by Li Feng
21 Allan and Williams (eds.), The Guodian Laozi, pp. 160–162.
22 For different positions on this relation, see Sarah Allan, “The Great One, Water, and the Laozi: New Light from Guodian,” T’oung Pao 89.4–5 (2003), 253; Donald Harper, “The Nature of Taiyi in the Guodian Manuscript Taiyi sheng shui: Abstract Cosmic Principle or Supreme Cosmic Deity?” Chūgoku shutsudo shiryō kenkyū 5 (2001), 16.
23 Allan and Williams (eds.), The Guodian Laozi, pp. 179–182.
24 This possibility has been strongly argued by Kenneth W. Holloway; see Guodian: The Newly Discovered Seeds of Chinese Religious and Political Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 12–15, 102–103.
25 There have been a number of new discoveries of Warring States to Han manuscripts since 1993. Most important among these more recent discoveries is a huge inventory of manuscripts purchased by the Shanghai Museum from the antique market of Hong Kong and published gradually between 2001 and 2007. The seven volumes include as many as thirty-four new texts of mostly philosophical nature. The manuscripts have already lost their provenance as the result of illegal looting from tombs, but it is likely that they were from the same cemetery at Guodian and date possibly to around the same time. Researches on these new texts are still in a preliminary stage.
26 See Harper, “Warring States Natural Philosophy and Occult Thought,” pp. 818, 860–865.
11 The Qin unification and Qin Empire: who were the terracotta warriors?
The rise of the Qin Empire (221–206 BC) was one of the greatest epics in human history. Like the Macedonians whose kingdom was dotted on the edge of a great civilization for centuries before they rose as a superpower, the Qin had a very long history that goes as far back as to the Western Zhou period. But this is a point that has only been recently testified by archaeological evidence. In June 1994, a pair of bronze hu-jar vessels appeared in the antique market in New York. The stylistic features of the vessels, clearly adherent to the standards of the Zhou mainstream bronze culture, suggest an indisputable early date close to the historical transition from the Western to the Eastern Zhou. Incidentally, both vessels are inscribed with six characters that read: “The Duke of Qin makes and casts this sacrificial hu-vessel.” The inscription squarely identifies the bronzes with a ruler of the state of Qin, who had reigned some five centuries before the rise of the ultra-famous First Emperor of Qin (r. 246–210 BC). By early 1996, more bronzes bearing the same line of inscription have surfaced in the markets outside China and six were purchased and subsequently published by the Shanghai Museum (Fig. 11.1). It was found that all of these bronzes had been looted from a single site in the southeastern corner of Gansu Province, and their discovery opened a new era in the study of Qin, the creator of China’s first empire. Coupled with the early discovery of the world heritage site, the “Terracotta Warriors,” and a series of other recent finds, we now have a completely new ground to reinterpret the early development of Qin and the rise of the Qin Empire.
Fig. 11.1 Ding-vessel (h. 38.5 cm, diam. 37.8 cm) cast by an early Qin duke, possibly Duke Xiang (r. 777–766 BC).
The Early History of Qin: The Archaeological Search
Compared to many other regional states in eastern China founded by the Zhou royal house during the early Western Zhou (discussed in Chapters 8 and 9), Qin was a relatively young state, established during the mid Western Zhou period. In a fairly detailed account, the Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian tells of the genesis of Qin people.1 The forerunner of Qin was called the “Daluo Lineage,” which had double marriages with the state of Shen, a long-time ally of Zhou on its western border. However, because Feizi, a secondary son of Daluo and direct ancestor to Qin, won the favor of King Xiao of Zhou, the king entertained the idea of substituting him for the legitimate heir of the lineage (given birth by a lady from Shen), and this was reflected in the eyes of the leaders of the Zhou state as a policy that only could jeopardize the security of Zhou’s western border. As a political compromise, King Xiao granted Feizi the settlement of Qin in eastern Gansu, and the state of Qin thus was born as a subject of Zhou. In the following decades, the mother Daluo lineage was much weakened in the face of invasion by its neighboring groups, particularly the people called Rong that eventually annexed its territory in the Xihan River valley. However, with military aid from the Zhou royal court, the Qin people were able to heroically reclaim the land of Daluo by defeating the Rong people and thereupon moved their center there in the upper Xihan River valley in the early years of King Xuan of Zhou (Map 11.1).
Map 11.1 Route of early Qin migration
This narrow valley, located on the fringe of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, was remote from the Zhou center in Shaanxi, but was one of the important passes into the Sichuan Basin from North China. There is no doubt that the early Qin bronzes and golden objects that appeared in New York and other markets originated from a cemetery just off the bank of the Xihan River, confirmed by archaeologists later in 1994. The original center of Qin, instead, was located some 100 km to the east in the upper Wei River valley, much closer to the central region of the Western Zhou state. Archaeological study of the local pottery tradition suggests that no matter what ethnic origin the Qin might have had,2 they arose from a cultural environment that, at latest by the mid Western Zhou period, was heavily influenced by the Zhou material culture centered on central Shaanxi.3
However, the inability of the Zhou elites themselves to hold their own capitals in central Shaanxi by 771 BC had left the Qin people completely encircled by the various Rong groups. In the decades that followed the Zhou withdrawal from central Shaanxi, the Qin people had to fight very hard to resist pressures from these Rong people, and gradually moved their political center east to the homeland of the Zhou people, and this allowed them to maintain contact with the eastern states as well as the Zhou royal court relocated in Luoyang. A half century had passed after their historical move to Shaanxi in 763 BC as the Qin people struggled to conquer the numerous Rong polities established on the ruins of Zhou, expanding their control as far east as the confluence of the Yellow and Wei Rivers. Transferring the newly conquered lands into counties, the Qin gradually emerged as a new territorial state on the western highlands of China. The Qin capital Yong in western Shaanxi from 677 BC to 383 BC has yielded rich archaeological materials uncovered since the 1970s. Archaeologists have not only confirmed the location of the city-wall enclosure and a few important architectural foundations within it, but have also demarcated the cemetery of the Qin dukes including the largest and most well-known tomb no. 1, likely the burial place of Duke Jing of Qin (r. 576–537 BC), which archaeologists spent nearly ten years excavating during the 1980s (Fig. 11.2).
Fig. 11.2 The excavation of tomb no. 1 in Fengxiang, possibly the grave of Duke Jing of Qin (576–537 BC). Above, archaeologists transporting wooden beams out of the tomb after excavation; below, bottom of the tomb with burial chambers of servants or concubines who accompanied the duke in death.
Politically, the Qin elites actively engaged in the affairs of the eastern plain and played an important role in installing Duke Wen of Jin to his home state, the future hegemonic Jin. However, in 629 BC, the army sent by Duke Mu of Qin (r. 659–621 BC) to attack the state of Zheng in the east was ambushed on their way home by the troops of Jin in the deep Xiao Mountains in western Henan where all Qin commanders on the campaign were captured. This serious military setback put a stop to Qin’s growing ambition in the east, and the trend was not reversed until the ascendance of Duke Xian of Qin (r. 384–362 BC) in the early fourth century BC. Over the centuries, there had also developed in the Central Plain an elite culture that regarded the Qin people as culturally backward “barbarians.” In the minds of these eastern elites, this anti-Qin sentiment could be fully justified with respect to the particular circumstances surrounding Qin’s rise to power in the westernmost periphery of the Zhou realm, and even by the beginning of the Warring States period, Qin was still surrounded by the various groups of “barbari
ans” in western China.
However, the Qin elites clearly thought about themselves differently. They claimed to be the legitimate territorial heirs to the Zhou state to which Qin owed its political origin, and evidently the Qin dukes honored close contact with the Zhou court in Luoyang through diplomatic exchange and marriage. For instance, Duke Xian of Qin (r. 715–704 BC) took two wives from eastern China, the daughter of a Zhou king and the daughter of a ruler of the state of Lu in Shandong. This royal princess was politically very influential as evidenced by the bronze inscriptions.4 The close tie with the Zhou royal house is also evident in the inscription engraved on a set of stone chimes excavated from tomb no. 1 mentioned above, which makes clear reference to the Son of Heaven (Zhou king) as the authority that was supposed to approve, doubtless only ritually, the succession of the Qin dukes. On the other hand, in early Qin ideology there was also a strong notion that the Qin were themselves recipients of Heaven’s Mandate, thus their state has a cosmologically based legitimacy parallel to that of the Zhou. The inscription on a gui-tureen cast possibly by Duke Huan of Qin (r. 603–577 BC) says:5
The Duke of Qin said: “Greatly illustrious were my august ancestors; (they) received Heaven’s Mandate and tranquilly dwelled in Yu’s tracks. Twelve dukes are on God’s mound (?). (They) reverently respected and revered Heaven’s Mandate, protected and regulated their (state of) Qin, and vigilantly attended to the Man and the Xia. . .
Here, the duke of Qin claims that his ancestors received Heaven’s Mandate to rule not only as successors to the Zhou, but as successors to the ancient legendary emperor Great Yu. It also mentions that Qin had vigilantly attended the affairs of both Xia, the Chinese world, and Man, the “barbarians.” Given Qin’s special location in the western periphery of the Zhou world, the inscription seems to explain well the cultural–political role of the early Qin state.
Shang Yang’s Reform and the Reorganization of the Qin State
The reign of Duke Xian of Qin (r. 384–362 BC) saw the new trend of resurgence of Qin power. The duke himself spent thirty years in exile in the hegemonic state Wei and was quite impressed with Wei’s reform and military accomplishments. Upon his return, Duke Xian prohibited the old Qin practice of burying companions in death and won wide support among the Qin populace. During his reign, the Qin also relocated their capital east in Yueyang to the north of present-day Xi’an and captured most parts of the land along the west bank of the Yellow River, turning them into new counties of the state. In 362 BC, the Qin struck east across the river and completely crushed the Wei army not far from its capital. The war virtually put a stop to Wei’s hegemony and forced Wei to move its capital to eastern Henan only two years later (see Chapter 9).
However, what had really transformed Qin into a superpower and hence established the foundation for its future unification of China was a reform undertaken by the next ruler, Duke Xiao of Qin (r. 361–338 BC), with the Legalist hardliner Shang Yang (390–338 BC) as the chief engineer. Shang Yang was a descendant of the royal lineage of the state of Wey, and served in a minor office under the minister of the state of Wei who very much appreciated his talent. Tradition says that the same minister recommended Shang Yang to the Wei ruler as his successor and, when rejected, he then recommended Shang Yang’s execution, but the Wei ruler did not listen to either suggestion. After the death of his patron, Shang Yang migrated to the state of Qin in the hope of gaining a better office under the new duke of Qin. Through the introduction of a servant, Shang Yang met with the ambitious young duke four times and finally succeeded in attracting him to his ideas of strengthening the Qin state through radical reform. Thus, the duke appointed Shang Yang Chancellor of Qin and in the next twenty years, Qin carried out the most thorough political and social reform of the entire Warring States period.
The historical records on Shang Yang’s reform are by no means systematic and some of the policies accredited to him might have been policies adopted by previous dukes long before Shang Yang’s arrival on the scene. However, since his ideas are systematically expounded in the long text, the Book of the Lord of Shang, probably put together later by his followers, an outline of the reform can be learned without much difficulty.
Shang Yang began his reform by strengthening the social roots of the Qin state. A law announced in 356 BC after about three years of preparation required all peasant families be organized into “Five-Family Units,” each with a head. The families were held mutually responsible for each other’s conduct and for reporting any crimes committed in their area of residence. However, this corporate responsibility system was at the same time also a system of mutual assistance for if a family suffered a robbery the other four families were obliged to help if they heard the cry. New studies based on the Qin legal strips from Shuihudi in Hubei which include laws going back before the Qin conquest suggest that the head of a “Five-Family Unit” had more responsibilities as he would be held guilty in case of a crime regardless of whether he was home, while members of other families would not if they were not present.6 The “Five-Family Units” were further linked to the state structure through the organization of Li (corresponding to natural village) and “District” (Xiang), although such larger units might have had a much longer history (Box 11.1).
* * *
Box 11.1 Shuihudi and Qin Law
In December 1975, archaeologists from the Hubei Provincial Museum excavated twelve late Warring States to Qin tombs at Shuihudi in Yunmeng County. From tomb no. 11, 1,155 bamboo strips were excavated along with 75 other types of objects. The tomb was of rather modest size, but the writings on these strips, when fully published soon after the end of the Cultural Revolution, and made available in English by A. F. P. Hulsewé in 1985, opened a new era in the study of the Qin Empire, or in the study of legal history of China in general.
First of all, included in the materials is a chronicle which records the military advances of Qin from 306 BC to 217 BC, along with the personal history of Xi who had served as a legal officer in a number of counties in the jurisdiction of the South Commandery (present Hubei region) and died in the latter year or a year after at the age of 46, matching perfectly the physical age of the occupant of the tomb. The discovery of paramount importance is the eighteen articles of “Qin Legal Statutes,” the only Qin legal codes that we know to date. Some well-known articles are the “Statutes on Land,” “Statute on Inventory,” “Statute on Labor Service,” “Statute on Military Ranks,” “Statute on Establishment of Offices,” and “Statute on the Verification of Property,” etc. Another important part of the material from Shuihudi is self-titled Fengzhenshi, which is composed of descriptions of legal procedures and legal case examples that might have served as a handbook for legal officers in the Qin Empire (Fig. 11.3). The sections on procedures describe rules with regard to interrogation (see example below), investigation, detainment, and report. Other materials from the tomb include a “Question/Answer”-style document explicating issues in Qin law, a document that states rules of official conduct, and an official statement issued by the governor of the South Commandery promoting the rule of law.
Fig. 11.3 Terracotta statue of a civil/legal officer recently found in pit K0006 near the burial mound of the First Emperor of Qin. Right, statue no.1 (h. 189 cm); left, detail of representation of a knife and a bag hung from his waist in which is supposed to be placed a stone sharpener, essential accoutrements of a civil officer in Early China.
Fengzhenshi:
Whenever questioning about a criminal case, always first listen to everything they say and write it down, each one laying out his statement. Even if you know they are lying, do not immediately question it. If, when the statement is completely written out, some matters are unexplained, only then question them with these questions. Question them completely, listening to and writing down the explanatory statement completely. Again look at those things not explained and question them about these. If the interrogation is done and they repeatedly deceive or change what they say and do not
confess, or for those the statutes warrant beating, only then should you beat them. If you beat them, you must record it, saying in the report that because so-and-so changed his story repeatedly, or could not explain his statement, we beat and questioned him.
(Translation by Charles Sanft)
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On the top level of local administration was the “County” (Xian), the cells of the “Territorial State.” Qin was well known for the early date of the establishment of counties in the early seventh century BC. The general scholarly consensus is that due to its history of migration and rapid territorial expansion in the seventh to sixth centuries BC, the Qin nobility was relatively underpowered (few of the Qin nobles are heard of in history) in comparison to those in the eastern states, and the Qin state had large portions of newly conquered lands under its control and leased lands to peasants living in the counties on short terms. No matter how developed the organization of the county was in the previous reigns, it was under Shang Yang’s administration that the entire territory of Qin was organized into some thirty-one (or forty-one) counties.7 Through these reforms, the Qin state was thoroughly bureaucratized.
Not only was the entire population managed and controlled strictly through a pyramid structure of government, it was also subject to a universal ranking system. Certain terms and ranks existed before Shang Yang, but they were gathered into a single system only now. The system had some seventeen or eighteen levels, and the ranks were normally gained through military contributions – cutting off one enemy head brought a soldier the award of one rank along with the gift of one acre of land, and the right to use one government slave. Officials were rewarded on the number of heads taken by their subordinates. This practice subjected the entire population to a system of meritocracy that was designed to serve the purpose of war. There have been some doubts about the actual practice of the system because of the total number of heads hunted by the Qin army in the century before Qin conquest would have far exceeded the amount of land the Qin state could ever afford to reward its soldiers. It has also been pointed out by Robin Yates that the commoners could only reach degree eight, and a rank-holder could actually designate one of his heirs to inherit his title, implying that not everyone needed to start from the lowest degree.8 The system could not be 100% fair, but it did grant the Qin state the best military power it could ever have.