The interaction between the central administration and the provinces provides a fascinating insight into the means whereby a new imperial structure was devised and implemented. The reins of government, central and provincial, were also adjusted with time as problems, possibilities, or improvements arose. The land beyond the capital territory was divided into two forms of administrative units. The first was known as the jun, “comman-dery” or “province.” The second was the wang guo, “kingdom.” Commanderies were established under the Qin to replace the old warring states, but the institution of jun began under earlier kingdoms as a means of ruling outlying areas through trusted central appointees. The kingdoms under the Han were essentially a means of placing or rewarding members of the royal clan. However, they were not in any sense independent, since the client kings were required to present themselves at court annually to provide details of the previous year’s administration and were forbidden to deploy armed forces without the express permission of Chang’an. Moreover, the emperor was empowered to determine the succession in the dependent kingdoms. Over time, the number and area under the control of commanderies increased at the expense of the kingdoms. There were, for example, 15 commanderies at the beginning of the Western Han dynasty, and 83 at the end.
The commanderies were administered by a jun shou, “governor.” This title changed in 148 b. c.e. to tai shou, “grand administrator.” He was ultimately responsible for the civil and military affairs of his commandery, and he directed a large bureaucracy whose duties varied with location. Thus, in areas threatened by exterior attack, there was a person in charge of horses and the supply of weapons. There were also bureaus that had specific duties. The Hanshu mentions a range of such institutions, whose functions included legal administration, suppression of banditry and maintenance of security, agriculture, and, in the remote northwestern new commanderies, responsibility for the self-sufficiency of agricultural colonies. There is mention of literary scholars and authorities on ancient matters, whose titles suggest that they were required to ensure the proper application of Confucian ethics. It is also recorded that the scholars ensured that proper legal proceedings were followed.
The central regulations on the monopolies on salt, iron, and liquor were under the control of a grand minister, but the implementation changed from one of central control under the Western Han to local direction with the Eastern Han. During the latter period, there were com-mandery officials in charge of iron and others for the office of salt. These well-staffed agencies oversaw the production and marketing of these commodities and the extraction of taxation revenue. The central court required a considerable income, and commanderies and kingdoms had agencies for the collection of dues from fishermen and the producers of gold and timber. Other agencies, for overseeing tax collection from workmen, orangeries, orchards, cloth manufacture, lakes, towered warships, and even the production of crossbows, are mentioned. The collection of revenue was a major preoccupation of the commandery administration.
The Bureau of Households was responsible for undertaking censuses. This provided essential information for taxation purposes, and the results offer a rare opportunity to appreciate the distribution of population in an early state and its changes over time. Thus there was a marked concentration of people in the Huang (Yellow) River Valley compared with the south, but over time this changed, perhaps as a result of flooding in the north and the danger of attack from the northwest.
The Bureau of Merit was the local channel for identifying promising candidates for preferment or sending them to the capital for examination and training before entry into the government service. The Bureau of Command was responsible for organizing corvee or convict labor for government construction projects, such as the Great Wall, canals, dikes, and roads. The Bureau of Markets oversaw the collection of revenue from traders. Not all commanderies had a complete set of bureaus, and some were formed to meet specific local conditions. Along the course of the Huang River, for example, it was essential to have a bureau in charge of dikes.
The important role of the administrator is well illustrated by the career of Xin Zhen, who was placed in charge of Nan Yang commandery in the second half of the first century b. c.e. This is a large commandery, located south of the capital in southwestern Henan province. According to contemporary accounts, he zealously toured his commandery, always seeking ways and means of improving agricultural production and creating wealth for rural communities. He had reservoirs, canals, dikes, and ditches dug to store and distribute water. Two of his major projects saw the completion of the Jian-li and Liu-men reservoirs. He then had stone inscriptions set up at key points in his irrigation network to establish rules for the fair distribution of water. His success in improving the production and wealth of the farmers was recognized by an official inspector, and he was promoted to another commandery and given 40 catties (a weight) of gold. The degree of autonomy exercised by local grand commanders is well illustrated by the career of Ma Leng, who was placed in charge of Guang Ling commandery in 87 C. E. He found the people starving and suffering from high taxation. He initiated moves to have the local and onerous office of salt abolished and lowered taxes. Then he restored reservoirs and irrigation facilities, giving relief to the farmers. His staff erected a stone inscription recording his assistance.
The commanderies themselves were divided into prefectures (xian), districts, and communes. In 2 C. E., there were 1,577 prefectures in the empire, 6,622 districts, and 29,635 communes. The prefectures were administered by a prefect or a chief, depending on the size of the population. These were the lowest class of officials to be centrally appointed. They had their own bureaus and staff to handle local affairs, such as revenue collection and administration of markets, and there was also a commandant or chief of police. Contemporary documents also note that some prefects maintained schools. In 205 b. c.e., the emperor gaozu, founder of the Western Han dynasty, decreed that the leaders of districts, titled the thrice venerable, should be aged older than 50 years. one of their tasks was to identify worthy or meritorious local people and have plaques commemorating their achievement placed on their residences. The communes were under the charge of a headman, or father of the commune, one of whose responsibilities was to oversee the local postal service. Prefectures could be assigned to the sisters of the daughters of emperors, while the daughters of kings were provided with communes or districts for their maintenance.
The Han administrative system also incorporated wang guo, “kingdom.” Initially, these were ruled by the sons of the emperor and were granted a considerable measure of independence aside from the maintenance of an army. However, their very presence contained the seeds of possible dissension, and this became a reality with the rebellion of the seven kingdoms in 154 b. c.e.
Thereafter, the independence of the kings was severely curtailed. No longer able to raise their own revenue, the kings received a state salary, and the appointment of their staffs was also taken over by the court. In this way, the title became increasingly honorific, and kingdoms began to resemble commanderies in all but name. Specified lands were also provided to the nephews or grandsons of the emperor, who were given the title lie hou, “marquis.” These aristocrats were awarded prefectures but had no effective power in their lands and received both retainers and an income from the court. The wealth of some marquises can be judged from their opulent burials.
THE HAN ARMY
The territorial expansion of the Western Han, notably under Emperor Wudi, placed considerable stress on the maintenance of the army. In the first place, military force was deployed to take new territory, particularly in the northwest, where huge tracts were occupied beyond the Jade Gates into the Tarim Basin. To the south, the Han empire was extended as far as the rich Hong (Red) River Basin in Vietnam, and colonization also extended into the Korean Peninsula. Thereafter, it was necessary to provide for frontier defense, particularly along the extended Great Wall, where the Xiongnu were a constant threat. There was also a problem of security within the empire itself, newly founded after the long Warring States period, for provincial discontent and uprisings, such as those of the Red Eyebrows and the yellow turBANS, were always possible.
To provide for the army, military conscription was compulsory except for top aristocrats and, on occasion, those who could afford to buy exemption. At the age of 23, men underwent a year of military training in their home commandery, in the infantry, cavalry, or navy Then they were posted for another year to active service, which could involve guard duties at the capital or frontier defense. Thereafter, they could return home but remained in a state of readiness for recall. Under the Western Han, they were required to return regularly for further training until they reached the age of 56. There was also the so-called Northern Army, a force of regulars under five commanders who served as guards of the capital and of the passes leading into the heartland of the empire, the Wei Valley This force numbered about 3,500 men. If war threatened, as, for example, with Xiongnu incursions in the north, the militia reserve could be called up and deployed. Militia units were also assembled in the event of internal threats to security With the Yellow Turban uprising of 184 C. E., there was a major mobilization appointment of a military commander with the title general of chariots and cavalry.
The growing administrative machine and maintenance of a standing army, not to mention the need to conscript young men into military training, placed major demands on agricultural production. An efficient rural sector and the ability to gather taxes were essential for the survival of the state.
HAN FOREIGN RELATIONS
The establishment of an empire, territorial expansion under Wudi, and the growth of long-distance trade relationships opened China to a new and wide range of contacts with foreigners. This even extended to Rome, whose empire was growing at the same time far to the west. It is recorded, for example, that a group of Romans claiming to be from the court of An-tun reached Luoyang in 166 C. E. This may well have been the Chinese transcription of the name of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. The most immediate and persistent issue in Han foreign relations, however, centered on the Xiongnu, the confederation of tribes who occupied the steppes to the northwest of the Great Wall. The name Xiongnu is Chinese and means “fierce slave.” The actual name used by the Xiongnu themselves is not known.
No sooner had he established himself on the throne as emperor than Gaodi faced a major challenge from the Xiongnu, for in 209 B. C.E., a new and dynamic leader, or shanyu, had emerged, named maodun (r. 209-174 B. C.E.). He won over rival tribal groups and expanded his territory to include the strategic Gansu Corridor that leads to the heart of China. His presence and his establishment of a capital at Lung Cheng in Outer Mongolia had the effect of attracting Chinese dissidents, particularly those who had suffered under the establishment of the Qin and Han empires. The list even included the king of the former state of Han. This Gaodi chose not to ignore, and in 200 B. C.E. he mounted a massive punitive expedition, which he led in person. At Pingcheng, his army was surrounded for a week by the Xiongnu cavalry, and only by good fortune did the emperor extricate himself. Clearly, the Xiongnu were not going to be easily defeated, and a diplomatic solution was sought. This involved a treaty, in which it was agreed to send a Chinese royal princess as a wife to the Xiongnu leader, provide gifts of silk and food, recognize the equality of the Han and the Xiongnu states, and agree on the frontier line of the Great Wall.
This treaty was renewed with each new emperor, at which point a further princess would be sent to the Xiongnu, with increasingly expensive gifts that included pieces of gold. The increasing quantity of gifts is a measure of the regard of the Han for the disruptive power of the Xiongnu. Indeed, before his death in 174 B. C.E., Mao-dun’s demands steadily increased. He was succeeded by his son, Ji-zhu (r. 174-160 B. C.E.), who is named in the official histories as Lao-shang and then Jun-chen. Until 134 C. E., there was an uneasy relationship in which the Chinese adopted a policy of bribery and appeasement, while the Xiongnu mounted incursions beyond the frontier at will, even reaching close to the Han court. Under the emperor Wudi, however, there was a major change in policy. In 127 B. C.E., his general Wei Qing led a successful campaign against the Xiongnu, who were forced to retreat from the frontier. Six years later, the Han forces again defeated them. Despite almost insurmountable problems of food supply in these remote regions, a further campaign in 119 b. c.e. again scattered the Xiongnu, and the Han were able to establish themselves in new comman-deries across the western regions.
The Han dominance thereafter had much to do with the fragmentation of the Xiongnu confederacy into factional kingdoms, whose rulers ceased to acknowledge the supremacy of the shanyu. There was also the problem so often faced by the Han themselves, that the Xiongnu succession was formally passed from father to son. This opened the possibility of succession of a very young ruler; the shanyu Hu Hanye (r. 58-31 b. c.e.) decree that the leader should be succeeded by his younger brother protected the succession. However, between the victories under Wudi and the end of the Western Han dynasty, repeated efforts by the fragmented Xiongnu to negotiate a renewal of the treaty on the basis of equality foundered, because the Han insisted on the formalization of a client relationship in which the Xiongnu acknowledged a vassal status.
In 52-51 B. C.E. Hu Hanye decided to acknowledge Han by sending his son as a hostage and settling on Han terms. He went to offer obeisance to the emperor. Treated with honor, he received five kilograms (11 lbs.) of gold, 200,000 cash, 77 suits of clothes, 8,000 bales of silk fabric, and 1,500 kilograms (3,300 lbs.) of silk floss. Further homage was offered in 49 and 36 b. c.e., accompanied by an increased quantity of gifts. Again, in 1 b. c.e. 30,000 bales of silk fabric was given. This acknowledged client status ended with the Wang Mang interregnum. During the civil wars that preceded the establishment of the Eastern Han, the Xiongnu leader Yu reasserted his independence, but this move was short lived because of internal divisions leading to the establishment of two groups of Xiongnu, the northern and the southern. By 50 C. E., the latter, now under Bi, again accepted client status in return for fine gifts and an official imperial golden seal. The Southern Xiongnu were now provided with annual gifts in return for peace and subservience. They were even encouraged to settle south of the wall and underwent a gradual process of assimilation into Chinese culture, accelerated by the regular rotation of Xiongnu princes for periods in the Han court. This vital buffer insulated China from the Northern Xiongnu, who lived beyond the pale of civilization.
Control over the Xiongnu was necessary not only to protect China from invasion, but also to provide access to the Silk Road. With a compliant Xiongnu and military successes over the semi-independent states of the turpan and Tarim Basins, trade burgeoned. In 60 b. c.e., the Han court created a new office, known as the protector-general of the western regions. The process of Han expansion involved the settlement of agricultural colonies, the construction of roads, and the extension of the Great Wall as far west as dunhuang. Again, Han weakness during the interregnum of Wang Mang and the tribulations that followed led to a slackening of control over the western regions; control was reasserted only in 73 C. E. and the following years with military intervention. The relations between the Han and the states of the Silk Road were cemented by the dispatch of gold and silk as gifts and the return of tribute missions bearing jade and wine and leading Ferghana horses.
The Han were also actively engaged in imperial expansion to the south and southwest. While the local tribes never posed the same threat as the Xiongnu, they were fiercely independent, accustomed to fighting one another, and controlled by powerful chiefs. sima qian, the great Han historian, devoted a chapter to describing the Han conquest of these areas. He noted, for example, that the yelang and dian people wore their hair in a bun, lived in fixed settlements, and cultivated fields, while the Kunming had plaited hair and adopted a pastoral life with no large settlements or chiefs. These descriptions have been confirmed by archaeological excavations at such Dian sites as shizhaishan and lijiashan. Han policy was to appoint the local chiefs as rulers of newly formed Han commanderies, with gold seals of office for the leaders of Yelang and Dian. One such seal has been recovered from a royal grave at Shizhaishan in Yunnan. Persuasive gifts were offered, including silk and mirrors. Local rebellions were harshly punished, and Chinese officials were dispatched to assist in the administration of these newly won tribal areas.
In the northeast, the Han expanded into the Korean Peninsula. Already during the Warring States period in the late fourth century b. c.e., trade contacts with Korea grew, as is seen in the number of coins that found their way into the peninsula from the northeastern kingdom of Yen. During the Qin and early Western Han, it is said that a Chinese nobleman called Weiman founded a kingdom with a capital at Wangxian, near modern Pyongyang. In 109 B. C.E., under Emperor Wudi, it was claimed that the kingdom of Weiman was acting as a magnet for deserters from China, and this was used as an excuse for a military campaign into Chaoxian, the name given to the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The grandson of Weiman was defeated, and five new commanderies were established. Two of these survived only until 82 b. c.e. Within the remaining three, known as lelang, Liaodong, and Xuantu, the typical commandery structure was put in place. Archaeologically, this move can be documented by Han-style brick tombs with Chinese mortuary offerings, a trend that is precisely matched in the contemporary settlement of the Hong River Delta in northern Vietnam. With the Wang Mang interregnum and the civil wars leading to the establishment of the Eastern Han dynasty, Chinese control over the Korean commanderies slackened, and the populace suffered from attacks by the newly formed state of koguryo.
ADVANCES IN AGRICULTURE
The Han empire succeeded a long period of war between competing states, wars that absorbed much energy and population loss or movement. The dominant aspects of agriculture throughout Han rule were the growth in population and the pressures that this posed on the agricultural sector. Han administrators were well aware of the basic importance of agricultural production and took many steps to alleviate hardship and improve productivity. Fortunately, this interest in rural affairs involved censuses, so we have some detailed information on the population numbers over time in a number of mar-quisates. The population of China in 2 c. e. reveals a marked density in the Huang River Valley, the Wei Valley, and Sichuan. The Chang (Yangtze) River Basin was relatively thinly peopled, other than in the lower reaches. Yangdu marquisate was located in the lower valley of the Huang River. Between 201 and 155 B. C.E., the population rose from 7,800 to 17,000 households. The nearby mar-quisate of Zhuzhao in Guangbing commandery had one of the highest recorded population spurts in the same period, from 4,000 to 18,000 households. The pressure on good land under the stress of a rising population meant that land near the capital cost a hundred times more than that in remote border commanderies. Draught or flooding could exacerbate this growing problem and foster social unrest, with crowds of hungry peasants wandering the countryside, as seen in the rise of the Red Eyebrows movement in Shandong.
The government adopted several policies to cope with the growing number of people and the need to encourage agricultural production. In 163 B. C.E., Emperor Wendi issued an edict, On the Primacy of Agriculture. He noted the recent run of bad harvests and inquired about their causes. Was it that the ancestors were displeased, or was too much grain being fed to animals or used to make wine? Was it the flooding or pestilence? Are too many farmers turning to trade to make a living? He decided to authorize the sale of court ranks and to commute penalties on the payment of grain. This policy evidently met with considerable success.
Other policies were deeply embedded in foreign affairs, the organization of industry, and the administrative structure of the commanderies. In terms of foreign policy, the Han were constantly harassed by the problem of the Xiongnu, the warlike nomadic pastoralists of Mongolia, who, under their leader Maodun, achieved sufficient unity to invade China. As early as 178 b. c.e. the Han adviser Zhao Zuo identified a way of solving two problems by urging the settlement of farmers from the overpopulated center on the northern border regions as a bulwark against incursions. There were incentives for people to move. Land was provided, housing was constructed, and there were tax remissions and medical facilities. In 119 b. c.e. this policy was intensified after a serious flooding of the Huang River, when more than
700,000 people were moved to the northern frontier region. This move was made possible by the system of land tenure, whereby the emperor owned all land that was not demonstrably in private hands. This permitted land to be made available to indigent peasants at a time when large private estates were calling on serf or slave labor. Several land grants were made during the first century B. C.E., but this property was often let rather than given. The situation came to a head under the rule of Wang Mang, when he grasped the nettle and nationalized all land. This policy, however, lasted for only three years and created a chaotic situation. The population problem was also to a certain extent alleviated by a steady drift from the colder north to the south and into the area where rice replaced millet as the staple.
Any growth in rice cultivation entailed the issue of water supply. Whereas millet can flourish within the variations in natural rainfall, rice is a marsh grass that must be anchored in a wet field. Indeed, rice derives much of its energy from the nitrogen-fixing algae that proliferate in warm, gently flowing water. Any expansion of land under rice cultivation must therefore take into consideration the supply of water, and in China this situation was resolved by the provision of irrigation facilities. These included dams, canals, and runnels to carry water to the rice plots. During the period of Warring States, there had been some limited irrigation development, but the expansion of irrigation networks during the Han dynasty was dramatic. There were also large programs of water control in the Huang River Valley, seen in the provision of dikes to restrain flooding and canals to carry freshwater and silt to fields threatened by salinization. Canals served the double purpose of facilitating the transport of bulky goods to the most densely populated regions and taking water to an expanding network of fields.
The construction of canals and dikes and agriculture itself were facilitated by the increasing abundance of iron. The government attempted to secure a monopoly of iron and salt production, but according to Sima Qian, the historian of the Western Han dynasty, iron smelting was one of the principal avenues to amassing private wealth. A document of 81 b. c.e. described how aggressive and ambitious families smelted iron, employing in the process hundreds or thousands of laborers. The iron was turned into plows, sickles, scythes, spades, and hoes. Of these, the most important in terms of improving efficiency was undoubtedly the plowshare. Harnessing draft animals to the plow was a far more effective way of putting new land in production or tilling established fields than was human power alone. The establishment of large state-run iron foundries during the middle years of the Western Han contributed directly to agricultural improvement, as did refinements in iron technology, whereby tensile wrought iron replaced brittle cast iron. Moreover, the form of the Han plow was sufficiently sophisticated to allow the depth of the furrow to be determined. This is seen clearly in illustrations of plowing scenes, for example, from Sui-ning in Gansu province, dating to the reign of Wang Mang. The Han farmer also used a plow fitted with a moldboard to turn a furrow. The efficient Han plow with moldboard required no more than two animals, and this design in itself represented a considerable gain in efficiency and the amount of land that could be cultivated. The large plows themselves opened further innovations. They turned large clods of soil that then had to be comminuted into a fine tilth with a harrow that was also drawn by animal traction. The furrowed field lent itself to the seed drill in place of sowing by less efficient broadcasting. Zhao Guo was an official of the Western Han who introduced the seed drill into the region of the capital in 85 b. c.e. The plowshare was pierced by holes through which the drill was inserted, so that plowing and seeding were undertaken simultaneously. The Han dynasties witnessed other vital innovations in productivity, such as the water-powered bellows used in the production of iron and the application of water power to the milling of grain.
The Han empire was divided into two principal areas. Most of the population was concentrated in the Huang River Basin, and it was here that millet and wheat were the staples. This area comprises extensive loess plains, where the soil is relatively fertile and easily worked, and rainfall varies between about 400 (16 in.) and 800 millimeters per annum. It is cold in winter, with mean temperatures averaging just above freezing. The second area is the Chang River Basin and Sichuan, where the rainfall rises to 1,500 millimeters per annum, and the temperatures are much milder. Here rice was the mainstay.
In the northern area centered on the capital territory in the Wei River Valley, wheat, barley, hemp, and beans were cultivated in addition to millet. Wheat and barley are essentially winter crops, and millet is grown during the summer. In theory, therefore, the two could be rotated on the same land, and continuous cultivation practiced. Several contemporary tracts on agriculture have survived, and these display the common theme of increasing efficiency and productivity in the light of a growing population. The Lushi Zhunjiu, which dates to the Qin dynasty, described the procedure whereby plowing was followed by the broadcasting of seed along the ridges created between furrows, each about 1.5 meters (4.9 ft.) wide. This system was superseded during the reign of the emperor Wudi by a system devised by the then superintendent of agriculture, Zhao Guo.
It is important to note that this was a period of agricultural experimentation to devise improvements. Guards in the capital were deployed to cultivate strips of land near the palace, in which the seeds were spaced in straight plowed furrows rather than on the intervening ridges. Weeding was then undertaken with long-handled hoes shod with iron, and as the season progressed, so the light soil gradually filled the furrows, sealing the roots deeply and conserving moisture. By the end of the growing season, the fields were flat, and the returns greatly increased. The following season, the ridges and furrows were reversed, thereby allowing rotation of crops on the same plot and maintaining the fertility of soil already fed annually with manure. In this respect, the raising of pigs meshed with millet cultivation, because the pigpens were linked with the outflow from human latrines to furnish the necessary manure for mucking out into the fields. This so-called alternating field system was found to be such a marked improvement over any preceding method that it was widely advertised through the com-mandery officials. The state iron monopoly was deployed to produce the necessary iron plowshares, but the demand placed on the supply of draft animals was such that not all peasants had access to animal traction. Therefore, the new heavy iron plows were of little use to peasants called on to haul them themselves. Experimentation, however, continued, leading to the development of more efficient plows having two or three shares, seed drills, and a moldboard.
A manual on field techniques in agriculture, compiled by Fan Shengzhi in the reign of Zhengdi (33-7 B. C.E.), has survived in fragments and provides further information on the rapid advance of farming techniques under the Western Han. Fan Shengzhi covered the cultivation of a wide range of plants, including wheat, millet, soybeans, hemp, and mulberry trees, the last vital for sericulture. In addition to his work on the alternating fields, he described a further innovation, known as the pit field system. In the alternating fields, his figures reveal that
15,000 plants could be set out in a plowed field measuring only 42 by 11 meters (138 by 36 ft.). The pit field system involved the division of land into a grid of pits each measuring about 23 by 12 centimeters (9.2 by 4.8 in.). Twenty millet seeds were planted in each pit, after the provision of high-quality fertilizer. Thousands of such pits could be cultivated, and the returns were spectacular: 0.6 liters of grain per pit, or 2,000 liters (520 gal.) in barely 400 square meters (480 sq. yds.) of land. The principal problem with this technique, however, was its need for labor. Fields were not plowed, and the preparation of each pit and weeding relied on manual labor.
According to the official Han censuses, central China, the region centered on the Chang Valley west to Sichuan, was not as densely populated as the Huang River Valley, and only with large migrations during the later Eastern Han did the imbalance in favor of the north fall away Consequently, there was not the same pressure for increasing agricultural efficiency, and there is less evidence for intensification. Central China also enjoys a warmer and wetter climate suited to rice cultivation, which created different demands on the irrigation system. Whereas major canals were dug in the north to transport water to the fields, in the south the system was based on dammed rivers and small reservoirs and a proliferation of
BRICK-Iined wells and tanks cut below the water table. The availability of water resources in this manner made possible an extension of the system known as fire tilling and water weeding. Essentially, this involved the burning of the stubble and weeds in the rice fields after a period of fallow and planting of the rice seeds in the flooded field. After the rice and, inevitably, weeds had grown to a certain height, the grass was cut back, and water was allowed to rise higher than the unwanted weeds to drown and kill them. As the weeds decomposed, they fed the rice plants. This system relied on the control of water into and out of the rice plots, and surviving clay tomb models show bunded fields, with the peasants weeding or spreading manure. Such fields were also a source of fish. In the colder north, similar bunded fields were in use, but here the soil was plowed to a creamy consistency, and the reticulation of irrigation water through the field was carefully controlled to take account of temperature variations. Thus in the early and cooler part of the season, the water was allowed to flow slowly through the field to gather radiant heat, but during the hot summer months, its passage sped up to give it cooling properties. This was achieved by changing the course of access channels into the rice fields.
There are at least two methods of improving yields in the central region, and there is some evidence that these were put into practice during the later Eastern Han period. The first is to plow the soil to a good consistency. This turns over weeds and creates a hard pan under the level of the plow to help retain water in the field. The second is to grow rice seedlings in a nursery plot and later transplant them into the prepared fields. This reduces the competition between plants that occurs with broadcasting and allows other crops to mature during the period when the seedlings are growing in the nurseries.
The importance of domestic animals should not be overlooked. The most important were cattle, water buffaloes, and pigs. All produced the manure necessary to enrich fields that were under increasing strain as farming intensified. Thus the ridge and furrow and pit field systems are highly demanding of fertilizers. Again, the tomb models show how pigs were raised in small pens, with an attached structure to collect waste. These pens were linked with human latrines for the collection of night soil. The cattle and water buffalo were also highly in demand for meat, but particularly for their tractive power. The many improvements in iron technology, the form of the plow, and development of the seed drill all depended on the availability of tractive power.
HAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
Religious beliefs during the period of the Han dynasties were a mixture of old and new, exotic forms of worship. There was also a distinction between the court ceremonials and those of the countryside. The former began with the worship of DI, the supreme god with an ancestry going back to the period of the Shang dynasty and probably further. The concept di was enlarged during the Qin to four aspects, and under Emperor Guangdi to five, each determined by a different color. Emperor Wudi further expanded the official deities to include the Earth Queen and the Grand Unity. Rituals, on occasion attended by the emperor, involved animal sacrifices and burnt offerings. Mount Dai was regarded as a peak of great holiness, and it was scaled by Qin Shihuangdi, Wudi, and Guang Wudi. In 31 B. C.E. there was a change in favor of tian, “heaven,” and new forms of worship were created to link the ruling dynasty with the heavenly mandate. The former ceremonies, which had become very expensive as the number of shrines to former emperors magnified across the empire, were discontinued. The emperors were often interred in large and grand tombs, not only to project their distinction, but also to impart an image of immortality through their size. The quest for immortality became a guiding passion of the emperor Wudi.
The Han rulers spent much energy in quelling the northern nomadic tribes known as the Xiongnu and establishing control over the western regions. This provided regular access to the so-called Silk Road and with it the introduction of BUDDHISM into China. This took place at least by the first century C. E., and there is a notable story of the emperor Mingdi’s sending emissaries west to find out more about this mysterious religion after he had dreamed of seeing a god in the form of a golden man. The first historic record relates that in 65 C. E. Liu Ying, king of Chu and half-brother of Emperor Mingdi, followed certain Buddhist rituals.
The religious beliefs of the Han, in particular the quest for immortality, are closely linked with the development of mortuary rituals. Grandiose royal tombs had a long history in China before Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor, took monumentality to new heights with his massive mausoleum at Mount Li and the associated subterranean mortuary pits filled with terra-cotta warriors. The major Han emperors, as well as the nobility who ruled the dependent kingdoms, invested much labor in creating their tombs and in ensuring that all their needs in the future life were met. They thus bequeathed to history remarkable assemblages of their possessions, from clothing to libraries, furniture, and retainers represented as clay or wooden models.
Such treatment of the dead under the Han was based on the notion that on death the body resolved into the soul, or HUN, which with proper assistance could enter paradise, and the BO, which remained behind on Earth. The hun required directions on its passage to paradise and had to pass through several strictly guarded gates before it could join di, the universal god, the Sun, the Moon, and other denizens there. The bo had to be accompanied below by the goods necessary to maintain the type of life to which the dead person was accustomed, and this was best achieved if the body could be preserved from corruption and decomposition. This latter notion contributes to an understanding of the extreme measures taken, for example, in the mortuary complex of the first emperor of China near Chang’an. There, his entire army was represented as life-sized terra-cotta warriors in subterranean pits, and his fine carriage was reproduced at half its actual size in bronze. It is reported in the History of the Former Han that the mausoleum itself was equipped with all the necessities of life.
Although there were occasional remonstrances against such lavish expenditure on royal burials during the Western Han period, the emperor’s graves and associated temples and shrines continued to attract an enormous expenditure of effort. In the reign of Yuandi (49-33 B. C.E.), it was officially recorded that 45,129 guards were permanently employed to protect royal shrines, and that the rituals required a staff of 12,147 attendants who included cooks and musicians. Attempts were made to reduce the onerous burden on the court, but no serious changes were effected.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF HAN TOMBS
Until recently, the nature of imperial Han burials was not known through archaeological research. However, the tomb of Emperor Jingdi is currently under investigation, and it has been found that if anything it even exceeded that of the first emperor in size and splendor. Jingdi was born in 188 b. c.e. He was the fifth son of Emperor Wendi and ruled from 157 until 141 b. c.e. His tomb and that of the empress Wang are located near Xi’an, in a necropolis that includes the mausolea of 10 other Han emperors. Jingdi is regarded as a ruler who reduced taxation and did not live in an ostentatious style. His tomb lies under a steeply sided mound of earth and has not been opened by archaeologists. It is surrounded by a walled enclosure that formerly contained four entrance gateways. Excavations by the southern gate have uncovered a checkerboard game, perhaps used by guards during long shifts on duty Between the wall and the mound, there were many subterranean pits, one of which was found accidentally in 1990. This led to major excavations that have opened a new perspective on the mortuary practices of the imperial line. The pits were laid out with mathematical precision, each one being long and narrow. So far, 86 have been identified and 11 opened by archaeologists. The contents of each are thought to represent specific departments of state. Thus one contains the models of about 400 dogs, 200 sheep, and many pigs laid out in neat rows. Two pits contain official seals, one from the kitchen. There are also
40,000 clay models of individuals, including foot soldiers and cavalry, court women, and eunuchs, all of whom once had wooden movable arms and fine silk clothing. The adjacent tomb of the empress has at least 31 pits of its own, and there is also a mound covering the tomb of a favorite concubine.
No royal Han tomb chamber has been opened under scientific conditions, and many, if not all, were looted in antiquity for their treasures. However, the wealth of goods placed in the tombs of high-status individuals during the Western Han dynasty can be seen in a handful of burials that have miraculously survived intact. Foremost is a group of three elite graves excavated at Mawangdui in a suburb of Changsha. These contained the remains of Li Cang, the marquis of Dai, his wife, and his son. The marquis, who died in 169 b. c.e., was an aristocrat who had been provided with a fief by the king of Changsha, a kingdom that survived under imperial authority in the old state of Chu in central China.
The tomb of the marchioness Xin Zhiu, like that of the emperor Jingdi, was covered by a mound. Just four kilometers (13.2 mi.) from Changsha city in central China, it was one of a group of three in which one of the three marquises of Dai who ruled this area between 193 and 141 B. C.E. was interred with two members of this family. This mound, Burial 1, which had a diameter of 60 meters (198 ft.), covered a deep rectangular shaft that reached a depth of almost 17 meters (56 ft.) below the present ground surface. The contents of the tomb represent with great clarity the distinction between the bo and the hun. In this tomb, the need to conserve the body free of decay was achieved by placing it in nested wooden coffins covered by layers of charcoal and clay to keep out air and moisture. The charcoal weighed about 5,000 kilograms (11,000 lbs.) and reached a thickness of 40 centimeters (36 in.). It was itself sealed by a layer of thick white clay. Excluding the air and damp perfectly preserved the body. The marchioness was found wrapped in 20 layers of silk and linen, kept in place by nine silk ribbons. She had died when aged about 50 years and had been about 155 centimeters (62 in.) tall. The pathologists who examined the body were amazed to find that the blood in the femoral arteries was of a color similar to that in the newly deceased.
The wooden burial chamber contained three lacquered coffins. The outermost was decorated with designs of white, red, yellow, and red clouds painted on a black background. Monsters are playing the zither, dancing, and hunting birds, deer, and cattle. A space between this and the middle coffin contained mortuary offerings. The middle coffin itself was painted a vermilion color with scenes of clouds and mountains, a battle between dragons and tigers, and deer, all within a border of geometric designs. Remarkably, the inner coffin was covered in silk that was embellished with colored feathers and embroidered patterns.
The items laid out neatly in the space between the second and third coffins included remains of food and chopsticks carefully placed on lacquerware platters. The marchioness could anticipate a fine diet: The plates and ceramic vessels contained lotus root, chicken, peaches and melons, dried ginger, and pickled vegetables. A complete wardrobe of fine silks accompanied the dead woman, neatly stored in bamboo boxes. More than 50 items of clothing were counted, of outstanding quality and retaining the original colors. One piece of silk was so fine that although it measured half a meter square (.6 sq. yds.), it weighed just less than three grams. A large gown with sleeves almost two meters (6.6 ft.) long weighed just 49 grams (1.7 oz.).
Her personal cosmetics were included, together with a hairpiece, mittens, and slippers. She was also destined to enjoy music, for a zither and a set of pipes accompanied her. The former was found in a brocade bag and had 25 strings still in place, while the latter were also found in their original bag.
The presence of 162 wooden figurines illustrates the courtly life of a Han aristocratic family. There is a musical ensemble, in which miniatures of the very instruments in their brocade bags are represented. Attendants dressed in silks would have waited on the noble family at a banquet, while dancers entertained them. All these offerings were neatly catalogued on 312 bamboo slips.
Lady Dai was overweight when she died and had suffered from a cardiac disorder. The ingredients for treating heart problems then and now in China—magnolia bark, peppercorns, and cinnamon—were found in her tomb, and the autopsy confirmed her condition.
The passage of her soul to paradise is illustrated by a remarkable tomb banner that had, in all probability, been carried in her funerary procession and then placed over the coffin. Made of silk, it is one of very few to have survived from this period. The painted scenes, which have retained much of their original color, show her being laid out, surrounded by mortuary vessels and attendants, with the nether regions below her. Above, she is seen standing in an elegant robe accompanied by divine messengers, while the passage to paradise is seen above her, guarded by two leopards. Through this portal, we see heaven itself, with the Sun, Moon, and celestial beings.
Contemporary documents state that only emperors and very high-status aristocrats could be buried in suits of jade. Jade was held to preserve the body uncorrupted, to ensure the continuing life of the bo on Earth. The status of the deceased determined whether the wafers of jade were stitched together with gold, silver, or bronze thread. Given the incidence of tomb looting over the centuries, the chances of finding such a suit in an undisturbed burial are remote. Therefore, the opening of two rock-cut tombs at Lingshan Mountain near Mancheng, Hebei province, was a special event in the history of Chinese archaeology. In 1968, the tomb of Prince Liu Sheng, the older brother of Emperor Wudi, was opened. It had been cut into the living rock to a depth of 52 meters and incorporated a lateral chamber 37 meters wide. About 2,700 (94,500 cu. ft.) cubic meters of rock had been excavated to create this resting place for the prince; to guard against tomb robbers, the entrance had been sealed with a doorway created by pouring molten iron between two parallel walls. The second tomb, which housed his wife, was found 100 meters (330 ft.) distant, and it too was on a massive scale. The rock-cut chambers, up to seven meters in height, had been infilled with roofed rooms, each containing the items needed in the afterlife. Liu Sheng’s tomb opened onto the long lateral corridor that housed his chariots and horses. One-half also included rows of ceramic containers for food and wine. The central hall was filled with his bronze vessels, lacquer bowls, and containers and fine ceramics. To the back of the complex lay the burial chamber itself, together with the most superbly crafted artifacts of gold, silver, and jade. The prince’s bathroom was located beside the burial.
Both the prince and his wife were found interred in jade suits, confirmation for the first time that the Han documents accurately described such outstanding funerary wealth. That containing the remains of Liu Sheng was made of 2,690 finely shaped wafers of jade, held together with gold thread that weighed more than a kilogram (2.2 lbs.). His wife’s suit took up 2,156 jade wafers. It has been estimated that one craftsperson would take 10 years to make such a suit.
Clearly, the majority of Han dynasty burials were far less opulent than those of the royal family and the leading aristocracy. Even relatively ordinary tombs, however, contained grave goods that reflect everyday life and the need to provide for the body after death. There are models of agricultural activities and also a number of illustrations showing festive scenes. The region of Nanyang in southwestern Henan province, for example, is noted for the stone slabs decorated in low relief or incised, with images that illustrate the enjoyment of the table, music, and entertainment. Several such mortuary reliefs contain scenes of men bull-baiting. These resemble the images of acrobats leaping over charging bulls seen on a seal from Mohenjo Daro, as well as the wall paintings of the palace of Knossos in Crete. The casting of three-legged bronze wine containers is documented since the Shang dynasty, but in the Nanyang scenes they are shown with their ladles being used, while musicians play bells, the zither, pipes, and drums and dancers entertain. There are also jugglers and acrobats. One of the former is seen wearing a mask while balancing a vessel on one arm and a ball on the other.
The Han tombs that have been excavated at Luoyang also throw light on religious beliefs and the energy that was expended on mortuary rituals. Bu Qianqui, for example, was buried with his wife between 87 and 49 b. c.e. The brick-lined chamber was decorated with mural paintings that portray the dead couple ascending to heaven as immortal beings. A second Western Han tomb from Luoyang of slightly later date incorporated paintings of a demon being consumed by tigers and a dragon, tiger, panther, toad, deer, and horse, divine creatures to escort the dead to heaven.
Further reading: Bielenstein, H. The Bureaucracy of Han Times. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980;-. “The Restoration of the Han Dynasty,” Bul
Letin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 26 (1954): 9-20; Twitchet, D., and M. Loewe, eds. The Cambridge History of China, vol. I. The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 B. C.—A. D. 220. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986; Wang Zhongshu. Han Civilization. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1982.
Hangsapurnagar See rajagriha.
Hangtu Hangtu is a form of stamped-earth construction used in early Chinese defensive walls and the foundations of buildings. A foundation trench was first dug, and layers of earth 10- to 15-centimeters (4- to 6-in.) thick were stamped between constraining wooden boards. The earliest use of this technique has been found in sites of the LONGSHAN CULTURE of the third millennium b. c.e. The city walls of Zhengzhou have been excavated to reveal the details of this technique.
Haniwa A haniwa (clay ring) was a ceramic model that played a role in the mortuary rituals of the yamato state in Japan. According to the NIHONGI, they originated during the reign of King Sujin (r. 219-49 c. e.) as a substitute for human sacrifices. The first attested archaeologically are from the third century c. E. and took the form of simple clay cylinders in late yayoi culture mounded tombs. Tombs, such as that at tatesuki, contain broken ceramic vessels thought to have been used during mortuary feasting rituals. It is possible that these are ancestral to the haniwa. However, they developed into large human and animal figures, standing on occasion more than a meter high and laid out in concentric rows. During the fourth to seventh centuries C. E., Yamato aristocrats were interred in kofun, earth mounds covering tomb complexes. Some kofun reached enormous dimensions, the largest of all being almost half a kilometer long. Haniwa were placed not in the tomb chamber, but around the covering mounds. The earliest examples take the form of rings. They may have been symbolic food containers. With the passage of time, they depicted individuals, buildings, and scenes that clearly illustrate the aristocratic way of life of the Yamato elites. Figures of people include warriors, falconers, musicians, and farmers. The musicians are seen playing drums, mandolins, and harps. Warriors and their horses wear heavy iron armor. In one notable scene, the presumed tomb master is seen on a throne with his consort, accompanied by dancers, officials, soldiers, and horses with their grooms. Such assemblages recall the many instances of tomb models in China.
Hann The state of Hann had no relationship to the later HAN dynasty. The Hann state was formed by the
Haniwa tomb figures were employed by Yamato aristocrats in Japan from the fourth to the seventh centuries c. e. This example depicts a warrior in full armor. (Werner Forman/ Art Resource, NY)
Breakup of the powerful Spring and Autumn period (770-476 B. C.E.) state of jin in 403 b. c.e. and was finally destroyed during the reign of King Wangan in 230 b. c.e. at the hands of qin. It was the smallest and most vulnerable of the three states that emerged from Jin. In terms of administration, Hann is best known for its minister, Shen Buhai, who advocated a system of ministers who received a salary, seals, and insignia of office at the discretion of the ruler. Hann’s territory almost encircled the small enclave left under the direct mandate of the eastern ZHOU DYNASTY to the south, east, and west. North and east, Hann bordered WEI. Qin lay to the west, and CHU to the south. These were all powerful states, and Hann had to arm itself to survive as long as it did. Hann was strategically placed, with the Huang (Yellow) River flowing through its territory, and its first capital was established under Marquis Jinghou at Yangzhai (Henan province). In 375 B. C.E., however, the forces of Hann defeated the army of ZHENG, and the capital was moved to Zheng Han. This site has been identified at the confluence of the Yushui and Huangshui Rivers. It is a massive site, comprising eastern and western walled sectors covering about 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres). There is a palace precinct that spreads over 18 hectares (20 acres) in the western sector, and many stamped-earth foundations together with water pipes and wells evidence the extent of this structural complex. Even the palace kitchens have been identified through excavations. The city had workshops for producing objects of iron and bronze.
As with most Chinese cities, starting from the Shang dynasty, Zheng Han incorporated many specialized workshops, and these were located in the eastern or outer part of the city. One bronze-working area was dedicated to the casting of production tools, such as sickles, spades, and picks. The clay molds for casting these bronzes have been found in abundance. Dating to the end of the Spring and Autumn and warring states periods (475-221 b. c.e.), there was also a specialized iron workshop where further production tools as well as weapons, such as swords and halberds, were produced. A hoard of bronze weapons, many of which were inscribed with the name of the official in charge, indicate the importance of the mass production of weaponry at the end of the warring states period. some of the items were damaged or broken, and their exotic inscriptions point to their being taken after a successful battle, but the majority were locally cast as late as 231 B. C.E., the year before the Hann state was eliminated by Qin.
A second major city has been identified at Yangcheng in Henan province, where again there were extensive city walls and specialist workshops. At Fenshuiling in Shanxi province, a major Hann cemetery has been opened by excavation. Tombs took the form of rectangular pits, up to eight by six meters (26.4 by 19.8 ft.) in extent. A wooden chamber contained the coffin. Some of these were embellished with lacquered decoration and golf leaf, while the sumptuous bronzes were also decorated with inlaid gold designs.
Hanshu The Hanshu (or Han Shu; History of the Former Han) was a history of the HAN dynasty covering the 250 years from the reign of Emperor Gaozu until the end of the rule of the usurper wang mang in 23 C. E. It was commenced by the historian ban biao (3-54 c. E.) and continued to completion by his son, ban gu. In the tradition of the SHIJI, or Records of the Grand Historian, by sima qian, it is a work of dense historic scholarship comprising 100 chapters. These include historic summaries, chronologies, and treatises. The Hanshu was a model dynastic history that set the standard for all later historic works in China. It provides a wide range of insights into Han policy making and the manner of thought that lay behind executive decisions. This is particularly well illustrated in an edict issued by the emperor wendi (r. 180-157 b. c.e.) on the importance of agriculture. The Hanshu stated that there had been a run of poor harvests and that grain was in short supply The people were suffering, and the emperor was gravely concerned. No one could identify what was causing this agricultural failure. people wondered whether they had failed to follow the ways of heaven or, more practically, whether too much grain was being diverted to make wine. All the high officials were directed to seek the root cause. The solution was social rather than agronomic: It was decided that grain could be made into a negotiable commodity, and therefore of enhanced value, if it could be used to purchase honorary ranks or commute sentences. This solution had, again according to the Hanshu, already been suggested in 178 B. C.E. by Chao Cuo. He observed that the emperor could create titles at will and that if he did so in return for grain, there would be an abundant surplus for disposal.
However, the Hanshu also records the views of DONG ZHONGSHU (c. 195-105 B. C.E.), a well-known follower of the Confucian school, who described the high taxes and demands for labor imposed on the peasantry by the Qin and continued, he asserted, under the Han. In former times, peasants paid only 10 percent of their production and provided their labor for only three days of the year. But under the qin, the impositions increased so savagely that the peasantry were reduced to penury and banditry while rich landlords prospered. Only a return to the old system of land tenure, when everyone had sufficient for his or her needs, would alleviate this social inequality.
Han state See hann.
Haojiatai Haojiatai is a longshan culture urban site located in central Henan province, China. Two radiocarbon determinations place its occupation in the midthird millennium b. c.e. It was demarcated by HANGTU stamped-earth walls at least five meters (16.5 ft.) wide at the base, fronted by a moat. stamped-earth platforms in the interior were raised to support elite buildings. However, the pit and urn burials contain very few mortuary offerings, and some skeletons were missing a skull or a hand. This might indicate warfare or sacrifice. The site has also provided evidence for a specialized ceramic industry.
Harappa Harappa is one of the three great cities of the INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION. Located just south of a former bed of the Ravi River in the Punjab, Pakistan, it was the first such site to be discovered, in the early 19th century, and the first to yield evidence for a system of writing that bore no relationship to the brahmi or kharoshthi scripts of later periods. Harappa has been more extensively excavated, and over a longer period, than any other site of the Indus civilization.
The history of Harappa can be divided into five successive phases, covering a period of 1,900 years. Period I, the Early Harappan, dates from 3400 to 2800 b. c.e. and is now known as the Ravi phase. This is followed by the transitional phase to the mature Harappan, which took place during the century from 2600 to 2500 b. c.e. The mature Harappan, which witnessed the full development of sophisticated urban life, lasted for five centuries until 2000 B. C.E. and was followed first by the posturban phase, lasting about a century, and then by the period during which Cemetery H was employed, which is dated 1900-1500 B. C.E.
Much remains to be learned about Harappa. The nature of the structures on the citadel requires attention, as does a detailed picture of the social organization, with particular reference to the status of the ruling elite and the means to attain social ascendancy. It is unknown whether rule was vested in a hereditary aristocracy or a royal lineage or was in the hands of a sacerdotal group of religious leaders. How trade was organized and who controlled the long-distance exchange so widely evidenced in the SEALS and sealings of this civilization also need investigation. However, the recent intensive excavations at this great city have already greatly expanded the range and detail of what is known about its internal history.
World History
