Early Chinese History on Field

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Early Chinese History: The State of the FieldAuthor(s): Cho-Yun HsuSource: The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 38, No. 3 (May, 1979), pp. 453-475Published by: Association for Asian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2053782 .

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VOL. XXXVIII, No. 3 JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES MAY I979

EarlyChineseHistory: he StateoftheFieldCHO-YUN HsuIn his essay, I will surveyrecent cholarship n several major issues in thepolitical, social, and economichistory fancientChina,from hebeginning fthe Shang Dynasty o the end ofthe Han Dynasty.Archaeological spectswill bediscussedonlywhentheirhistorical ignificanceequires t, sincethearchaeologicaldiscoveries f recent ecadeshavealready eenthesubjectofProfessorwang-chihChang'sstate-of-the-fieldrticle nTheJournalfAsianStudies.1This report onsiders cholarship roducedbetween 949 and I977; after949theworkofChinese cholars eparated ytheTaiwan Strait ookdivergentaths.Since the 950S, moreover, inological ctivitiesnJapanhave revived, nd onAmerican ampusesChinese studieshave greatly xpanded.This paperwill selectand assess ignificantontributionso the tudy fearlyChina nChinese,Japanese,and English. will,whereverossible, voidretreadingheground lready raveledbyAlbertFeuerwerker, . F. P. Hulseweand others,2nd somescholarship romthe People's Republic of China whichhas been mentionedn the workof theseWestern tudentswillbe omittedhere.The development f the field fhistoryfearlyChinaduring he past quarter-centuryhas been remarkable. hinesescholars n both sides ofthe Taiwan Straithave made greatefforts o preserve ourcematerials nd interpretheirmeaning.Although political considerationsften ondition he orientation f scholarship,number of first-rate orks have been produced, both on the mainlandand inTaiwan. At the same time, the growth fSinology n the United Statesand therevivalof interestn China in postwarJapanhave madeChinese tudies n inter-nationalenterprise.With a detachment ornof cultural nd physical istance, ndwith theassistance fdisciplinaryools of ocialsciences hathave not flourishednChina, Japanese and American cholarshave gained some advantages ver theirChinesecolleagues.3Unfortunately,t the present imecooperation crossnational

Cho-yun Hsu is Professor f History at theUniversity fPittsburgh.The author akesthisopportunityoexpress isgratitude to ProfessorsRobert Kapp and EvelynRawski for heirhelp in editingthismanuscript,and to the University Center of InternationalStudies, Universityof Pittsburgh,for a grantwhich covered part of his expenses n collectingmaterials outside of Pittsburgh. He also thanksthestafff the Department f Historywhohelpedto type the manuscriptfrom his handwrittendraft.The namesof Chinese authorswhoseworksin Chinese are cited here are romanizedwithsurname first.Surname followspersonal namewhenEnglish-languageworksbythesameauthorare cited. This paper was commissionedfor the"State ofthe Field" seriesby the China and Inner

Asia Council of theAssociationforAsianStudies,with the assistanceof a grantfrom heAmericanCouncil ofLearnedSocieties.1 K. C. Chang, "Chinese ArchaeologySinceI949, JAS, 36: 4 (977), 623-47.2 AlbertFeuerwerker,d., HistorynCommunistChina Cambridge:M.I.T. Press, I968).3 Japanese cholarsunderwent soul-searchingefforturingthe 960s todetermine heir esearchdirections.One of thecommon rieswas therejec-tion ofconventional historical ositivism."Themovement tartednthe field f tudies fmodernChina; its impact, however,reached thefieldofearly Chinese history as well. See NorikoKamachi, "HistoricalConsciousness nd dentity:Debate ofJapaneseChina SpecialistsoverAmeri-canResearchFund,"JAS, 34: 4 (I975), 98 I-95.

453


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454 CHO-YUNHsuborders s inadequate. Historians n the Westernworld oftenbenefit rom hepublished research f Chinese and Japanese cholars;theJapanese re generallybetter nformedboutwork n Chinesethan boutresearchnWestern anguages;and Chinesescholarsfrequentlygnore hecontributionsfJapanese nd Westernstudies.Chinese cholarship asbeenhurt he mostbythisthree-levelutone-waytraffic, utscholarshipverywherespoorer or t. Activedebates nvolving cholarsfromChina,Japan, and theWest arepractically on-existent. s a result, n thissurvey fscholarshipt is necessaryoselect arefullyhose ssues hat refrequentlydiscussedbyscholars rommorethanone country,ven fChinese,Japanese, ndWesternhistoriansrenot ll equally nvolved.The Problem ofPeriodization: Slaveryand Feudalism

Historical studies n the People's Republicof Chinahavebeendominatedbyconflictingnterpretationsf the social characteristicsf each historicalperiod:modes of production,patterns f land tenure,tools of production, nd relatedissues. At the center fdebate, of course, s the problem fperiodization,which sofgreatrelevancenfittinghinesehistoryntotheMarxist ramework.heappear-ance of the journalLi-shihyen-chiun I954 showedthathistorical tudies hadbecome firmlywedded to Marxism. Most earlyChina scholars n the People'sRepublic follow the interpretationf Marxistevolutionism, nd focus on howancientChinese ociety an best be understoodntheMarxist istorical ramework.4The nature of Shang society, n comparisonwiththatof otherperiods,seemedrelativelyasy to determine: hangsociety ad entered hestageofslavery, s KuoMo-jo and Hou Wai-lu maintained.5What bothered hehistorians, owever,wasthat the evidence did not support hehypothesis hat slavesshouldered he mainproductivework. t becamenecessary,herefore,o explain hediscrepancy etweentheorynd evidence.One of the mostcommonly roposed olutionswasthat hangslavery epresented particular siaticmode of productionwhichdifferedrom heslavery revalentn classicalEuropean ntiquity.The notion f an Asiatic mode ofproduction,whichwas not clearlydefined y Marx,provided ndividualChinesescholarswitha wayofsubsuming arious ystems, uchas patriarchallansystems,primitive ommunes, ndOrientaldespotism nder heterm f Shang lavery."6tis interesting hat all these discussionshave reliedheavily n literaryuotationsfrom ither the ancientclassicsor from raclebone inscriptions. he remarkableamount of new archaeological videncefrom hangseemsto have had relativelylittle mpacton thedebate monghistorians.7

4 The problem of periodization s one of themost hotly debated topics. Articlesdealingwiththis topic appeared in two anthologies ditedbythe Editorial Board of Li-shihyen-chiu:hung-kuoti nu-li-chih iifeng-chien-chihen-ch'iwen-t'i un-wen-chiPeking: San-lien, I956); and Chung-kuoku-tai-shih en-ch'iwen-t'i t'ao-lun-chi Peking:San-lien, I957).5 Kuo Mo-jo, "Nu-li-chih shih-tai," nChung-kuoti nu-li-chih ii feng-chien-chihen-ch'iwen-t'ilun-wen-chi; ou Wai-lu, Chung-kuou-tai he-huishih Peking: San-lien, I 949).6 For instance, Su Shih-tsengpoints out theheterogeneity fthe Hsia-Shang slaveryn "Hsia-

tai ho Shang-tai ti nu-li-chih."Hsu Hsi-shengand Chu Pen-yuan xplainedthe heterogeneityyciting its orientalcharacteristics.Hsu, "Shang-Yin nu-li-chiht'e-cheng ti t'an-t'ao," and Chu,"Lun Yin-tai sheng-ch'antsu-liao ti so-yu-chihhsin-shih."All are included n Chung-kuo u-tai-shihfen-ch'iwen-t'i 'ao-lun-chi, p. 57-82 and83-I25, respectively.' The most commonly cited archaeologicalfinding s theevidence of humansacrifice,whichthe Chinese historiansconsiderevidence of theprevalence of slavery. For instance, Hu Hou-hsuan, "Chung-kuonu-li she-huiti jen-hsunhojen-chi," Wen-wu,o. 7 (i974), pp. 74-84; and


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EARLY CHINESE HISTORY 455In I954, Kuo Mo-jo, the patriarch f Communisthistorians, ublished hisrevisedversion fNu-li-chihhih-tai,n whichhe tooka new position n whentheslave period ended. Kuo declaredthat the slavery ystempersisted hrough he

Yin-Shang and much of theChou dynasty ntil the end of theCh'un-ch'iu eriod.The landlordclass arose as slave societygave way to feudal ociety.8 i Ya-nung'sstudyofslavesociety nd feudal ocietywasalso published n I954. Li viewedtheWesternChou periodas a slavesocietyunder hecontrol fpatriarchaluthority.The year 827 B.C., whenKing Hsuan was restored o the thronefter revolution"ofpeasants nd slaves"thatoverthrew ing Li, is regarded yLi as thebeginningoftheperiodoffeudal ociety.9Hou Wai-lu, perhaps he best Marxist heoreticianamonghistoriansnChina,argued nthe ate 950S thatfeudal ocietysformednthe foundation f small farm nd domestic ottage ndustries; uch an economy,according oHou, begantoappear n China as early s theShangYang Reform,ndwascompletely ormalizeduring heearlyHan dynasty.0A broad spectrum f differentpinionson periodization an be found n twoanthologiesfrom he I950S of articles riginally ublished n Li-shihyen-chiundother cholarly ournals.After lengthyilence mposed ythedogmatic igidityfthe Cultural Revolution,historians nce again began to discussthe problemofperiodization. In November I978, eighty-sixhistoriansrepresenting ifty-oneteaching ndresearch nitsmetatCh'ang-ch'un o attend conferenceponsored yLi-shihyen-chiun the periodization fancientChinesehistory.At the conference,specialists iscussed ixhypothesesegardinghe date ofthetransitionromlaverytofeudalism: ) WesternChou,when ommonersredominated;) the Ch'un-ch'iuperiod,when enfeoffedomainsdeveloped nd the Chou kingno longermonop-olized the land; 3) the Chan-kuoperiod,when theappearance f iron mplementsand other echnologicalnnovationsriggered hanges n the mode and relations fproduction;4) theCh'in, whenchanges n social relationships,he economy, ndideology accompanied he unification f China; 5) EasternHan, when arge-scaleuprisings f "slaves" duringWang Mang's reignmade the newregimedecreetheemancipation f laves; 6) the Wei-Chinperiod,which ollowed heHan (a period fwidespreaduse of slaves)and which could be comparedwith ancientGreece andRome. These positions nd arguments, eported rieflyn Kuang-mingih-pao,donot seem togo beyond hose urrentnthe 950S. 11Tied to a Marxisttheoretical ramework, irtually ll these works, ncludingKuo's and Li's, suffer requently rom terminological onfusion nd from thedistortion fhistorical vidence. The criticsof suchpractices re represented y

Wen-wu,No. 8 (I974), pp. 56-67; and HuangChan-yueh,"Wo-kuo ku-taiti jen-hsunho jen-sheng," K'ao-ku, No. 3 (I974), pp. I53-63.K'ao-kuand K'ao-kuhsiieh-paorerenderedn theWade-Giles ratherthan the Pinyin systemofromanization.8 Kuo Mo-jo, Nu-li-chihhih-taiPeking:Jen-min, I954). He recentlyreassertedthe sameposition in an article published in Hung-ch'i:"Chung-kuo shang-ku-shihfen-ch'i wen-t'i,"(July 972), pp. 56-62.9 Li Ya-nung, Chung-kuoi nu-li-chih iifeng-chien-chihShanghai: Hua-tung jen-min, I954).See also his Hsi-Chou yii Tung-ChouShanghai:Jen-min, I956) and Chou-chui shih-chu-chihii

To-pa-chu i ch'ien-feng-chien-chihShanghai:Jen-min, I954). In the latterarticle, "patriarchy"precedesfeudalism.10Hou Wai-lu, "Lun Chung-kuofeng-chien-chih ti hsin-ch'engchi ch'i fa-tien-hua," i-shihyen-chiu, o. 8 (1956), pp. 23-45. See also hismorefully evelopedChung-kuou-tai he-hui-shihlun Peking:Jen-min, 963).II Li-shihyen-chiuditorialBoard,ed., Chung-kuo ti nu-li-chih iifeng-chien-chihen-ch'iwen-t'ilun-wenhsiian-chiPeking: San-lien, I955), andChung-kuo u-tai-shihen-ch'iwen-t'i 'ao-lun-chi.Forthe I978 conference,eeKuang-mingjih-paoNov. I978, p. 2.


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456 CHO-YUN HsuCheng Chung-mienand T'ang Lan, both of whom are veteranhistorianswithrelativelyittleMarxist ackground.2Japanese cholars,who have cholarly ontactwithboththeChina mainland ndTaiwan, are able toparticipatenthedebatesover laverynancientChinawithoutbeing hampered yanypoliticalrestrictions.hirakawa hizuka,for nstance, indsthat the sacrificial ictimswere mostly foreigners,"uchas the Chiang people. 3Both Sato Taketoshiand Ishida Chiaki arguethatthe status of chung,which isinterpreted y Kuo Mo-jo as slave aborengagingnproduction,was that fkinshipgroups which urrounded heking nd formed nentity ased on common eligiousrituals. 4Hsu Fu-kuan,who works n Taiwan and Hong Kong, rejects he theory fShang-Chou slave societyby proposing hattheChou farmer ould, to a certainextent, laim tillagerights revenownershipfthe andhecultivated,nd wasonlyrequired to meetfixed aborobligations mposedbylocal nobles.What Hsu calls"half-independentarmers"an probably e regardeds semi-freeerfs.5WolframEberhard ejects heassumption hat the existence f a slavesocietyconstitutes ydefinitionhepre-feudal tage. He arguesthattheconquestoftheShang bytheChou peopledividedChina nto twosocialstrata,withtheconquerorsconstituting feudalnobility ervedby the conqueredpopulationwho bore theburdenofproduction.The aristocraticnd thepeasantcultures houldactuallyberegarded s two distinct omponents fthe dual society f the Chou. Eberhard'sinterpretationelpsto explainthe co-existence f a highly ophisticatedristocraticritual systemwithclusters f ocalized folk ulture.His assumption hattheChouwere a Turkicpeople who conqueredChina, however, s not accepted by otherscholars. 6City-StateHypothesis and Urbanization

The issue ofperiodizations inextricably oundup withMarxianhistori-ography; by contrast, he origins nd significance f city-statesn ancientChinahavebeen the focalpointofmuchnon-Marxistnvestigation. s early s the I940S,Li Tsong-tonghad acquaintedChinese readerswithN. D. Fustelde Coulanges'sclassic studyofcities n ancientGreeceandRome,whichhad suggested he dom-inance of patriarchalkinship groups (gens) n the city and their religious andritualistic articipationnstate ffairs.In Taiwan, Li graduallyplaced thephenomenonf the ancient ity-staten abroader historical ontext. He studied the natureof the ancient (city)and kuo(state), the totemicoriginsofkinshipgroups,thedevelopmentnd structure f

12 ChengChung-mien,Hsi-Chou he-huihih-tuwen-t'i Shanghai: Hsin-chih-shih, 956); T'angLan, "Ch'un-ch'iu Chan-kuoshihfeng-chien o-chu-shih-tai,"Chung-huawen-shihun-ts'ung,II(Shanghai: hung-hua,963), 1-32 .13 Shirakawa Shizuka, "In-dai junsosha todoreisei," RitsumeikanBungaku JinbunkagakuKenkyujo, (1952), I-I7.14 Sato Taketoshi, "Indai n6gyo keiei nikansuru chimondai," in MikamiKurihara, d.,Chugoku Kodaishi no shomondaiTokyo: T6ky6Daigaku Shuppankai, I954); IshidaChiaki, "Shui

k6," K3kotsu-gaku,o. IO( 964), pp. 53-78.15Hsu Fu-kuan, Chou-Ch'in-Hanheng-chihhe-huichieh-kouhih en-chiuHong Kong: New AsiaInstitute, 972), pp. 2-I3.16 WolframEberhard, Conquerorsnd Rulers:SocialForces nMedievalChina Leiden:E. J. Brill,i965, 2nd and rev. ed.), especiallypp. 27-30.For criticsofEberhard's nsistence n theethnicdistinctivenessf theChoupeople, seeDerkBod-de, "Feudalismin China," inRushtonCoulborn,ed., Feudalism in History Hamden: Archon,I965), pp. 8 I-82.


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EARLY CHINESE HISTORY 457city-stateswithpatriarchalmiddleclasses,and the subsequent ransformationfcity-statesnto territorialtates. 7ParallelingLi's work nJapanese,KaizukaShigeki rgued hat ities n ancientChina werereligious nd ritualistic ommercialntities rganized round ncestorworship.The citiesevolvedfrom roupsbasedon bloodrelationshipntoterritorialgroups, and finally he disintegrated itywas replaced by a contractual eudalsystem.Miyazaki Ichisada also workedout a schemeforthe development f ancientChinesehistory,nwhich he geofcity-statesastedfrom heend ofShang hroughthe earlyCh'un-ch'iuperiod. Miyazakipostulated historical equencerunningfrom heperiodofpatrimonial lansthrough n eraofpatrimonial lancity-statesoterritorialtates nd finally o empire. Miyazaki lso comparedGreek ndChinesecity-states, nd suggestedthatconflicts etweenurbanand outlying ural reas,amongsocialclasseswithin hecity, ndbetweenndividual ity-statesften reateddynamic forces hatfurthered he processof transformationnto territorialtatesystems.8Cho-yunHsu's research n theCh'un-ch'iu ndChan-kuo eriods s inspired yLi Tsong-tong's pproaches.Hsu's efforts a rather unctionalistnalysis,however,that tackles the transitionfrom the ancientpatrimonial ity to a territorialbureaucratic tate. By analyzing he intrastate onflictsnd interstatetruggles,Hsu perceives heproblem he samewaythatMiyazaki id. Bydiscussing conomicfactorssuch as trade)and ideological dimensions f change such as concepts fsocial ustice,universalove,pragmaticndlogicalthinking), su hasattemptedodiscernthe historicaldevelopment uringtheCh'un-ch'iu nd Chan-kuoperiodsfrom iewpointsying utsideMiyazaki's nterpretationftensionndstruggle.9Taking urbanizations a universal henomenonnancient ivilizedworlds, aulWheatley,a geographer t theUniversity fChicago, compares rbancentersnseven ancient civilizations Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, North China, Meso-America,Andes,andNigeria)andconcludes hat he ncient itieswere eremonialcenters.The ancientChinesecityshouldthereforee studied as a cosmo-magicalsymbol.20 he significancefthereligious oleof cities s also stressed y KaizukaShigeki,MatsumaruMichio, and Kwang-chihChang,who examine hereligiousfunctions f the city in ancestorworship, significantorce n holdingkinshipgroupstogether.1 The citiesofShang nd theearlyChouperiodmayverywell have

17 See Li's translationof N. D. Fustel deCoulanges's La CiteAntique ntoChinese,Hsi-lalo-maku-tai he-huihihShanghai, 944; rev.ed.,Taipei: Chung-huaWen-hua, I955). He appliesthemethod oChinesehistorynChung-kuou-taishe-hui hih Taipei: Chung-huaWen-hua, I95 3).For a recentevaluationofCoulanges's contribu-tion, see StephenWilson, "Fustel de Coulangesand theactionFransaise,"Journalf heHistoryfIdeas, 34 (Jan.-March I973), I 23-34.18 Kaizuka Shigeshi, "Chiigoku no kodaikokka," in Kaizuka Shigeshi hisaku-shRTokyo:Chuio Koronsha, I976), I, Part 2; MiyazakiIchisada, "Chugokukodaishikairon," nhisAjia-shigaisetsuTokyo:Gakuseisha, 973), I, I 33-63,and II, 3 -72. For the influence f the Naitotheory n Miyazaki,seeMiyakawaHisayuki,"An

Outline oftheNaito Hypothesis nd itsEffect nJapaneseStudiesofChina," Far Eastern uarterly,I4: 4 (955), 533-52.19Cho-yun Hsu, Ancient hina in Transition(Stanford: tanford niv. Press, I965).

20 Paul Wheatley,ThePivot f he ourQuarters:A Preliminarynquiry nd Characterf heAncientChineseityChicago:Aldine,97 I).21 Kaizuka Shigeki,"Chiigokukodait6shikokuno seikaku," inSekaik3kogakuaikeiTokyo:Hei-bonsha, I958); MatsumaruMichio, "In-shiikok-ka nok6z6," inHigashiAjia sekainokeisei, ol. IVof wanamioza ekai ekishiTokyo,970, I973);Kwang-chih Chang, Early ChineseCivilization:AnthropologicalerspectivesCambridge: HarvardUniv. Press, I976), pp. 47-7 ).


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458 CHO-YUNHsubeen centersof religiousfunction; heireconomicand administrativeunctions,however, hould not be ignored. t is in these two areas that t6 Michiharu ttri-butesto thecitythe role ofcontrollinghe arable and n itsvicinity. he landwastilled by citizenswho ater,when hecity ost ts characters a kinship ommunity,graduallybecamea groupofsubjects f thefeudal ord.22In a recent aperon Choucities, Cho-yun Hsu also devotes some attentionto the condition of naturalresources nd traderoutes n order o determineheregional istribution furbancenters.Hsu believes thatby the Ch'un-ch'iu nd Chan-kuoperiods,thegeneraltrendof secularizationhould, to a large extent,have reduced he importance freligious functions,while economic factorsn urban ocation and structurewereincreasinglymportant.23Ch'in-Han Studies

The riseofthe Ch'in-HanEmpire losed the antiquity fChina and usherednalong-lasting attern f governmentnd society n Chinesehistory,whichEtienneBalazs has called "bureaucratictate centralism."24he structurend operation fsuchan imperial ystem aturally ecamethefocus f ttention orhistorians f theCh'in-Han period. H. G. Creel has devotedhis scholarshipn recentdecades totracing the originsof Chinesebureaucracy. e suggests hat certain udimentaryforms fbureaucracy ad appeared s early s the WesternChou period.The localadministration ystemfirst evelopedin the southern tate of Ch'u during theCh'un-ch'iu period; thiswas the prototype f the bureaucraticnstitution estinedto replacethefiefdomsfChinesefeudalism. reel'sresearch n ancient heories fgovernment onvinceshim that Shen Pu-hai, an administratorn the Chan-kuoperiod, was the first heoretician f bureaucratic overnment, iscussingsuchcrucial concepts s thedivisionoflabor,thesupervisionnd evaluation f officialperformance,nd the role of sovereignmonarchy.25ho-yunHsu points out inanotherarticlethat the gradual evolution towarda bureaucraticmonarchy adstarted s early s the astphaseoftheCh'un-ch'iu eriod.6Historiansoften electthestructure f Ch'in-Hangovernments their esearchtopic. Lao Kan, Yang Shu-fan, nd Chou Tao-chi eachseek to discern he structureof Han bureaucracy. he issues nvolved ncludethedivision fpowerbetween heimperial authority nd the chancellory, nd the transformationf the Han CircuitInspector's ole from hatof overseer f theperformancef ocal officialsnto thatof

22 Ito Michiharu, Sei-shuiidainot6shi-sonokokogakuteki ni mita tojo," Kenkyu,No. 30(i963), pp. 25-62; and "In-Shui idai no t6shi,"Rekishi-Kyoiku,4: I2(i966), 22-28. See also hisChu7gokuodai ochono keisei Tokyo: Shobunsha,'975).23 Hsu Cho-yun, "Chou-tai shang-yehho tu-shih ti fa-chan,"Bulletin f he nstitutefHistoryand PhilologyAcademia Sinica), 48 (i977), Part2, 309-32.24 Arthur . Wright, ed., and H. M. Wright,trans., EtienneBalazs, Chinese ivilization ndBu-reaucracyNew Haven: Yale Univ. Press, i964),pp. 3-33, 129-49, especially . 325 H. G. Creel,TheOrigins f tatecraftnChina,Vol. I (Chicago: Univ. ofChicago Press, I970);see also his "The Beginning of Bureaucracyn

China: The OriginoftheHsien,"JAS, 23 (1964),I55-84; "The Fa-chia: Legalistsor Administra-tors,"Studies resentedoTungTso-pin nhisSixty-fifth irthday, ulletin f henstitutefHistoryndPhilology, xtraNo. 4 (I96I), pp. 607-36; "TheMeaning ofHsing-ming,"StudiaSerica,BernhardKarlgrenDedicata (Copenhagen: Museum of FarEasternAntiquities, I959), pp. I99-2 II; "OntheOriginofWu-wei," SymposiumnHonor fDr.Li Chi on hisSeventiethirthdayTaipei, Tsing-huaJournalBoard, I965), pp. I05-38; and ShenPu-hai: A Chinese hilosopherf he ourth entury. C.(Chicago: Univ. ofChicagoPress, 974).26 Hsu Cho-yun,"Chan-kuoti t'ung-chih hi-kou yu chih-shu,"Bulletin ftheCollege fArts,National Taiwan University,No. I4 (1965), pp.205-39.


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EARLY CHINESE HISTORY 459an intermediatedministrator. en Keng-wang,using literary ources s well asstone stele inscriptions, econstructs an local government tructure,he juris-dictionof variousoffices, ecruitmentnd advancement hannels, ndexaminationand controldevices.Yen depicts very omplicated ureaucracy, ithmany f thecharacteristicshatwere nherited y aterChinesegovernmentrganizations.27Withregard o thefoundationsfCh'in-Han ociety nd the nteractionetweenthe governmentnd thepeople,FranklinHoun and Rafede Crespigny ave tudiedthe recruitmentfcandidates or overnmentervice.28Another requentlyxploredtopic s the status nd roleof ocal power-holders. ho-yunHsu contributed paperwhich nvestigates oth the conflict etween overnmentalower nd ocalforcesnthe earlierpart of the Han dynasty, nd thealliance between mperialpowerandlocal influential roupswho,after he reign fEmperorHsuan, became onstituentsofthe bureaucracy. ao Kan has dealt exclusivelywiththerelationshipnd inter-action between he mperial uthoritynd thesocially nfluentialeople.Yu Ying-shihexamines he role of thepowerful amilies f cholarsntheprocess frestoringthe Han dynasty fter heWang Mang interregnum,ndargues hat uch familieshad become indispensable o the centralgovernment f the Han period.29ChinFa-kenexamines he samegroupof nfluentialamilies nd literatin laterphasesofEasternHan from woangles:their bility o resist hepressure xerted yeunuchswho usurpedthe powerof the emperor, nd their ffortso build local militaryforces t a time of chaos and nationaldisunity.30n his book on the Chou andCh'in-Han political structure,Hsu Fu-kuan nsiststhat Han despotism ctuallydevelopedat the cost of thedestructionfexistinggovernmentnstitutions,ndthat a kind of moral trength rewamong the EasternHan intellectualsnprotestagainst hemonolithic ressuresxerted ythe mperial espotism.1All the workscitedherefocus on the same question:the integrationf HanDynastystate and societywhich served as the foundation f the first nduring

27 Lao Kan, "Han-tai chun-chih hich'i tui-yuchien-tuti ts'an-cheng," n Taiwan University,ed., Fu ku-hsiao-changsu-nien sien-shenghinienlun-wen-chiTaipei: NationalTaiwan University,I952), pp. 29-6I; also his "Han-tai ti t'ing-chih,"Bulletinf henstitutefHistoryndPhilology(AcademiaSinica),22 (1950), 29-I 38; and"Han-ch'ao ti hsien-chih,"AnnualofAcademia inica, I(I954), 69-8I. See thefollowingtemsbyYangShu-fan n Ta-lu tsa-chih.Liang-Hanshang-shuchih-tu hihyenchiu, 23: 3 (I963), 5-I 2; "Han-tai chun-kuoshou-hsiangti chuan-che," I5: I(I956), 23-27; "Han-tai hsiang-t'ing hih-tutiyen-chiu," I: I0 ( I95 5), I4-I7. The worksbyChouTao-chi,also nTa-lu-tsa-chih,re:"Hsi-Hanchun-ch'uanyuhsiang-ch'uanhihkuan-hsi," I:I2 (955), I3-I7; and "Han-tai tsai-hsiang hi-kuan," I9: I I (I959), 9-I5. ForYenKeng-wang,seeChung-kuoi-fangsing-chenghih-tuhih:Ch'in-Han ti-fang sing-chenghih-tu, vols. (Taipei: In-stitute fHistory ndPhilology,Academia inica,I 96 I).

28 FranklinHoun, "The Civil ServiceRecruit-ment Systemsof the Han Dynasty," Tsing-huaJournalofChinese tudies,NS I (I956), I38-64.Rafe de Crespigny, The Recruitmentystem fthe Imperial Bureaucracyof the Later Han,"

Chung-chiournal,6 (I966), 67-78. Tien-yiTaoof the University fHawaii is nowcarryingn aproject on the sametopic.29 Cho-yunHsu, "The ChangingRelationshipbetween Local Societyand theCentral Power inFormerHan," Comparativetudies n SocietyndHistory, : 4(i965), 358-70. Alsosee theChineseversion, Hsu Cho-yun, "Hsi-Han cheng-ch'uanyu she-huishih-liti chiao-hutso-yung,"Bulletinofthe nstitutef Historynd PhilologyAcademiaSinica), 35 ( 964). Seealso Lao Kan, "LunHan-taiti yu-hsia,"Wen hih hehsueh-pao, (1950); and"Han-tai ti hao-ch'iang hi ch'i cheng-chihhangti kuan-hsi,"Symposiumn Honor fDr. Li Chi onhis Seventiethirthday, p. 39-5 I. Yu Ying-shih,"Tung-Han cheng-ch'uan hih chien-liyu shih-chu ta-hsingchihkuan-hsi,"Hsing-ya sueh-pao,

I: 2 (1956), 209-80.30 Chin Fa-ken,"Tung-Han tang-ku en-wutifen-hsi," Bulletinof the Institutef History ndPhilologyAcademia Sinica), 34 (i963), 525-58;and "Wu-pao shou-yuanchi liang-Han ti wu-pao," Bulletin f henstitutefHistoryndPhilology(Academia Sinica), 37 (i965), 20I-20.31 Hsu Fu-kuan,Chou-Ch'in-Hanheng-chihhe-huichieh-kouhih en-chiu.


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460 CHO-YUN Hsuimperial ystem. tateand societywere so interrelatedhatCh'u T'ung-tsu'sbookon Han social structuresactually discussion fthedivision fpoliticalpowers.2Before heunificationfChina,contactswith heoutsideworldwere f ocalizedsignificance. he centralized h'in-Hanempire uickly xpanded n all directions,however, nd facedmany hallenges rom on-Chineseowers.Thegrowth fChinahas thereforerawn he attention f severalhistorians. u Ying-shih ystematicallydiscussestheelasticity f theHan empire nd itsgradual bsorptionfsurroundingnon-Chinese roups ntoChina.33The relationshiponomads longtheborder, heexploration ftheWesternRegion,and thecontinuousmigrationsnto theSouthhaveall been coveredbymonographic reatises.34ollectively, hese tudiesdepictthe territorialrowth fChina as a nation uringts formativetage.Historians n thePeople's RepublicofChina had differentoci or heir esearch.During the 1950S, theywere ssignedfive opics o work n, the o-called five edflowers": he nterpretationfpeasantrebellions, heformationf the Han nation,the natureof landholding n "feudal"China, the controversyver the originsofcapitalism n China, and theperiodization f Chinesehistory. Scholars n Ch'in-Han studiesdeal withall ofthese xcept heorigins fcapitalism.Reconciling heexistence ndcharacteristicsf unified ureaucraticmpirewith heMarxistmodelhas been a central oncern. n discussing eriodization, omescholars uggest hatfeudal ociety ame intoexistence efore he Ch'in-Hanperiod, nddescribe h'in-Han China as a feudalsocietyundera monarchy. thers nsistthat China in theCh'in-Han period, or at leastduringmuch ofthe WesternHan period,was still aslave society. Proponents f thelatterviewcite thefamiliar aragraphs bout thestateand private laves n the Han historical ources.36 hose who taketheformerpositionarguethatthe numberofHan slaves was farfrom arge, and thattheseslavesdid notshoulder hemajorproductive ork.7With regard o landholdingn feudalChina, thequestion s whether hestateowned all the land or individual andlords ould own state land. Hou Wai-lu,borrowing rom heMarxist oncept fAsiaticdespotism, egarded heCh'in-Hanimperial house as the principal andowner,who also had the final uthority odispose of land.38From the severalroundsof discussion hatfollowed hepubli-cation ofhis paper, two anthologies ppeared,one edited byLi-shihyen-chiu,heotherby theDepartment fHistory t Nankai University.39i Ya-nung, writing

32 Tung-tsuCh'u, Han SocialStructure,d.JackDull (Seattle: Univ. ofWashingtonPress, 97 I).33 Ying-shih Yu, Trade and Expansionn HanChina Berkeley:Univ. ofCalifornia ress, 967).34 Kuan Tung-kuei, "Han-tai chu-li Ch'iang-tsuwen-t'iti chien-t'ao,"Shih-huo iieh-k'an, S

2: 3 (1972), 1-26; and "Han-tai ti t'un-t'ienyuk'ai-pien," Bulletinofthe nstitute fHistoryndPhilologyAcademia Sinica), 45 (I973), Part I,27-88; Jack Dobbs, History ftheDiscoveryndExploration f TurkestanThe Hague: Mouton,I963); Herold Wiens, Han Expansion n SouthChina Hamden, Conn: ShoeStringPress, 1954).35 Feuerwerkerurveys our f thesefive opicsand discusses one additional historiographicalquestion, the role of imperialism in Chinesehistory, nFeuerwerker,d., HistorynCommunistChina (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, I968),pp. I5 ff.36 Shang Yueh, "Hsien-Ch'in sheng-ch'an

hsing-t'ai hiht'an-t'ao,"Li-shihyen-chiu,No. 7(I955), pp. 1-28; and "Ju-ho ien-chieh i-shihjen-wu,shih-chienho hsien-hsiang,"Chiao-hsuehyuyen-chiu,No. 4 (1956), pp. i-iO; WangChung-lo, "Kuan-yiiChung-kuonu-lishe-huitiwa-chieh hifeng-chien uan-shih ihsing-ch'engwen-t'i," Wenshihche, o. 3(1956), pp. 25-31;No. 4, pp. 48-59; No. 5, pp. 32-49; WangSsu-chih et al., "Kuan-yu liang-Han she-huihsing-chihwen-t'iti t'an-t'ao," Li-shihyen-chiu,No. I 955), pp. I9-46.37 For instance, Chien Po-tsan, "Kuan-yiiliang-Han ti kuan-ssunu-Iiwen-t'i,"Li-shih en-chiu,No. 4 (I954), pp. I-24.38 Hou Wai-lu, "Chung-kuofeng-chienhe-hui t'u-ti so-yu-chihhsing-shih i wen-t'i," Li-shihyen-chiu, o. I ( I954), pp. I7-32 .39 Li-shihyen-chiu,d., Chung-kuoi-tai t'u-tichih-tu wen-t'i t'ao-lun-chi Peking: San-lien,I957); Department of History, Nankai Univer-


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EARLY CHINESE HISTORY 46Iseparatelyn I962, however, ejected henotion hat heCh'in-Han tate wned heland at all. He suggested hat hegrowth fprivate wnership ywealthyandlordsmade theindependentmall farmersulnerable o losingtheir and and sinking othe evel of erfsndtenants.40In I964, Ho Ch'ang-ch'unwrotea series of articlesfurther ondering heproblem of landholding.Ho discerned tension n the triangular elationshipamong Han monarchy,well-to-do andlords, nd thepeasants. In an essentiallyprivate landholdingsystem, the landlordscommandedthe dependency f thepeasants n their ompetitionwith the state thelargest andlord),whosepositionwas buttressed y its coercivepower. Meanwhile,the bureaucratsould use thepolitical powerof the governmento theirown advantage nd becomepowerfullandlords, nteringnturn ntotheir wncompetition ith he tate.41The debateon theformationftheHan nationwasstarted yFanWen-lan,whowasactuallyprompted yan article yG. V. Efimov. fimov ademployed talin'sdefinition f "nation" to conclude that althougha certaincollectivebeing hasexistedin China since Chou times,the Chinesenationwas not formed ntil thenineteenthnd twentiethenturies. an argues hat s early s theCh'in-Hanperiodthe Chinese had been unitedunder one culture,one economy, nd one identitywithin well-definederritorialrea. Fan'sargument rovoked ttacks rom everalfronts. omedoubtedon theoretical roundswhether nation oulddevelopwith-outcapitalism.ThisputFaninthe wkward osition f uggesting uniquepatternof historicaldevelopment n China that defiesthe universal aw of Marxism-Leninism.Another bjection uestioned hevalidity fasserting ationaluniform-ity, s therehad beenmuch vidence fregional iversityhrough heHan period nthe vast territoryf China.42Butthe solid foundationfnational nitywasat bestqualified ne.Peasant uprisingshave alwaysbeen a popular topic amonghistoriansn thePeople's Republic. Roughly peaking, here re twotypes fresearchn thisarea:studiesof ndividual asesandstudies fgeneral atterns.43All analyses onfirmhepositiverole ofpeasantuprisings s catalysts fhistorical evelopment.Morespeci-fically, heuprisings hatbrought ownthe Ch'indynastyre often egardeds theforcethat broughtabout the appearanceof independent mall farmersnd theresulting ncreases n production.The uprisings uringthe Han, especially hoseduring Wang Mang's reign nd theYellowTurbanuprising, re taken s protestsagainst the threat o the freeholdingeasantrys large andlords ook control fmore nd more and.44sity,ed., Chung-kuoeng-chienhehui t'u-ti o-yu-chihhsing-shihen-t'i ao-lunchi, vols. (Peking:San-lien,962).

40 Li Ya-nung, "Chung-kuotifeng-chiening-chu-chihhoti-chu-chih,"nhisHsin-jan-tsaishih-lun chi (Shanghai: Jen-min, I962), pp. 873-Io96.41 Ho Ch'ang-ch'un,Han-T'ang-chienfeng-chient'u-ti o-yu-chihsing-shihen-chiuShanghai:Jen-min, I964).42 Fan Wen-lan, "Shih-lun Chung-kuo tz'uCh'in-Han ch'i Chung-kuo ch'eng-wei t'ung-ikuo-chia ti yuan-ying,"Li-shihyen-chiu, o. 3

(1954), pp. I5-26. Responses to Fan's work,aswell as the Chinese translation f the essay byEfimov, re included n thecoliectionLi-shih en-

chiu, ed., Han min-chusing-ch'engen-t'i ao-lunchi Peking: San-lien, I957), pp. i-i6. Efimov'soriginalpaperis notavailableto theauthor f thepresent rticle.43 These two types are represented n twoanthologies. For theformer, ee Li-shihyen-chiu,

ed., Chung-kuonung-minh'i-i lun-chi Peking:San-lien, I958); for he atter, eeShihShao-ping,ed., Chung-kuoeng-chienhe-huinung-minhan-cheng en-t'i 'ao-lun-chiPeking:San-lien, 957).44 Ch'i Hsia, Ch'in-Han nung-minhan-cheng-shih Peking: San-lien, I962); Ho Ch'ang-ch'un,Han-T'ang-chieneng-chien'u-tiso-yu-chihsing-shihyen-chiu,p. 6-I 30; Ma K'ai-liang, "Kuan-yuKung-yuan -shih-chi h'u-ch'inung-min h'i-i ti chi-kowen-t'i, en-wen o-hsiiehsa-chih, o.


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462 CHO-YUNHsuThe excitement f academicdebates in the I950S ended with the CulturalRevolution. When the journalLi-shihyen-chiu as reissued, ts pages were full ofanti-Confucian, ro-Legalistmaterial n such issues as thesettling fHsun-tzu'spositionas a Legalist scholar,theinterpretationf thestruggle etween heHancentralgovernmentnd the principalityf Wu, and the ideologyof San Hung-yang.The tone,ofcourse,was one ofglorificationfthe Legalists'positiverole nhistory nd depreciation f theConfucians. he most nterestingrticle,however, sthe one on thehistorical ignificancef thepeasantuprising ed by Ch'en Sheng ndWu Kuang. SinceCh'inShih-huang-ti asregardeds a hero nd thepeasant ebelshad to remain heroes too, it was necessary o reconcile he struggle etween herevolutionaryeasants nd the progressiveh'inregime.The author's olutionwasto arguethatWu Kuang andCh'enShenghad notrisen gainstCh'inShih-huang-tiat all, but against the usurper hao Kao, who wasplotting orestore he old socialsystem ominated y slave-owners.45From I976 on, following he death of Mao Tse-tung,Chiang Ch'ing and heradvisory roup,whowereresponsible or he nti-Confucianampaign,were abeledthe "Gang of Four." Li-shihyen-chiu egan to change its tone, disclosingthesystematicbuse ofhistorical esearch nder he nfluenceftheGang. Thesimplis-tic bifurcationf truggles etween heConfucian ndLegalist ineswasabandoned,as was the attack nConfuciuss a reactionary.heuprisingstthe ndoftheCh'indynasty re now attributed o thedespoticrole ofCh'in Shih-huang-ti, conven-tional interpretationhich hasprevailed n Chinesehistoriographyince the Han

period. A whole line ofnewinterpretationsfChinesehistorymayyetdevelop nthe coming years.At any rate, distortion fhistorical act vident n thewritingsduring he nti-Confucian ovement eems o have nded.46The Ch'in-Han Empire inJapanese Scholarship

In contrast o the tudies f nstitutionsnd structurehat ccupy central lacein the works f non-Chinese istorians, heir ounterpartsn the People's Republicconcern hemselvesmainlywith conomic spects ndideological imensionswhichrepresent he base and superstructuref society,respectively. his probing ntoeconomic aspects, especially nto the mode of production, indsmanyechoes inJapanese cholarship. ut severalJapanese istorians n China actually erceive heproblemfrom very articular ngle: thepattern fEast Asian ntiquity.Nishijima

I(I958), pp. 39-46; Li Kuang-pi, "Han-tai t'ai-p'ing-tao yu Huang-chunch'i-i," Li-shihchzao-hsueh,No. 6 (I95I), pp. I3-2I.45 Yang Jung-kuo, "San Hung-yang ti che-hsuehssu-hsiang, Li-shihyen-chiu,o. I (974),pp. 50-56; ChingYun-k'o, "Po Hsun-k'uangweiju-chiashuo, Li-shihyen-chiu, o. I (I 97 5), pp.29-88; ShihChung, "Hsi-Han wang-ch'ao 'ungLiu Pi teng fu-ni shih-li ti t'ou-tseng," Li-shihyen-chiu, o. 2 (I975), pp. 68-75; LiangHsiao,"Lun Ch'en ShengWu Kuang nung-min a ch'i-iti li-shih kung-hsun," Li-shihyen-chiu, o. i(0I975), pp. 65-73.46 The firstattack on the Gang of Four'shistoriographyn a historical ournalwas in Li-shihyen-chiu, o. 6 (1976), which was entirely

devotedto thispurpose.More recent s an articleby Lin Kan-ch'uan re-evaluatingCh'in Shih-huang-ti, "Lun Ch'in-shih-huang,"Li-shihyen-chiu,No. 4 (1978), pp. 20-33. An article irectlyrelated to peasant uprisings n Chinesehistory,especially those n the Ch'in-Hanperiod, s Chu-ko Chi, "Po Ssu-jen-pang tsai nung-minchan-cheng wen-t'i-shang i fan-Ma-k'e-ssu hu-iniu-lun," Li-shihyen-chiu, o. I (I977), pp. 46-59.For changesin anti-Confucian ttitudes, ee YenLing, "Kuan-yu K'ung Ch'iu chu Shao-cheng-mao," Li-shihyen-chiu, o. I (978), pp. 63-65;and Hsieh T'ien-yu and Wang Chia-fan, Po Fa-chia ch'ang-ch'i fan-fu-pi un," Li-shiyen-chiu,No. 3 (978), pp. 35-43.


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EARLY CHINESE HISTORY 463Sadao, one of the principalparticipantsn a greatdebate on the natureof theCh'in-Han empire, points out thathis interestn the natureof the Ch'in-Hanempire was arousedby an article n which Maeda Naonori suggestedthat theantiquity n China,Japan,and Korea was experiencedn similarways,though nChina theperiodof ntiquity nded ntheninth entury,hree enturies arlier hanit ended inJapanand Korea.47MasubuchiTatsuo suggests hat Asianscan havetheirownspecificmodel ofdevelopmentwhichneed not follow hegeneralizationsderivedfrom heexperience f theWest.48 These attempts t generalizationer-tainlydiffer rom heglobal generalizationsenerated yMarxisthistorians,whoview thedevelopment f human ociety verywheres theunfoldingf a universalpattern.Nevertheless, heterminologynd concepts doptedbyJapanese cholarsstill beara strong lavor f Marxisthistoriographyhichreveals he nfluenceheyreceivedfrom he Marxist chool. Curiously,very ittleresponse o thisconceptcomesfrom hescholars fJapanesehistory,whoconstitute separate ircle n theJapanese cademiccommunity. apanese tudiesof East Asianhistory, ominatedby sociologists,havegraduallynarrowed ownto determinationfthenature nddevelopment f state and societynChina. Formore hantwodecades the focus nthefieldofCh'in-Hanhistory as been theformation fancientChinese mpires,especially he ntegrationf tate ndsociety.Nishijima, elaboratingMaeda's effort,elieves hatancientChina lasted untilthe ninthor tenthcentury, nd thattheancientperiodwas one ofslavery.Theproblem,then, s the nterpretationfCh'in-Hansociety,whichwasdistinctivelydifferent romthe slave systempredominantn the subsequentSouthern ndNortherndynasties.Nishijima proposesthatas it collapsed,feudalsocietywasreplacedby both domesticslaveryunderpatriarchaluthority,nd a system ftenancy hatgrewtoreplace laverys theonlyformf aborutilization.49On thetopicof tate ontrol f ndividuals,Nishijimapublishedhisstudy ftheHan honorificitleswhichwerebestowed n ordinaryeopleas a symbol fdirectties betweenthe ruler nd theruled.50Nishijima'sstatement rovoked esponsesfromMasubuchiTatsuo and MoriyaMitsuo. Masubuchiquestioned henature fpatriarchal uthority,nd suggested hata newsocialorderbaseduponvoluntarypersonal iesfollowed hecollapseofthefeudal ystem.51n theother and,MoriyaMitsuo used the themeofpatriarchy o investigate he nature fHan Kao-tsu'sassociates, hepower f ocalelders, ndthe tructurefHan families.52HiranakaReiji's studies fthe andtenurend taxationystem ftheCh'in-Hanperiodconfirm heprevalence fprivate andownershipnd the tate'srole nusingtaxationand faminereliefmeasures o exercise ontroloveragricultural roduc-

47 Maeda Naonori, "Higashi-Ajia ni okerukodainoShumatsu,"Rekishi,: 4 (1948), I9-3I,also included in Suzuki Shun and NishijimaSadao, Chugokushi o idai-kubunTokyo: T6ky6Daigaku Shuppankai, I957). For Nishijima'sstatement, eepp. I9 I ff f this amevolume.48 MasubuchiTatsuo,Chugokuodaino hakai okokkaTokyo:K6bund6, I960).49 Nishijima Sadao, "Chuigokukodai teikokuseiritsuno ichikosatsu, Rekishigakuenkyi,4 I

(I949), I-I5; andhis "Kodai kokkanokenryokukaza," Kokka kenryoku o shodankai (Tokyo,I950).

50 Nishijima Sadao, Chugokukodai teikoku okeisei okozo Tokyo:Toky6Daigaku Shuppankai,I96I).5 lMasubuchi Tatsuo, Chugokuodaino hakai okokka.52 See thefollowing rticlesbyMoriyaMitsuo:"Kan nokososhuidan o seinitsuite,"Rekishigakukenkyu,58: 9 ( I952); "Fur6,"T-hyoshienkyu,4:

I-2 (I955); and "Kandai kazoku no keitai nikansuru sai kosatsu," Chugokukodaishikenkyu(Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkai, I960), pp. 327-52.


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464 CHO-YUNHsution.53 n a completely ewdeparture, imuraMasao adoptsthebasic concepts fWittfogelianhydraulic heory o examine the expansion f arable land from heplains and rivervalleys nto the secondary reawhichrequired rrigation, nd thesubsequentestablishment f government dministration.54imura also uses histheory o explainthepeasantuprisings f the Han period, ncluding hosebetweenWesternHan and EasternHan, and thegreatYellow Turbanuprisingn the astquarter fthe EasternHan. He concludes hat hedeteriorationf rrigation ondi-tionswas related o the ossofeffectiveovernmentontroln thesecondary rableareas.55At the opposite end of state control s thepower structure f the Han localcommunity.UtsunomiyaKiy6kichifocusedon such problems s the power ofpredominant ocal magnates,kinship rganization,nd conditions or he develop-mentof and tenancy.56 contrast o Utsunomiya's ather tructuralistpproachsthefunctionalistpproach fMoriyaMitsuo, whose nthology wellson thethemeofa parallelbetween hecomplexityf thefamilytructurendpolitical nd socialconditions.Yoshinami Takashiattempts o integrate hetheories roposedby Nishijima,Masubuchi, and Kimuraby examining herole ofpowerfulmagnates n buildinglocal irrigationystems, nd thedifferentiationfsocial status nto the dominatingandthedominated s a consequence f andconcentration.58All of the above topics are, afterdecades of discussion, ncorporatednto apopularbookpublishedby wanamiwhose title can be translated s "Formation fthe East Asian World." The title itself uggestsa perspective reater han thehistory f anysingle nation n East Asia. Moreover,manyof the individual on-tributors,uch as Nishijima, have begun to absorbfrom achother he results f aforum n the tructure fCh'in-Han mperial hina."Studies on Agriculture

Since bothhistoriansn the People's Republicand Japanese cholars, ordif-ferentreasons, tend to relatehistoricaldevelopment o systems f production,research n agriculture nd itsrelated roblems onstitutes highly ertinent ield.The developmentof agricultural mplementshas been the subject of a generaltreatise, nd of more pecialized tudies. Yang K'uan investigateshe technique fproducingiron and steel, and suggeststhatcast ironprecededwrought roninChina, and thatthe blast furnace addefinitelyeen nuse as early s theChan-kuoperiod.60Numerousessays n agricultural istory ave beenpublished na journal

53 Hiranaka Reiji, Chuigokuodai no densei ozeiho Kyoto: Kyoto Univ. T6y6shi Kenkyuikai,I 96 I).54 Kimura Masao, Chu7gokuodai eikokuokeisei(Tokyo:Fumeido, 1965). Seealso KarlWittfogel,OrientalDespotism. Comparativetudyof TotalPower New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, I957). Inhis earlierwork Wittfogeltraced the origin ofChinese despotism to Ch'in: "Die Theorie derOrientalischen Gesellschaft," Zeitschrift urSozialforschung,( I9 3 ).55 Kimura Masao, "Zen-go Kan k6tai-ki non6minhanran,"T7ky7 yoiku aigaku bungakubushigaku enkyu7,i ( I967), I-50; "Ry6-Kan k6taiki no g6zoku hanran,"Rissho-Shigaku, (I967)

I 2-4 I; and "Kokin no hanran, ShigakuKenkyu7,9(I (972).56 Utsunomiya Kiy6kichi, Kandai shakai-keizaishi enkyuiTokyo:K6bund6, I9 5 5).57 MoriyaMitsuo, ChAgoku odai no gozoku okokka Kyoto: Kyoto Univ. T6y6shiKenkyuikai,I966).

58 Yoshinami Takashi, Shin-Kan teikokushikenkyu7Tokyo:Miraisha, I978), especially p. 2 3ff. and pp. 365 ff.59 HigashiAjia sekainokeisei.60 Yang K'uan, Chung-kuo u-taiyeh-t'iehhi-shu ti fa-mingho fa-chan (Shanghai: Jen-min,I956); Fang Chuang-yu,"Chan-kuo -laiChung-kuo pu-li fa-chanwen-t'ishih-t'an,"K'ao-kuNo.


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EARLY CHINESE HISTORY 465sponsoredby the NankingAgriculture ollege. The onlytwo ssuesofthis ournalavailable in the West containessayson the treatmentf agriculturen variousancientworks suchas theKuan-tzund the Lu-shih h'un-ch'iu),ncluding armingmethods,theoriginsof certain ndividual rops,sericulture, orticulture,nd soon. Fifteen f thetwenty-threeapers n these wo issuesconcern hepre-Han ndHan periods.Amongthem s a detailed studybyYu Yu on the gradual volutionfromslash-and-burngriculture o multi-croppedntensive arming. his studyfinally larifiesheconfusionverwhether herewasa "three-field"ystemnChina,a misconceptionommonly eldduring he I920S byhistorians ho participatednthe debateonChinese ociety.61Japanese scholarshave also made great contributions.Amano Motonosukebreaksnewgroundin his research n farmingmethods s seenfrombronze ndoraclebone nscriptions.62Concentratingtrictlynthedevelopmentf echnology,SekinoTakeshi usesarchaeological indingso investigatehe evolution f farmingtools, especiallythe beginnings f bronze mplements,63 hileAmanomaintainsthat bronze mplements ad beenin use during he Chouperiod.64 he pattern fthe land tenure ystem onstitutes nother ine of related ubjects,so the inter-pretationof the well-field ystem s a central oncern n several rticles.65 hesignificancef rrigationnChinese gricultures a common heme.KimuraMasaoadaptsand refines he"hydraulicheory"nhisstudy f theexpansion ffarmingnclassical andpost-classical hina.Althoughhis mainconcerns withthe conditionsunderwhichthedespoticmonarch ppears,he also devotes omechapters o landutilizationunderthecity-based theocracy,"when griculturerevailednareasofthe "primaryrable" and. 6Until P. T. Ho publishedhis studyon theoriginsofChineseagriculturendry-land arming, hedevelopment fagriculturewas touchedon only slightlynEnglish. Ho discussesthe indigenous rigins f Chinese gricultures well as thedistinctive hinese characteristicsfthepottery,metallurgy, eligion, ndwritingsystem eveloped nancientChina.Ho concurswith hefairly idely ccepted iewthat a unique cultural raditionwas born nEastAsia,without orrowingrom heancient West Asian civilizations.Ho's main contributions to confirm nter-pretationshat regraduallymerging mong cholarsnvariousubfields.677 (1 5 3); Chang Ch'ang-shu,Lai-ssu i hi-yiuanhich'ifa-chanShanghai:Jen-min,964); Liu Hsien-chou, Chung-kuo u-tainung-yehhi-chieha-mingshih Peking: K'o-hsueh, I963).

61 Nung-shih en-chiuhi-kan, No. I (959),andNo. 2 (i 960), passim, especiallyYu Yu, "YuHsi-chou tao Ch'ien-Han ti keng-tso hih-tuyen-ko, Nung-shihen-chiuhi-kan, ( I960), I-I7.Many of the opinions in these papers areincorporated into Wan Kuo-ting's Chung-kuonung-hsiiehhihPeking: K'o-hsueh, I959).62 Amano Motonosuke,Chugoku ogyoshienkyu(Tokyo: Ochanomizu shobo, I962). See also his"Sai-Shu no n6gy6 to sono shakai k6z6,"Matsuyama shodai ronshu, 7: I (I956); and"Chuigoku kodai n6gy6 no tenkai-Kahokunogy6 no keisei katei," T-Th5gakuh3 Kyoto), 30(959), 67-I66.63 Sekino Takeshi, "Shin rai-shi k6," ToyoBunka enkyujoiyo,9 (1959), I-77.64 Amano Motonosuke, "Seido-sei nogu ko,"

Chhgoku ogyoshienkyz,p. 687-96.65 Amano Motonosuke, "Shuino hohensei toseidensei,"Jinbunkenkyu7,-8 ( I957), 4-I4; andSato Taketoshi, "In-Shia idai no zei-sei,"Rekishiky6iku,86(I969), I3-I9.66 Kimura Masao, Ch7goku kodai-teikoku okeisei.67 Ping-ti Ho, The Cradle of the East (HongKong and Chicago: Hong Kong Chinese Univ.Press and Univ. ofChicago Press, I976), espe-ciallypp. 43-89. ForsomedefectsnHo's presen-tation, see the reviewsby Kwang-chihChang inJournal oftheAmerican riental ocietynd in theJournal fOrientaltudies, ongKong, s well as thereviews by Richard Pearsonin ScienceJuly 30,I976); by Cho-yunHsu in Geographical eview,67: I (Jan. I977); byDavid Keightley nHarvardJournal fAsiatic tudies, 7: 2 ( I977), 392, andinEarlyChina, (I977) 55-6 ; and byE. G. Pul-leyblanknJAS, 5: 4 (August 977),7 I 5- I 7. Apaper which explicitly efers oHan agricultures


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466 CHO-YUNHsuWhile Ho's study concentrates n the beginningsof Chinese civilization,including agriculture, n the Neolithic and Shang periods, Cho-yunHsu hasrecently ompleteda studyof Han agriculture.The technical spects, such asimplements, rrigation, ropping, nd farmingmethods, reexplored n order odiscussthe characteristicsf theHan agrarian conomy.Hsu hypothesizeshattheintensive armingnHan wasclosely elated otheprevalencef n activemarketingsystem.He also finds hatbyHan timesChina's market-orientedconomy ossesseda certaindegreeof elasticity, nd could adapt to both the nationwide conomicnetwork nder unifiedmpire ndthe ocal economic egionalism henChinawassometimes ivided.68

New Archaeological Discoveries and Their PotentialThe significancef the numerous rchaeological iscoveriesf the pastquarter-century asalready een the ubject fK. C. Chang's tate-of-the-fieldrticle nthisjournal. Someof thefinds,however,merit iscussion ecauseof theirmplicationsforhistorical nterpretation.n the first lace, archaeologicalworkhas revealedgreatdeal about thehistory fShang.The archaeological eports epeatedlymakenote ofhumansacrifice,whosevictims rewithout xception abeledas "slaves."The purposeof suchanemphasis s to substantiateheclaimthat ncientChinawas69a slave society.The excavationstCheng-chou, en-shih,Kao-ch'eng, ndShih-lou aveprovedthatShangculture xtended eyond heenvironsfAnyang.70 ndeed,Shang ettle-mentspredatingAnyanghave been found t Yen-shih and Cheng-chou.Furtherdiggingsat Yen-shihhave revealed palace site whichcarbon-4 datingplaces atI590-I300 B.C. This is probably ne of theearlier apitalsof theShangstate.7"Discoveries at Shih-lou and Kao-ch'enghave also pushed the boundaries f theShangarea intothe present rovinces fShansi ndHopei, farnorth f theAnyangregion. Furthermore,arge quantitiesof Shang bronzeshave been discovered tNing-hsiang nHunan which s, sofar, he outhernmostimit fShangrelics.72

by a geographer:Donald J. Ballas, "Some Noteson Agriculture n Han China," Professionaleo-graphy, 7 4 (I965), I3-I4.68 The manuscript s prepared s one volume ofthe Han History Project sponsoredby the Uni-versity f Washington, eattle, nd editedbyJackDull. A brief summary entitled "AgriculturalIntensification nd MarketingAgrarianismn theHan Dynasy" is included nDavid T. Roy andT.H. Tsien, eds., AncientChina: Studies n EarlyCivilization (Hong Kong and Chicago: HongKong Chinese Univ. Press and Univ. of Chicago

Press, 979).69 It is impossibleto cite every aperthatcon-tains such sections. By way of llustration,n thesummary f rchaeological iscoveries ince 950,Hsia Nai stresseshuman sacrifice s one of thegeneral featuresof Shang society. See K'ao-kuyen-chiu-so, d., Hsin Chung-kuoi k'ao-ku hou-hou (Peking: Wen-wu, 196), and "Wu-ch'anchieh-chi wen-huata ko-ming chung ti k'ao-kuhsin fa-hsien," 'ao-Ku, (1972), 29-42. For

treatment fthis topic using oraclebone inscrip-tion materials, see Hu Hou-hsuan, "Chung-kuonu-li she-hui ti jen-hsun ho jen-chi," Wen-wu,No. 7 (i974), pp. 78-84, andNo. 8 ('974), pp.56-72 .70 These sites have been known to Englishreaders. See, for instance, Kwang-chih Chang,Archaeologyf AncientChina (New Haven: YaleUniv. Press,rev.ed., I968), pp. I94-209.71 K'ao-ku yen-chiu-so, "Ho-nan Yen-shihErh-li-toutsao-shang kung-tien -chih fa-chuehchien-pao,"K'ao-ku, No. 4 (i974), pp. 234-48.72 Shih-lou jen-minwen-hua-kuan, Shan-hsiShih-lou I-tieh fa-hsienShang-tai t'ung-ch'i,"Kao-Ku, No. 4 (0972), pp. 29-30; Ho-pei shengpo-wu-kuan et al., "Ho-pei Kao-ch'eng hsienT'ai-hsi ts'un Shang-tai i-chih I973-nien tichung-yaofa-hsien,"Wen-wu,No. 8 (i974), pp.42-49. Hsia Nai, "Wu-ch'an chieh-chiwen-huata ko-mingchungti k'ao-ku hsinfa-hsien,"K'ao-ku, No. I (972), pp. 29-42.


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EARLY CHINESE HISTORY 467The Kao-ch'eng discoveries re of great significance ecause they nclude acomplexofdwellingsbuiltwithsun-dried ricks, piece ofbronzeknifewithanironedge, heaps ofrusted ron, lacquerplates and boxes,and some seedswhich

coincide with the ingredients f certainherbal medicines.These date from hefifteentho thethirteenthentury .C. Findings t this iteprovide luestovariousaspectsofShangculture.Greatest xcitemententered n the ronpieces,thefirstscientificallyxcavated ronwith uchan early ate. The earliest atesfor heuse ofiron now seem to havebeen pushedbackward o early hang.Archaeologistst firstthought hatthisfindwouldalso movebackward hedate ofthefirstppearance fman-made ron nChinabyas much s a thousand ears.After urthernvestigation,however, twas determined hatthe ronblade was made ofmeteoriteron, houghprocessedwithcertain eattreatment.73The Kao-ch'eng discoverieshave confirmed hathas been suggestedby theCheng-choudiscoveries-that the earlyShang people had a verymaturebronzeculture. It was so mature, n fact,thattheremust have been a phase of bronzetechnology ven earlier hantheShang period. It evensuggests hattheHsia wassuchanearlybronze eriod.74Historical nformationnWestern hou,other hanwhat spreservedn iterarysources,hasalwaysbeenscarce. n recent ecades,however, gooddealofnew ighthasbeen shed on this ra. First f ll, excavationsnvillages long theFengand Haorivers n Shensi provincehavedisclosedtheremains f Chou dwelling nd burialsites from efore heconquest, s well as from heearlyyears f theChoudynasty.Theyreveal hatpre-conquest hou wasprobably nationbelonging othegeneralShang cultural phere, lthough fa relativelyower evel ofaccomplishment.ucha notion s, ofcourse, confirmationfconventionalnderstanding.75Amongthebronzes nearthedtCheng-chiang, hich slocated ntheYangtzedelta near the seacoast, is one piece of an earlyChou vessel,with inscriptionsdescribing he investiture fa certain ristocrat o the rankofmarquis.This hashelped to verify heexistence f Chou investitureeremonies, nd has proven hepresenceofChou poweras far wayfrom ts capitalas thecoastalregions f theYangtze valley. Anothergroup ofbronzesfromChou vassalstateswerefound nManchuria. Both thesediscoveries re importantn substantiatinghattheChoufeudal network eached he lowerYangtzevalley.An inscriptionn a bronzedis-covered t Ling-t'ung, hensi,for xample,records he battle n whichKing Wuovercame hang. And from Chou site at Fu-feng, hensi, bronzewasexcavatedon which was inscribed summary f theearlyChou reigns.All thesefindshaveprovided nformationertinentothehistoryftheWestern houperiod.76

73"Ho-pei Kao-ch'eng hsien T'ai-hsi ts'unShang-tai i-chih I973-nien ti chung-yao fa-hsien"; and T'ang Yiin-ming,"Kao-ch'engT'ai-hsi Shang-tait'ieh-jent'ung-yiiehwen-t'iti t'an-t'ao," Wen-wu,No. 3 (I975), pp. 57-59; LiChung, "Kuan-yu Kao-ch'eng Shang-tait'ung-yueht'ieh-jen ifen-hsi,"K'ao-kuhsueh-pao,o. 2(I976), pp. I7-2 I; Yeh Shih, "Kao-ch'engShang-tait'ieh-jent'ung-yueh hi ch'i i-i," Wen-wu,No. ii (I976), pp. 56-59.74 T'ang Lan, "Ts'ung Ho-nan Cheng-chouch'u-t'u ti Shang-taich'ien-ch'ich'ing-t'ung-ch'it'an-ch'i,"Wen-wu,No. 7 (I973), pp. 5-I3.75 K'ao-ku yen-chiu-so,Feng-hsi a-chiiehao-kaoPeking:Wen-wu,962).

76 Chiang-sushengwen-wukuan-liwei-yuan-hui, "Chiang-suTan-t'uhsienYen-tun-shanh'u-t'u ti ku-taich'ing-t'ung-ch'i,"Wen-wus'an-k'aotzu-liao,No. 5 (I955), pp. 58-62; Je-hopo-wu-kuan, "Je-hoLing-yuanhsien hai-taoying-tzu-ts'un fa-hsien i ku-tai ch'ing-t'ung-ch'i,"Wen-wuts'an-k'aozu-liao, o. 8 (I955), pp. I6-27;T'ang Lan, "Hsi-Chou shih-tai sui-tsao i i-chient'ung-ch'i Li-kuei ming-wenchieh-shih,"Wen-wu, No. 8 (977), pp. 8-9; Yu Sheng-wu,"Li-kuei ming-wen k'ao-shih," Wen-wu, No. 8(I977), pp. IO-I2; Chung Feng-nien et al.,"Kuan-yii Li-kuei ming-wenk'ao-shih ti t'ao-lun," Wen-wu,No. 6 (I978), pp. 77-84; HsuChung-shu, "Hsi-Chou ch'iang-pan ming-wen


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468 CHO-YUNHsuInscriptions n newlyunearthed ronzes re ofgreat ignificanceecause theirdates can oftenbe better eterminedhan can those of old bronzeswhose nscrip-tions were oftenpreserved nlyin ink-rubbings. ome of the numerous ronzes

discoveredrecently ontain nterestingnformation.or instance,on a groupofbronzesdug up at Mei-hsien, hensi,the nscriptions entionmilitarynitsundera single commandwhich onsisted f six Chou divisions nd eightShangdivisions.In otherwords,the Shang army nit continued oexist ong after hefallofShang.This revelationastsnew ightonthenature ftheChou conquest, specially n therelationship etween onquerornd conquered." In other ases, the bronzenscrip-tionsgive informationn land transactionss wellas exchanges f and and valuableitems, litigation,and corporalpunishment.Using such inscriptionsn bronzesdiscovered in Shensi, T'ang Lan, Chou Yuan, and Sheng Chang reveal thedeteriorationf the WesternChousocial order nd the riseof type fnouveauiche.With such informationvailable,many spects f Chouhistoryan now be studiedin much greater etail. H. G. Creel has already rawn n some ofthis nformationinpreparing book on Chou government. therpromisingopics nclude heChoufeudal tructure,he nteractionetween tates, ndtherelationshipetween houandnon-Choupeoples.In I965, hundreds fpiecesof jade stripswereexcavated t Hou-ma, Shansi.These jade documentshave been deciphered s an oath between he Ch'in ducalhouse and theremnants f a faction efeatedn a coup d'etat.The necessityor herulinggroup,including herulerhimself, o demand solemn ath of oyalty romanothergroupofaristocratsndicates hatthe old feudalhierarchicaltructure asrather nstable. t also signalsthearrival f late Ch'un-ch'iu attern fpower hatdemandedreconfirmationf xisting ord-vassal elationships ith aths.78There have beena fewnewdiscoveries f Chou cities n addition o thosePaulWheatleyhascoverednhisstudy n urbanization. he siteofLin-tzu nShantung,which is the capital of the ancientCh'i state of the WesternChou period, isespecially evealing.Thiscity onsisted f majorwalled-in ection nd a connectedlesserone, and occupiedover ixsquaremiles.Therewere t leasteleven itygates,tenthoroughfares,nd two sewagesystems.Remainsfrom everal ifferenteriodshavebeenfound t this ite;obviously, hecity fLin-tzuwas continuouslyccupiedformany enturies, nd probably emained center fcommercendtransportationfor longtime. The morphologyfLin-tzu ndicates secular rban ite ratherhana sacred place. Excavation of other cities has deepened our understandingfcommerce nd industryn the Chou period.The Ch'i mintwas discoveredn theLin-tzusite, and the currencyminted t Lin-tzu s found n manyCh'i archaeo-chien-shih,"K'ao-kuhsiieh-pao,o. 2 (1978), pp.I39-48; Li Hsueh-ch'in,"Lun Shih-Ch'iang-panchi ch'i i-i, ' K'ao-kuhsueh-pao, o. 2 (1978), pp.I49-58.77 Shen-hsishengpo-wu-kuan et al., Ch'ing-t'ung-ch'i 'u-shihPeking:Wen-wu, I960); T'angLan, "Yang ch'ing-t'ung-ch'iming-wen ei yen-chiu hsi-Choushih," Wen-wu,No. 6 (1976), pp.3 I-39; ShengChang, "Chi-shanhsin-ch'u seng-ijo-kanwen-t'itan-shuo,"Wen-wu,No. 6 (1976),pp. 40-44; and Chou Yuan, "Chii-poChiu-weiliang-chia-chu i hsiao-changyu Chou-li ti peng-huai," Wen-wu,No. 6 976), pp. 45-50.

78 Kuo Mo-jo, "Ch'u-t'u wen-wu erh-sanshih," Wen-wu,No. 3 (0972), pp. 2-io; T'aoCheng-kangand Wang Ko-lin, "Hou-ma tung-Chou meng-shih-chih,"Wen-wu,No. 4 (0972),pp. 27-37; T'ang Lan, "Hou-ma ch'u-t'uChan-kuo Chao-Chia-chih-mengtsai-shu hsin-shih,"Wen-wu,No. 8 (1972), pp. 3I-35; Chu Te-hsiand Ch'iu Hsi-kuei,"Kuan-yuHou-mameng-shuti chi-tienpu-shih," Wen-wu,No. 8 (1972), pp.36-38; Li Yu-ming, "Wo tuiHou-ma meng-shuti k'an-fa,"K'ao-ku,No. 3 (1973), pp. i85-9I.The completetext s nowpublishedbyWen-wu(Peking, I978).


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470 CHO-YUNHsusacrificen the southern ombsmaybe evidence f thedevelopmentf a humanisticconscience n the southernultures f the aterChou. It is now evident,moreover,that thestate ofCh'u during he Ch'un-ch'iu ndChan-kuo eriods ould havetheresources nd capabilityto challengethe combined trength f all the northernstates. At thepresent ime, there s enough nformationowrite fullnew chapteron the southernulture,which houldbe a pertinentomponentfChina'shistory.The relationshipmongthe various ocal cultures nd amongdifferentthnicgroups in China can also be studiednowthat so much new archaeologicalnfor-mation upplementshe iteraryources.83ocal culturesn theSzechwan asinandYunnan regionhad long been mentioned n history, ut it is onlywithrecentarchaeological iscoveriesn theseprovinces hatwe havegainedsolid informationon these outhwesternthnicgroups.Thegradual ssimilationfthe Pa-Shucultureinto the sphereof cultural nfluencefChina proper n the northhas now becomefairly lear. 4 On theotherhand,the ocal culturen Yunnan reveals convergenceofcultural nfluencesromhe outherntate fCh'u and fromhe teppes, s wellasstrong inksto native ultures xtendingnto southeastAsia. Thus, it appears hatwhat is usuallyregarded s a peripheralreacould actuallybe a centern its ownway. All these discoveries, f course,shed more ighton theformation fChinafrommany separatecomponents.85 uture studiesof the establishmentf cen-tralized mperialgovernmentnd culturalhomogenizationn earlyChina will beable todrawon theabundant vidence,narchaeologicalnformationrom houandHan, ofpersistentocal cultural raits.86

The newarchaeological iscoveries avethus ncreased ur knowledge f ncientChina along several dimensions.They are especially mportantn discussing henature f the Shangand Chou state nd society, he evolution f ancient ities, ndthediversityswellas interactionfvarious ocalcultures.Newly Discovered AncientTexts

The discovery f manywrittenmaterials asaddedtremendouslyo the mountof ancient documentationdirectlyavailable to scholarlyresearchers.Thesedocuments ncludethe Han wooden nd bamboo strips ound t Chu-yen; hetextsof books long thoughtto be lost, or of versionsdifferentrom hose thatlaterprevailed;material, uchas medicaldocuments ound t Wu-wei,on subjectsnotpreserved n literary ecords t all; the record f a Ch'in local administrator;hebusinessrecords f an ordinary an citizenwhichwerefound tChiang-ling;nd a

83 For instance,Li I-yu, "Nei-mengChao-wu-ta-meng h'u-t'u ti t'ung-ch'i iao-ch'a,"K'ao-ku,No. 6 (I959), pp. 276-77, and "Nei-meng-kuhsi-puti-ch'iit Hsiung-nuho Han-taiwen-wu,"Wen-wu s'an-k'ao zu-liao,No. 4 (I957), pp. 29-32; Hsin-chiangUigur tzu-chih-ch'ii o-wu-kuank'ao-ku-tui, "Hsin-chiang Ming-fenghsien peita-sha-mo hungti ku-tai -chih," K'ao-ku,No. 3(I96 I), pp. I19-22; Nei-meng-kupo-wu-kuan,"Ho-lin-ko-erh fa-hsien -tso chung-yao i tung-Han pi-hua-mu,"Wen-wu, o. (I 974), pp.8-23.84 Ssu-ch'uan sheng po-wu-kuan,"Ssu-ch'uanHsin-fan hsien Shui-kuan-yin-chih shih-chuehchien-pao,"K'ao-ku, No. 8 (1959), pp. 404-IO;

Ssu-ch'uan sheng wen-kuan hui, "Ch'eng-tuYang-tzu-shant'u-t'ai i-chih ch'ing-lipao-kao,"K'ao-kuhsueh-pao, o. 4 (1957), pp. I7-3 I; Ssu-ch'uan sheng po-wu-kuan, Ssu-ch'uan uan-tsangfa-chueh ao-kao Peking: Wen-wu, I960).85 Yiin-nan sheng po-wu-kuan,Yiin-nan hin-ning Shih-tsai-shan u-mu-ch'una-chuiehao-kao(Peking: Wen-wu, I959); Feng Han-chi, "Yiin-nan Chin-ningch'u-t'u t'ung-kuyen-chiu,"Wen-wu,No. I (I974), pp. 5 i-6i.86 K'ao-ku yen-chiu-so, sinChung-kuoiK'ao-ku shou-hou, . 75. Also Yang Hsi-changand LiChing-han, "Ts'ung k'ao-ku-hsueh shang k'anCh'in ho tung-fang o-kuoti she-haich'a-pieh,"K'ao-ku, No. 5 (1974), pp. 294-98.


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EARLY CHINESE HISTORY 47 Ilegal depositiondiscovered t Chu-yen.The recently iscoveredwrittenmaterialsamountto more han wenty-eighthousand ieces.7In I972, forty-nineundred amboo tripswereunearthedrom Han tomb tLin-i. On these trips everal re-Ch'inworks, ncluding he Mo-tzu, heKuan-tzu,the Yen-tzu, nd discussionsof military trategywerepreserved.The discoverymarkedthefirst ime sinceA.D. 28I thata substantial odyof ancientbookshadcome to lightafter eingsealed n tombsfor enturies. he most nterestingieceamongthem s the work ttributedoSunPin, a work ost because he"Treatise nBibliography" n theSui Shuhad failedto record t. Two hundred nd thirty-twopieces of bamboo stripscontaining ome chapters f the workby this Chan-kuostrategistwerefound t Lin-i. This work s not to be confusedwiththethirteenchapters f thecelebrated hun-ch'iu trategistun Wu, fragmentsf whichwerefoundon another ne hundred nd fivebamboostripsdiscoveredt thesamesite.The remnant fSun Wu's work s useful or orrectingmistakesn the onlyotherversionthat had survived ntomodern imes.The appearance f Sun Pin's work,however,means the recovery f a workthathad been totally ost. Its contentsprovidemuch relevantnformationn Chan-kuowarfarend military trategy,swell as some details on the history f certainstatesand theirphilosophiesofpolitics.8Otherbooksdiscoveredn the Han tombs tLin-i reeither aluable nverifyingthe authenticityfsomedubiousworks suchas theKuan-tzund theYen-tzu), rinterestings hithertoostworkssuchas thefragmentf bookon caninephysiog-nomy nd remnantsf somedivination ooks.)The fragmentaryieceofa calendarof I34 B.C. is theonlyone of ts kindthathas reappearedo far.An efforts nowbeing made to reconstructhe ancientcalendar,whichmightbe used as a checkagainsthistoricalhronology.9In I973, several ollsof an ancientworkwritten n silk werefoundntheHantombsat Ma-wang-tui nd Ch'ang-sha-some one hundred nd twenty housandwords n total.Two versions ftheLao-tzu,four rstwhile nknownexts fTaoistworks,one version f theChan-kuos'e, star-chart,nd a militarymaphave beenpublished. The Lao-tzutext is certainlynteresting, ot onlyfor makingcom-parisonswiththecommonlyccepted dition,but also because f ts differentayofarranging he chapters, hatis, withthe sections n Virtue te) leadingthoseonWay (tao).90Othertexts,copiedon the same silkpreceding heLao-tzu, renowconsidered o be remnants f ancientTaoist works.Probably hey rethosewhichhave been attributed ince the Han period to Huang-ti, whose philosophical

87 For a summary f thesediscoveries, ee ShuHsueh, "Wo-kuo ku-tai chu-mu-chien a-hsiench'u-t'u ch'ing-k'uang," Wen-wu,No. i (1978),p. 44.88 Shan-tung po-wu-kuan, "Shan-tungLin-ihsi-mu fa-hsien un-tzuping-faho Sun Pin ping-fa teng chu-chienti chien-pao,"Wen-wu,No. 2(I974), pp. I5-26; Lo Fu-i, "Lin-i Han-chienkai-shu," Wen-wu, No. 2 (I974), pp. 32-35;Chan Li-po, "Sun Pin ping-fa h'an-chien hieh-shao," Wen-wu,No. 3 (I974), pp. 40-46; Ying-chueh-shanHan-mu cheng-li hsiao-tsu, "Ying-chueh-shan Han-mu ch'u-t'u Sun-tzu ping-fach'an-chienshih-wen," Wen-wu,No. 2 (974),pp. i i-i9; and, by the sameauthor, "Lin-i Yin-

chueh-shan Han-mu ch'u-t'u Sun Pin ping-fashih-wen," Wen-wu,No. I (I975), pp. I-I I.89 Lo Fu-i, "Lin-i Han-chien kai-shu"; Ch'enChiu-chin and Ch'en Mei-tung, "Lin-i ch'u-t'uHan-ch'u ku-li ch'u-t'an," Wen-wu, o. 3 (I 974),PP. 59-68.90Hu-nan po-wu-kuan t al., "Ch'ang-shaMa-wang-tui erh-san-hao Han-mu fa-chuehchien-pao," Wen-wu,No. 7 (I974), pp. 39-48. KaoHeng and Ch'i Hsi-ch'ao, "Shih-t'anMa-wang-tui Han-mu-chung ti po-shu Lao-tzu," Wen-wu,No. II I974), pp. I-7; Ma-wang-tuiHan-mupo-shu cheng-li hsiao-tsu, "Ma-wang-tui Han-mu ch'u-t'u Lao-tzu shih-wen," Wen-wu, o. I I(I974), pp. 8-20.


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472 CHO-YUN Hsuadherents, ogetherwiththoseofthe Lao-tzu chool,came to be known hroughoutlaterhistorys the Huang-Laoschool. The philosophyftheHuang-tiTaoists toodbetweenthe classical Taoism of the Lao-tzu tradition nd thefa-chiatraditionrepresentedy ShengPu-hai andHan Fei. It seems,therefore,hat missing inkconnecting aoism and the a-chia heories as now beenfound.Thevalidity f ucha hypothesiss supported ytheinclusion ffragmentsf an obvious a-chiaworkprecedinganotherLao-tzu text also found n the Ma-wang-tui ite. It becomesevidentthatthefa-chia chool owed much of itsphilosophical ackground o theTaoists, a fact pparentlybviousto Ssu-maCh'ien,who ncluded ao-tsu ndHanFei in the same biography.91he text ofa Chan-kuo ilk bookfound t the Ma-wang-tuiHan tombis partly dentical o theChan-kuos'e.Forconvenience,t islabeled an ancientversion fthe Chan-kuo s'e,but about sixty ercent fthis ext snot found ntheprevalent dition ftheChan-kuos'e.This newly iscoveredectioncontains engthy necdotes boutSu Ch'in,whose ifelong ffortso buildalliancesforthe stateofYen can thusbe morecoherentlyeconstructed. he reorganizedinformation elps to clarify he semilegendaryigure f Su Ch'in, as well as thegeneralpicture fChan-kuonterstateelationships.92The ancientbooks excavated t Yin-chiieh-shannd Ma-wang-tui ollectivelysuggest that severalformerlyather ubious works such as the Yen-tzu nd theChan-kuo s'e) re by no meansforgeriesf Han scholarship, ndthatthe osses aidto have been caused byCh'in Shih-huang's otorious ook-burning ereprobablyoverestimated.

Anothermajor discoveryfCh'inbamboo strips ccurrednDecember 975 atYuin-meng,Hupei. This burial ite was thetombof Ch'in ocaladministratorhodied in 2I7 B.C., onlyfouryears fter nification. he more than one thousandbamboo strips onstitute ragmentsf theCh'inChroniclean essay n theconductofan ideal bureaucrat), ragmentsf aws,regulations,ndstatutest the ocal evelof Ch'in administration.The Chronicle,although very concise and simple incontent,doesprovide ome valuable nformationorhistorians o check hevalidityof the Shih-chi ecord.The code ofconductof an ideal official rovides s with aglimpseof the mplementationftheLegalist deology. he mostpertinent aterialsarefound n the regulationsnd statutes,whichgive details bout the administra-tionofagricultural roduction, ranaries,onvict oodrations, onvict abor,policework,and a few ourt rialrecords. here s, for nstance, record f the mount fseedgrainbeingsown na given rea.93In I973, anothergroup of Han documentswas unearthed t Chiang-ling,Hupei. Fourhundred amboostrips ndninewoodblocks ontain ecords n taxes,

91Ma-wang-tui Han-mu po-shu cheng-lihsiao-tsu, "Ch'ang-sha Ma-wang-tui Han-much'u-t'u Lao-tzu i-pen ch'uan-ch'ien ku-i-shushih-wen,"Wen-wu,No. IO (I974), pp. 30-42;T'ang Lan, "Huang-ti ssu-ching h'u-t'an,"Wen-wu, No. IO (I974), pp. 48-52; Ling Hsiang,"Shih-lun Ma-wang-tui Han-mu po-shu I-yinchiu-chu," Wen-wu,No. II (I974), pp. 2 I-27;T'ang Lan, "Ma-wang-tui ch'u-t'u Lao-tzui-penchuan-ch'ienku-i-shu iyen-chiu,"Kao-kuhsiieh-pao, No. I (I975), pp. 7-38.92 Yang K'uan, "Ma-wang-tui po-shu Chan-kuo-ts'e ti shih-liaochia-chih,"Wen-wu,No. 2(I975), pp. 26-34; Ma-wang-tuiHan-mupo-shu

cheng-lihsiao-tsu, "Ma-Han-mui Han-mu ch'u-t'u po-shu Chan-kuo-ts'e shih-wen," Wen-wu,No. 4 (I975), pp. I4-26; Ma Yung, "Po-shupieh-penChan-kuots'e ko-pienti nien-taiho li-shih pei-ching," Wen-wu,No. 4 (I975), pp. 27-40. 93 Hsiao-kan ti-ch'u wen-wu k'ao-ku hsun-lien-pan,"Hu-pei Yun-mengSui-hu tishih-i-haoCh'in-mu fa-chueh hien-pao," Wen-wu,No. 6(1976), pp. i-io; Yun-meng Ch'in-mu chu-chiencheng-lihsiao-tsu, Yun-mengCh'in-chienshih-wen,"Wen-wu, No. 6, (1976), pp. I I-I4,No. 7 (1976), pp. i-I I, and No. 8 (976), pp.27-37.


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EARLY CHINESE HISTORY 473loans, credit,and businessbookkeeping, ll in greater etailthan s found n anyhitherto xtanthistoricalources.Thesedocuments ield n extremelyividpictureoftheeconomic ife f middle-class ouseholdna smallvillage.Althoughomeoftheserecords reopentodifferingnterpretations,istoriansanalreadywork ut ageneralpatternof marketing ctivities n ruralareas. The omnipresencef cashcurrencymay implythat the earlyWesternHan ruraleconomyhad developedbeyond simplesystem fbarternkindandhadadopted hebehavior fmonetaryexchange.94The appearance fsuch a highlydevelopedrural conomy houldbecorrelatedwiththeadvance fagriculturengeneral nd withtheoverallhigh evelof cientificndtechnological evelopment.Another xtremelyascinatingiscoverys thealmost wentyhousand iecesofbamboo and woodenstripsofHan frontierocuments, oundbetween 972 andI976 at Chu-yen,Kansu. In addition opiecessimilar othosediscoveredn I93 I,such as administrative ecords, etters, nd decrees, there s a very nterestingdeposition, dated A.D. 27, between local officernd thebusinessmanwhomhecontracted o sell fishat market.This documentprovides hitherto navailableinformationotonlyon Han litigation rocedure, utalso on marketingctivitiesand traderoutesnthefrontierrea. 5Prospects forFutureResearch

In thispaper havetried o survey hescholarshipn threemajor anguages nthehistory fancientChina,focusing n the ssuesofslavery ersus eudalism,hecity-state, haracteristicsf theCh'in-Hanempire, ndagriculture. he firsthreeissueswere electedbecausethey eflecthemost rucial opics nhistorical esearchon the Shang-Chou,EasternChou, and Ch'in-Hanperiods,respectively.he lastone is discussedbecause it is a subfield hathas begun to open onlyin recentdecades,and also becauseofmyownresearchnterests. yselecting hese ubjects,do notmeanto implythatother opicsare of esser mportance o a survey ftheancienthistory ield.On thecontrary, greatmany xtremelyignificantubjectsmight well be added ifspace permitted,mong them. pigraphic tudies,textualcriticism ftheclassics, ndEnglish ranslationsf ncient hinese exts.One potentially ewardingreaof nquiry oncerns heorigins fChinese ivi-lization.The notionthatthefoundationsfChinese ivilizationweredevelopedbyNeolithic peoples on the North China plain is now seriously uestioned, s ricecultivationfrom he fifthmillennium .C. has been discoveredn the southeastcoastal region.96Chinesearchaeologists ave alreadybegunto recognize he dis-

94 Ch'ang-chiang liu-yu ti-erh-ch'iwen-wuk'ao-ku kung-tso en-yuanhsun-lien-pan, Hu-pei Chiang-lingFeng-huang-shan si-Han-mufa-chueh chien-pao," Wen-wu,No. 6 (I974), pp.4 I-60; Huang Sheng-chang, Chiang-ling eng-huang-shanHan-mu chien-tu hi-ch'itsai i-shihti-liyen-chiu hang tichia-chih,"Wen-wu, o. 6(I974), pp. 66-77; and Hung I, "Chiang-lingFeng-huang-shanhih-haoHan-muchien-tu h'u-t'an," Wen-wu,No. 6 974), pp. 78-84.95 Kan-su Chu-yen K'ao-ku-tui, "Chu-yenHan-tai i-chih ti fa-chueh ho hsin-ch'u-tu tichien-ts'ewen-wu," Wen-wu,No. I (978), pp.I-25; Hsu P'ing-fang, "Chu-yen k'ao-ku fa-

chuehti hsinshou-huo,"Wen-wu,No. I (1978),pp. 26-29; Kan-su Chu-yenk'ao-ku-tuichien-ts'e cheng-lihsiao-tsu,"Chien-wusan-nienhou-shu-chun o-tsek'ou-en shihshih-wen,"Wen-wu,No. I (978), pp. 30-3I-96 The first eport n theHo-mu-tudiscoveryconsistsof five hortarticles n Wen-wu,No. 8(I976), pp. 6-26. Themore ecenteportnthisearlyNeolithic culturewhichhad ricecultivationand wooden-structure wellings is Che-chiangsheng wen-wu kuan-li wei-yuan-hui nd Che-chiang-shengpo-wu-kuan, "Ho-mu-tu i-chihti-i-ch'i fa-chueh ao-kao," K'ao-kuHsiieh-pao, o.I (I978), pp. 39-94; Che-chiang hengpo-wu-


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474 CHO-YUNHsutinctivecharacteristics f this earlyNeolithic culture,a cultureparallel to theYangshao-Lungshanradition.97 ice cultivationn coastalChinamightbe relatedto rice cultivation n otherregions f thewestern acific. t is notunlikely hatfurtheriscoveriesn southwest hina, where diblerootshavealwaysbeen a majorcultivated ood rop,might stablish omerelationshipetween hatregion nd theoceanic cultural tradition.Further, herehas been a quite recognizable teppeculture n Chinanorth fthe inenowtracedbytheGreatWall. One canvisualizethe development f Chinesecivilizationnot as the radiation rom coreYellowRiver area to the fourquarters,but as one of cross-culturalnfluences ndinterchangesmongseveral ources f nspiration, processwhich anbe found nthe formation f othermajorancient ivilizations. n theyears o come, as morearchaeologicalmaterials reuncovered,t is likely hat heproblems f heorigins fChinesecivilizationwillattractmore ttentionndprovokemore ebate.In thefield fShang-Chouhistory,s moreShang ites reexcavated o coverlarger rea, it is likely hat heconcept fShang s a statewillgradually ivewaytothe concept of Shang as a culture, sharedyet modifiedby several"local" or"regional" groups. Theremighthave been several ub-units, ach ofwhich wasdominated by Shang culture, althoughwith some localized distinctive har-acteristics.One oftheseunits was probably heChou before heir onquestof theShang. Among the recentlyxcavatedpre-conquest hou remainsnearSian wereoraclebones of theShangstyleon whichwererecorded eligious ractices esem-blingthoserecorded ntheShangoracle nscriptionstAnyang,ncluding acrificesto thedeceasedShangkings ndroyal ncestors. ne oftheShangkings venvisitedChou in person.98 uch a relationship etween heShangand pre-conquest houwas probablyreproducedn other reasaround the Shangstate. A continuum fShang culture in bothtemporal nd spatialterms) anserve s a useful rameworkwithinwhich he ocalcultures ontemporaryith heShangmight estudied.The history fWesternChoushouldbe a rewarding ield or cholars,withrichinformation ontainedin numerousbronze inscriptions.Althoughsuch sourcematerials still pale in comparisonwiththevoluminousdata available n the Tsochuan,the informationow available s a great ncrease verwhatone could findthirtyyearsago. ShirakawaShizuka, in his severalvolumesof transcriptionsfbronze inscriptions, as laid the foundation orsolid research n Chou politicalinstitutions,ocialstructure,ndeconomicbehavior, s wellas onChoubeliefs ndideas.99A good reconstructionfShang-Chou ociety, specially hatoftheWest-ernChou, wouldfinallyettle heproblem fChoufeudalismnd tsevolution.The development owardmonarchy, long processcontinuing hrough heCh'un-ch'iuand Chan-kuoperiods, s definitely prelude o theemergencen thekuan, "Ho-mu-tu i-chihtung-chih-wu-ts'un tichien-tingyen-chiu,"K'ao-kuHsiieh-pao,No. i(1978), pp. 95-I08.97 "The Summary f Symposium nNeolithicCulture on the Lower Reaches of the YangtzeRiver," Wen-wu,No. 3 (I978), pp. 35-39; SuPing-i, "Lueh-t'anwo-kuo tung-nanyen-haiti-ch'u tihsing-shih-ch'ihih-taik'ao ku," Wen-wu,No. 3 (I978), pp. 40-42; Nan-ching o-wu-yuan, "Ch'ang-chiang hsia-yu hsing-shih-ch'ishih-taiwen-hua o-kanwen-t'i i t'an-hsi,"Wen-wu,No. 4 (1978), pp. 46-57; Mou Yung-k'angand Wei Cheng-chin, Ma-chia-pingwen-huaho

Liang-chu wen-hua-T'ai-hu liu-yu yuan-shihwen-hua ti feng-ch'iwen-t'i," Wen-wu,No. 4(1978), pp. 67-73.98 Shen-hsi hengpo-wu-kuanChou-yuan 'ao-ku-tui,comp., Chou-yiian'ao-ku 'ung-hskn,os.Io and II (I 978); Ssu Wei-chih, "Tsao-Chou tili-shihch'u-t'an,"Li-shihyen-chiu,o. 9 (I978).99ShirakawaShizuka, Kinbun shmakuKobe:HakutsuruBijyutsukan, 962- I975). Shirakawahas also compiled a ratherbriefhistoryof theShang-Chouperiodfrom ronze nscriptionmate-rials; see his Kinbunno eikai Tokyo: Heibonsha,I97 I).


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EARLY CHINESE HISTORY 475Ch'in-Hanperiodofunified mpire,whichpersisted or henext wothousand earsas the basic factordetermining hinesepoliticaland social institutions. apanesescholarshaveconducted n activedebateon this etoftopics,thoughmuchcanbedone to broadentheirdiscussions n the integrationf stateand society n thesystemof ancientempire. t wouldbe interestingy wayof llustration o inves-tigatethecentripetal actorshathelped holda unifiedmpire ogetherConfucianculturalism, market conomyinkedwith ntensive arming,nd so on), and thecentrifugal actors hattended to pull the unified mpire part regionalismndclans,for xample), swellas the nteractionetween hese etsoffactors. he rolesofelitesat differentevelsofsociety resumably iffered. n investigation feliteroles n thecontext fhelpingthe state orcompetingwiththestatefor ontrol fhuman and materialresources s also critical n analyzingthe patternof statestructurenancientChina.It is impossible o exhaust ll possible pproaches or uture esearchn ancientChina. We are nowfacing hallenges n two fronts: apid expansion fnewmate-rials-the happyconsequence farchaeologicalctivity-and a questfor bjectiveand satisfactoryheoreticalnterpretationtimulated yMarxist octrine,which sfollowedby those working n the People's Republic of China. Unprecedentedchallenge s alwaysexciting s well as confusing. et us confronthechallenge ndhope for hebest.In the threedecades since I949, the studyof ancient China has becomeaninternational iscipline.Since I975 a newsletter as beenpublished n theUnitedStates s a forum ormembers ftheSociety or heStudy fEarlyChina toexchangeinformationnd views. This eventshould be regarded s a very ignificantteptoward the development f this field. The visitsof severalgroups of Americanscholars tudying ncientChina to thePeople's Republicof China has also had atremendous mpact on the prospectsfor futuredevelopment.The imminentexchange o be expected etween hinese nd Americancholarly ommunities ill,one hopes,opena new era of nterchangef deas and materials. hinese tudies nUnited Statesuniversities as sufferedrom ecent etrenchmentue to fiscal rob-lems. To compensate or hese etbacks, nter-institutionalooperation ndsharingof imitedresources eemstheonly olution.Onepossibleformat ould bea regularsummerworkshop or arlyChinastudies, ttended y facultymembers ndgrad-uate students rom ariousuniversities,o thatyoung cholars ould be exposed oarangeof deasandmethodologies hichno single nstitutionanprovide, ndmoreadvanced cholars ould benefit rommutual timulus nd nspiration.

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Early Chinese History on Field