ 曲c pre l"EhⅡ H,,rl mon叩
st。 ck,we end uP with an early nrstcentury c E tauy。 f23bilIion ΨI扌zh:‘ and12billiOn caHier c。 ins,佰r a totd of35bdh° n This suggests that it would be di「
ncuh t。 rcckon with a total moncy stock ofe汪 her below20biuion。 r much over
3o billi° n bronze Coins atthc end ofthe、 V分 tern Han period】 fpF~· l】亻'∶
IΙ coin
had been sucCess血 h'denoneuzed,。 uresumatc w。 uld haY。 fo be nearthelower
cnd ofthis rangc As nolcd,the archaeol。 gic扌 reco.d侑vOrs aloW end taⅡ yThe am° unt of gold and“ lver that was used lor monetary PtlrP° ses“ ,of
Course,unknown As discussed ab。 ve,re炙ren∞ st° the disburscment of900,00o
丿加 cr G225tons of golcl f all of dlo did血 deed ωnsot° f attud gol茳 in the
V√estcrn Han period and to XA/ang、 1ang’s hoard° f6oo,000丿 j`:。 r⒍ 150tons of
gold are of u∏ certalIl Value alld in any case cann° t be used to esnmate t。 tal gold
stocks atthc time′’Thc四htil/escaroγ ofg。 ld hoalds佥 o】n the Han Peh° d su爹
gcsts that in the most扩 neral terms,monetary g。 1d stocks were smaⅡ er than in
thc Roman Empirc If wc were to speculate由 atthe amount of Han gold money
was h扭 fas lalge,as that° fRoman cohed g。 ld,the rcsultant total of220-440lons
might hdc bccn prkecl at a” 、vherc佥。m9to39bdh。 n cash蜘 It meots a住en
“on that higher cstimates of thc quanti,° fgold m° ncy would imply tln缸 驷ld
rather than bronzc domhated the Han currency system,which sccms incomPat~
iblc with the ttnor ofthe souKes签 ··,eⅡ as evidence from Iater Pc“ 。ds° f Chinesc
hotory Given the verylow prorde。 fsⅡ ver h the、 0stern Han perlod,trlo met缸
、vould n。 t have made a slgninca,.t conthbution to dle money supply
These crude c° n丿 ectures suggest that the aggregate cash Yalue of aⅡ gold,sⅡ
~
ve6and bronzc money atthe end of曲 e Western Han period∞ uld have rangcd
llon30to70bulion c西 h Gl1· en由 at both lhc high end gues茹 s。fthe numbcr
of bron夕 colIis and thc amount。 Fg。ld m。 ney rest on assumPtlons that are
hkely to innatxo tl c r6LIlts,an ncttual tauy of the。 rder of40or50b歧hon seems
more Plausiblc∶⒐Cor.Yerted int。 graln equivalent,metal m° ney stocks° f3o to
70bⅢ lon cash may ha仰 c°【re叩onded to anywhere仔 om6to28b沮 ion hters。 f
grain,wbⅡ e the cons。。rvatix/e6“ m【lte of40tO5ob"hon ca【 ll,· /ould h灬 e trans-
lated to8t。 20billion hters’ ’=
2o2 Ro″ I召 四″〃Cγ】″】四
estimate of tOtal money stoc⒗ worth bebveen lo and20bⅡ ion sesterCes ΨDuld
tran“ ale to an,svherc丘 om22to90bl⒒ on hte丕 °f graln
Due to the dencicncies。 f the evidence,my estimatcs br size oF both the
Han and the Roman money stoc⒗ vary by a lactor of four。 r nVe Howex· es
dcsPite these very Con“derabk n狂gins of uncertainˇ u even the broadest r,in旷
of guesses tor the money文 ock in Han China° f ber,ieen6and28bⅢ ion hters
of grain equivalent barv。 ll°Verlaps with thc much h唿 her range殳om22to90billion hte阝 proposcd for thc Roman Empirc M° rc cons.。 rvat打 e gucsses of8
to20bⅢ ion1iters br Han China and of3o to40biⅡ 1on llters for1he Roman
EmPire wollld ha△·eewn1essin common∶ ’:,s/lth au duc cautlon,】 condude that
due to the dominance of gold and sJver∞ in in wcstern Eurasia and血 hght。 f
the documented Valuadon of diferent mdals relati浓 t° grain in both regions,
the Roman Emp订 c had achi四 ed blgh钉 leYds of m° ne“ zatlon than its Chulese
counterpart
This co∏ dusion r6ts on a compaΓ i5on of meta1stocks and thelr red value
αprcssed in tcrms of纩 aIn However,nonmetauiC m。 netar,media I虫 ewise
requir。 consideratlon【 n thc Han Empire,cash and buu⒗ n were suppIemented
by nloney in tlJc IOrm oftcxtdcs,abol/e allsdk Thc丘 lstknown normed unitl△ as
thc b〃 ofthe late preimperiaI Qin state,a piece of cloth measur血 g8c而`by2ai5cⅡ ″(or I88x585cm)盘 nd valucd at ll‘ 日”
`i四`嗯
cash RClcrcnces lo贞 ncs that
are exPressed in mult” les of the latter6gure suCh凼 lIO,220,l,100,Or2,200
cash suggest that,Ie货 Payments may have bcen coⅡ∝使d in doth rather than
coin2只’Undcr山 c Han d,△ Ⅱ“ b°⒒s of2d订 2田Jn Ⅱ 5~,l· I,lg o17xl,Ι 75Cm)
became dle哽 andard s位 e sik remained a popuI狂 gift ulrough。 ut tllat perlod,
and the m。 netary use。 ftex t珏c$旷 ncrally sur墅 d dur狁 g pcri。 ds° fstate instabi⒈
iγ such as the hter years of Mrang Mang’ s relgn,° r lat~ˉ r。 n in the Jin DvnasCJ
t五e Pe^od ofDou血on,orthe hte%ng D卩 asⅡ 娴 In alIdltIon,p呷 nerl“ h the
bm of“姐ary-sdk” C∶ll0冫砂ω ar,d′ ahryˉ cotton” C“ 沅”are mentioned h
the d°cuncnts付 om the Iuyan garrison“ te j“
`Ve cannot te⒒how much the moneta叩 use of te斑Ⅱes contrlbtlted to the
°veFau money suPPl平 H° weve‘
"is crucial to【
eahze that狗 r cIoth money to
cl。父the gaP beo,· een the money stoCks° fthc Han and Roman cmP订 es,k woltld
have had to be as abundant(in cash弪 rms)as au varie“ es of metal money com-
bined;臼 Thc sourc钙 Certa】 nly do not convey thc imprc50on that lllo was the
∶01、、hng∶00⒋ 51w th50tabk⒗ and cf5Ⅱ tabk9fo了 th忿 0‘ uin8ofd`”"d`d"`°
rˇ largc r!1° ,· doth h
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