Trade was one factor underlying the wealth and opulence of the state of Chu. This has been amply documented on the basis of a unique set of jie (bronze tallies), in which the text is inlaid in gold, discovered in 1957 at Qiuji-ahuayuan. This site is located near the right bank of the Huai River in Anhui province. The tallies were issued in the year when Shao Yang defeated the forces of the state of Jin at Xiangling, 323 b. c.e. The texts stated that the tallies were issued to a high Chu administrator named Ejun Qi; they gave permission for merchants under his jurisdiction to travel by land and water over certain prescribed trade routes without payment of tolls or excise tax. However, they also make it clear that the merchants were not to be accommodated or fed at government expense. Since the names of certain towns and rivers can be matched today, it has proved possible to reconstruct the prescribed routes, but unfortunately not the goods traded, other than livestock, because of a ban on leather goods, metal, and bamboo for arrows, which might be useful to an enemy. This ban probably reflects the fact that some routes covered sensitive territory only recently captured from rival states. Boats followed the course of the Chang artery and moved north via the Han River. To the south, they followed the rivers flowing into Lakes Dongting and Poyang. Both river and land routes ended at Ying, the capital.
That metal was carried by land or river is seen in the tallies. The control of vital copper resources, such as the massive mine at Tonglushan, supplied the specialist workshops with the necessary raw materials. The Chang Valley was long renowned as the source of the finest lacquers. There was also a steady supply of gold, and golden vessels and gold inlay on bronzes were a particular feature of rich Chu tombs. Trade with the southern Yue people also carried tropical goods to Chu, including rhinoceros horn, ivory, and the kingfisher feathers cited in the CHUCI poems as being seeded with pearls and used in hangings and bedspreads. Cowry shells were also in demand.
World History
