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The Arts, Archaeology, and Architecture

Liu's Introductory Essay

Liu, Cary Y. (2005). "The 'Wu Family Shrines' as a Recarving of the Past," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 23–74. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 23-24: The carved reliefs of the 'Wu family shrines' of southwestern Shandong are some of the earliest pictorial stone carvings to be studied and preserved as a Han Dynasty monument, as scholars from the Song Dynasty made ink rubbings from them and identified them as Han artwork. The amateur archaeologist and official Huang Yi (1744–1802) of the Qing Dynasty came across the tomb site in Jiaxing County, Shandong, in 1786 where he discovered the many pictorial scenes carved in stone. The carved images from the 2nd century AD display QUOTE: "legendary rulers, paragons of filial peity and loyalty, historical and mythological stories, and scenes of feasting, homage, processions, omens, and other figural and decorative subjects."
Page 24: Stephen W. Bushell (1844–1908) acquired in Beijing a set of rubbings from the Wu family shrines and in 1881 brought them to the International Congress of Orientalists in Berlin. Since 1961, the Wu family shrines have been under government protection as a heritage site by the State Council of the PRC.
Page 26: The pictorial stone carvings and calligraphy inscriptions of the Wu family shrines are documented in the Record of Collected Antiquities by Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072), the Catalogue of 'Record of Collected Antiquities' by Ouyang Fei (1047–1113), the Records of Metal and Stone by Zhao Mingcheng (1081–1129), and the Explications of Clerical Script by Hong Gua (1117–1184). QUOTE: "Ouyang Xiu and Ouyang Fei only partly transcribed or listed two stele inscriptions and never related them to the same Wu family in Shandong, to shrines, or to each other. Zhao Mingcheng partly transcribed three stele inscriptions and was the first to record the existence of a Wu family gate-pillar inscription and pictorial carvings belonging to a 'Wu family stone chamber' (Wushi shishi). With Hong Gua, the assemblage finally comprises four stele inscriptions, dedicated respectively to Wu Liang (courtesy name Suizong, 78–151), his brother Wu ? (courtesy name Kaiming 92–148), and the latter's sons, Wu Ban (courtesy name Xuanzhang, d. 145) and Wu Rong (courtesy name Shehe [or Hanhe]; d. 167); a gate-pillar inscription dated to 147, and several pictorial stones including, for the first time, the 'Confucius Meeting Laozi' slab. It is also with Hong Gua that the architectural chamber first becomes known as the 'Wu Liang Shrine' (Wu Liang Ci or Wu Liang Citang)."
Page 27: However, Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang Fei, Zhao Mingcheng, and Hong Gua never personally traveled to the Jiaxiang County cemetary assemblage attributed as a whole to the Wu Family Shrine complex, thus they never directly matched the rubbings that were allegedly made there with actual carved pictorial stone or stele.
Page 28: The scholars of the Song and Qing dynasties were largely concerned with the rubbings of inscriptions written in Han Dynasty clerical script and not so much the pictorial carvings. Zhao Mingcheng allegedly wrote five chapters on the pictorial stone carvings, but these have not survived. Hong Gua created the first reproduction of the stone carvings in his book, but the illustration from Hong Gua's surviving written works perhaps do not date to the Song period (and are possibly reproductions of reproductions!). Clerical script was studied by epigraphists of the Song Dynasty, and in the Qing Dynasty the scholarship concerning clerical script was revived. In his work of 1787, the Qing archaeologist Huang Yi wrote of his excitement when he realized that a few stones from the Wu Liang Shrine and Wu Ban stele were recorded in the works of Zhao Mingcheng and Hong Gua. Cary Y. Liu is not sure which versions of the Song texts Huang Yi would have consulted.
Page 29-30: There is some doubt that these shrines were ever dedicated to the Wu family or managed by them at all, due to the story of the two surviving steles (i.e. those for Wu Ban and Wu Rong). Huang Yi asserted that the one for Wu Ban was moved to the site decades before. The one for Wu Rong was also located in the Minglun Tang hall of the Jining Prefectural Academy at the same time Huang Yi was busy exploring the cemetary site in 1786. As Huang Yi noted, the steles for Wu Liang and Wu Kaiming have yet to be found.
Page 30: In the late 19th century, Western and Japanese historians began taking photographs of the rubbings and the actual carved pictorial scenes at the site. However, from these photographs there is no way to get a sense of the sequential dates of the rubbings or the architectural context.
Page 34: With the work of Wilma Fairbank in 1941 and the work of Jiang Yingju and Wu Wenqi in 1981, the way that the stones were once fit together architecturally were discerned, something which could not have been accomplished with mere individual rubbings or photographs. Jiang Yingju and Wu Wenqi argeed with Fairbank that there were originally three halls, but removed her assertion that there was a central column for the single-bay structure that was the Wu Liang Shrine. The front and left shrines were defined as two-bay structures by Fairbank, but were renamed Front Stone Chamber and Left Stone Chamber by Jiang Yingju and Wu Wenqi. Cary Y. Liu, however, is doubtful that the original structures represented "shrines" at all, and is not even sure that the cemetary belonged to the Wu family. In the Han Dynasty, a "shrine" meant a funerary offering hall built for aristocrats or high officials; Wu Liang, Wu Kaiming, Wu Ban, and Wu Rong were only low-ranking local officials.
Page 35: Jiang and Wu were able to reconstruct Wu Liang's shrine and the two separate chambers by analyzing the differences in the stylistic carvings on the many scattered sets of stones. They found that the pictorial stones that should be put together to form Wu Liang's shrine all featured figrues with a certain type of nose, while the other two chambers featured human figures with a unique style of nose. This allowed them to successfully reconstruct the five roof slabs in the Rear Group Stones 1–5 (R.1–R.5) in the Front and Left chambers. These stones, showing mythological scenes, were originally thought to represent stones of a separate fourth chamber, but now the issue has been cleared up. QUOTE: "From carved roof tiles on the back of these stones, dimensions, and mortise-and-tenon joint locations, Jiang and Wu matched Stones R.4 and R.5 to the Front Chamber, and R.1–R.3 to the Left Chamber."
Page 35: QUOTE: "Building on the work of Fairbank as well as Jiang and Wu, in 1989 Wu Hung in his Wu Liang Shrine: The Ideology of Early Chinese Pictorial Art proposed a 'Fourth Chamber.' Recognizing similarities among four pictorial stones in the remaining group of miscellaneous slabs, he was able to partially reconstruct a fourth structure that may or may not have been originally connected with the cemetery site (discussed below). Wu Hung also developed a detailed iconographical study focusing on the pictorial images in the structure traditionally believed to be dedicated to Wu Liang. He suggested that the carvings exhibit a coherent pictorial and architectural program in accord with Eastern Han cosmology."

Loewe's Keynote Essay

Loewe, Michael. (2005). "Funerary Practice in Han Times," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 23–74. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 99: QUOTE: "Funerary practice in Han times rested on a variety of beliefs in immortality and in different types of postmortem existence. Social conventions, a need to preserve the hierarchies of the political order, and the all-compelling force exerted by degrees of kinship affected the choice of type and the situation of the tombs. Mantic aspects of topographical and geographical conditions also affected the choice. The symbolism enshrined in the decorations and furnishings of a tomb drew from mythical accounts of a paradise that lay beyond the confines of this world and might well allude to human ancestors of long, long ago. A choice of objects interred with the corpse could be inspired by experiences known in this life; they might be intended to satisfy the needs of the corpse, still seen as mundane, to ease the ills that it might suffer, or to solve the problems that it might face. Formal prescriptions regulated the conduct of funerals from those of the emperor downward; little expense was spared in providing suitable obsequies for the highest in the land. At the lower reaches of the social scale some may have tried to emulate such luxuries; many would remain satisfied with tributes of a more humble nature; some may have used the occasion of a death to stage an ostentatious display of mourning that accorded ill with the degree of respect that they had shown their dpearted ones during their lives."
Page 100: QUOTE: "It is nonetheless possible to discern or infer some of the motives and beliefs that affected funerary practice, such as a need to dispose of the dead in a seemly and respectful manner, or to choose a style of burial, a type of tomb, and the symbols displayed on its furnishings that would be appropriate. The conduct of the funeral rites and maintenance of the regulations for the procedures of mourning required attention, devised as these were to safeguard the unity of a family line and the transmission of the ancestor's reputations throughout all generations to come. Such endeavors reflect a search for permanency that outlasts the individual, and they are matched by attempts to set up a permanent framework for other acts of human behavior in the form of li, those rules and conventions that molded social structure in a manner that satisfied family relationships and reflected the ideals of government."
Page 100: QUOTE: "Other motives derived from concepts of an afterlife, possibly of a religious nature, perhaps to be traced to mythology. Or they may have arisen from an intellectual search to relate mankind to the passage of time, to the more permanent structures and lives of other members or elements of the universe. Much about these motives remains uncertain, such as the times when certain ideas emerged, developed, or displaced others, and how they gained acceptance in the various classes of society. It was evidently quite possible for Chinese of this period to harbor contradictory ideas and beliefs and to observe certain mutually inconsistent practices. Until perhaps 200 CE the new ideas of Buddhism had yet to reach China's countryside in strength or to form a prominent feature of the land in stupa, lecture hall, or monastery; by the sixth century they had gained sufficient ground to count an emperor, Wudi of Liang in the south (r. 502–549), as one of their most fervent devotees."
Page 100-101: QUOTE: "It may be surmised that from times that cannot be known or measured, as elsewhere, so in China there were men and women who nurtured the belief and hope that the life of the body could be prolonged to outlast the time span usually allotted; that there were herbs or drugs that brought the blessing of deathlessness, and that there were various ways of finding these elixirs, the bu si zhi yao."
Page 101: QUOTE: "Other hopes followed form the belief that human beings included two nonmaterial elements that outlast the body and may require services. One of these 'souls,' known as the po, probably remained earthbound; the other, known as the hun, might be able to ascend to exist in another realm. The living could render services that were intended to bring ease and comfort to the one of those souls, and they could also adopt means to guide the other soul to an appropriate and blissful destination. In both cases such measures were precautionary; they were partly devised and practiced so as to discourage the souls of the dead from inflicting harm on their surviving kinsfolk. Once arrived at the most highly prized destination, the hun soul would lead a blissful immortality, in company with some of the longest-lasting objects known to man, the sun and the moon, or perhaps in that of strange, elf-like creatures who lived beyond the realms of human ken. Following another way of thought that was more abstract than practical, the tomb would be located and the body set in place so that both it and po that survived with it would accord with the eternal rhythms of the universe and thus be in a position to enjoy a harmonious state of being."
Page 101-102: The Chinese believed that, on a mountain to the west, lay the residence of the Queen Mother of the West, "mistress of the universe", who lived as an immortal since she was able to command birds which would scour the countryside and gather for her the right herbs used in making the elixir of life. Some believed that a special talisman designated by the Queen Mother warded against death. Another way to reach eternal bliss was to reach Mount Penglai, which was on a mythical island, one of three 'Isles of the Blest' in Chinese mythology. It was difficult to access, much like the Queen Mother's mountain, but those who did could enjoy life as an immortal and a companion of the deities. Emperor Wu of Han desired to visit this legendary place so much that he simulated a journey to this sacred land, made sacrifices to the inhabitants of Penglai, and had a lake made with four man-made islands, one of which symbolized Penglai.
Page 102-103: QUOTE: "Artists and craftsmen who created and decorated the furnishings of a tomb could choose, or be commissioned, to depict some of these ideas of the future life in the molded bricks, bronze vessels, or paintings on silk that were reverently buried with the dead, and on the murals painted within the tombs; these were intended to ensure the deceased a safe, smooth, and speedy passage to their destined ends. They could also turn to other themes of mythology that saw the life of the future in different terms. They might show the performance of a rite, the recitation of a prayer designed to bring about the desired end; or they might show a newly arrived soul reaching the company of those who had gone before. Sometimes these immortal beings were portrayed amusing themselves by taking a hand at liubo, the game of chance in which a lucky throw would reveal the future...One possible destination for deceased persons does not appear to have formed the subject of an artist's skills, the region of the Yellow Springs (Huangquan). It was there that souls and perhaps bodies would be relegated if they had been left uncherished, with no ceremonies performed to show that their survivors still respected them and no precautions taken to lead them to a happier place. As yet no scene of the Yellow Springs has been identified in the carved reliefs, molded bricks, mural paintings, or paintings on silk that adorned a tomb."
Page 103: QUOTE: "Other artists portrayed in symbolic manner how the dead could be guided to occupy the most fortunate situation in the cosmos, where they would enjoy complete harmony with the major forces whereby the universe operates. Buried alongside the deceased person, bronze mirrors bearing a special design, sometimes known as TLV, carried symbols that represented two schemes whereby the universal cycles of being ran...The series of twelve characters placed on the four sides of a square symbolized one of these schemes, which was based on the twelve divisions and sequences of time and space; in the other scheme four animals and a circular mound in the center represented the constant cyclical moves between five phases of activity. These, ranging from birth to decay and then to rebirth, could be seen in the changes from one season to another, or from one position in space to the next. An inscription declared how the four symbolic animals would preserve the occupant of the tomb from harm, in accordance with the eternal sequences of yin and yang. The inscription might also promise material blessings that all longed to enjoy on earth, such as an assured line of descendants and the gifts of wealth and glory. Some of these inscriptions would allude to the life of the immortal beings, sustained by jade and manna; perhaps these beings were even depicted on other parts of the mirror as elf-like creatures thought to inhabit such a paradise. At the edge of the mirror circular banks of clouds formed a passage way by which the dead were to be brought to their appropriate positions within this comprehensive system."
Page 104-105: QUOTE: "These highly powerful talismans were made to perfection from perhaps 50 BCE and are to be found in some, but by no means all, of the 30,000 tombs and more that are identified as dating from the Qin, Han, and Xin periods. The tombs are widespread, ranging from Liaoning in the northeast to Sichuan in the west or Guangdong in the southeast. They hold relics of burials of all classes of person, from almost the highest in the land to the lowest, from kings to convicts. Very considerable differences in the style of burial distinguished the social classes of those who were buried and mourned. Convicts were laid in serried ranks, crammed into small apertures in the ground; crudely written characters recorded their names and the sentences that they had suffered (fig. 3). An official, and sometimes an official and his wife, were buried within tombs whose stone slabs were decorated with symbolic devices that related to the beliefs and hopes described above. For some, a stone stele carried an elegantly phased inscription executed in carefully embellished script, telling the onlooker details of the career of the man who lay buried within. Two ore more ornamental towers, or pillar-gates (que) sometimes flanked the entrance to the tomb, thereby creating a landmark in the countryside (fig. 4). Fortunately, it is sometimes possible to identify the occupants of such tombs with persons whose contributions to public life had won recognition in the historical records of the dynasty. These included a very high-ranking and successful general, Huo Qubing, who died in or shortly after 117 BCE, and the Countess of Dai who died in 168 BCE; her husband had been chancellor (xiang) of the kingdom of Changsha, where her tomb lay (fig. 5)."
Page 105: QUOTE: "For the kings of the Han empire, who were near kinsmen of the emperor and whose social rank was inferior only to his, magnificent structures of brick or stone provided a luxurious residence with a regulated set of apartments, each with its own practical or religious significance, for holding court, banqueting, or perhaps performing rituals. No expense seems to have been spared in constructing these underground palaces, replete with the furnishings and equipment needed for a luxurious way of life. Beginning with the First of the Qin Emperors, who died in 210 BCE, and continuing with many of the Han emperors, sites of burial have long been identified; but as yet excavation has been limited to the outermost parts of no more than two, those of Jingdi (d. 141 BCE) and Xuandi (d. 48 BCE)(fig. 6). Literary sources, however, disclose that there were several compoment parts of these tombs. They were enclosed within a large park and included a shrine (miao) where descendants regularly paid their respects and presented offerings to the memorial tablets (zhu) of their forebearers; a chamber of rest (qin), where the emperor's robes, and perhaps other belongings, were stored; and the tomb itself...We need harbor no doubts that these tombs were at least as spacious and imposing as those of their immediate inferiors, the kings, which did not comprise the same range of apartments. Provision of a staff to maintain these buildings was expensive."
Page 105: QUOTE: "The sites chosen for burial may have depended on local conditions. Some were hewn into the side of a mountain, as at Mancheng; others, in the lands close to the Yangzi River (e.g. Mawangdui), were deeply dug pits. Some were designed and constructed as a residence, with several adjoining rooms. Some were built as a brick chamber, for one or perhaps two occupants, but in a number of cases burials were clustered together to form a cemetery."
Page 106-107: QUOTE: "The great majority of our evidence derives from the tombs of those who occupied the highest ranks of society and whose families were able and willing to expend large sums on their funerals. For such was their duty, to serve their ancestors after their death with the same degree of respect that they had rendered previously, and as part of their devotions they paid for the burial of furnishings and artifacts to serve ritual, apotropaic, and practical purposes. In many instances their motive was a sincere wish to speed the deceased person to a blessed life of the future, as has been described. Or bereaved members of the family might wish to provide companions, material comforts, or amusements to while away the time [sic]; or they might think that bodily safeguards were necessary, in case one of the elements of the soul survived on earth, immured below the vault of a tomb and wishing to continue its existence there in the teeth of all dangers. Perhaps the family wished to display to all the status, rank, fame, and wealth of the deceased person, together with the treatment that he had merited during his lifetime, in the hope that he would receive comparable treatment from those authorities who managed the life of the world to come. Worldly ambition may have formed a further motive—a wish that the magnificence of a burial would add luster to the kin who had paid for it. It is even suggested that some families may have exploited the occasion of a death and a funeral as a means of enjoyment, setting up a feast accompanied by song and dance."
Page 107: QUOTE: "These material comforts are seen in the profusion of implements and treasures buried in the tombs of the rich; in the food to be consumed, the clothing to be worn. Some of these supplies might be stored in bronze or lacquer containers; some of the goods might be stowed in sealed and corded packages. There would be a large supply of ready money, or if the mourners were mean-minded, of replica coins of clay in place of real cash. The figurines of an orchestra would be accompanied by their instruments; those of entertainers and jesters exhibit their skills. A simulacrum of a residence took the form of a towered building, a farm, or a wellhead...Sets of bronze vessels were at the ready, to be used perhaps for ablutions, perhaps for ritual purposes; sets of lacquer vessels lay in preparation for a banquet...Models of horse and carriage allowed a dead official to proceed on his journeys as duty demanded and to do so in lordly fashion. Their very presence indicated his importance and perhaps his rank, which he would certainly wish to show off in his future life. To call upon his subordinates, attendants, or servants he need only beckon to the paintings on the walls...Instruments used in divination and written manuals that went with them would help a deceased person to choose between different courses of action. Copies of the scriptural writings would recall the lessons with which he had been nurtured and drilled in the past; historical anecdotes could serve as fiction to while away the long hours of the future. Should the person buried find himself in danger, he could consult treatises on medicine or the military arts. Tables and diagrams would enable him to understand the movements of the heavenly bodies. Legal texts could advertise his professional specialties and assist him if he found himself in trouble with officials who were implementing the orders of their superiors in the next world."
Page 108-109: QUOTE: "The regulations and conventions stipulated that no more than seven shrines should be maintained to honor the line of emperors; for persons of lesser ranks the number was limited to five, and for those of yet lower rank to three. It followed that at the death of an emperor who was eighth or later in succession to the founder of the line, although services must be paid to his memory, no special shrine could be erected for the purpose. To solve this problem, on such occasions the tablets of all preceding emperors (except that of the founder) were moved to the shrines of their immediate predecessors, thus leaving the seventh, or latest, shrine empty and free to receive the tablet of the last in the line, just deceased. In time, the shrine of the founding emperor might well become the depository for more than a few of these small but highly evocative memorial tablets. The purpose and function of this practice were clear; it demonstrated to all the continuity of the imperial line. By placing the successive tablets in shrines that lay alternately to the west and the east of that of the founder, successive generations followed the Zhaomu principle to which reference has been made above."
Page 109: QUOTE: "With the passage of the generations, the number and expense of the offerings that were presented to these shrines increased out of all proportion. In addition to the shrine situated at the place of burial, by imperial orders shrines were also erected in the provinces, and by the time of Yuandi's reign (48–33 BCE) the total had risen to no fewer than 176. Sharp questions were being raised over the value of maintaining them at so large a cost. A live political and dynastic controversy arose when it was proposed to dismantle some of these shrines and combine their services with those rendered elsewhere. By a decision which had not passed without dispute, it was determined that, exceptionally, three shrines should be maintained in perpetuity, dedicated respectively to the memory of Gaozu (r. 206–195 BCE), Wendi (r. 180–157 BCE), and Wudi (r. 141–87 BCE). The provision of sacrifices was to continue without interruption at these shrines, and this special, privileged treatment would be marked by including the term zu or zong in the 'temple' titles used posthumously to denote their ancestry; the two terms denoted 'progenitor' and 'ancestor'; their use indicated that the merits of emperors thus honored deserved exceptional recognition. It was in this way that Wudi gained the reputation and praise lavished upon him ever since; the decision to include him along with the founder and Wendi had not passed without argument."
Page 109: QUOTE: "According to the prescriptions or conventions, construction of an emperor's tomb started very shortly after his accession, and in a number of cases this duly took place. With no imperial tomb fully excavated, there is no direct evidence of the style of construction or the size of these tombs or the complexity of their design; but with a number of excavated tombs identified as the resting places of kings, it is safe to assume that those intended for emperors were no less luxurious or palatial. The best examples date from Eastern Han, and it is probable that these had developed in a number of respects from those built for the emperors of Western Han."
Page 109: QUOTE: "These edifices were planned as multichambered residences. A straight, sloping pathway (shen dao) led down to the entrance; different apartments served different purposes, as halls where visitors would pay court, where a banquet might be held, or perhaps where musicians or jesters could show off their skills. There might also be a chamber for the deceased king to purify himself and perform his religious obligations; if so, such an arrangement differs from that of the separate shrine and chamber of rest that were set up for the emperors, but we have no certain knowledge of what distinctions prevailed."
Page 110: QUOTE: "At the center of the royal tombs lay the closed chamber for the coffin, whose walls were sometimes painted in black and scarlet. Wooden walls separated the different apartments from one another and in some cases a stout barricade, formed of meter-long timbers, was laid laterally on four sides to protect the occupant from marauders. Sufficient material remains have permitted reconstruction of one such example, dating from Western Han (fig. 9). One of the two adjacent tombs at Dabaotai, in the outskirts of Beijing, this has been identified as that of Liu Jian (8), king of Guangyang from 73 to 44 BCE (fig. 10). No fewer than fifteen thousand timbers, as estimated, were used in its construction, and examples of similar tombs were not much smaller. The freshly hewn cypress chosen for the purpose was still colored yellow on excavation, and the material is described in literary references as 'Golden intestines' (haung chang). In some later examples, and in all probability in tombs constructed for some of the Eastern Han emperors, slabs of dressed stone had been carefully cut to measure for the purpose. Sometimes each stone was inscribed with a number indicating the position where it was to be laid, and a certification that it had been duly inspected and approved for use, e.g.:"
- QUOTE: "Shang Meng stone; width 3 feet; depth 1 foot five inches; length 2 feet ?seven inches; no. 14; Inspected, fourth month, Yongjian third year [128 CE]."
Page 110: QUOTE: "A coating of lime insulated the tomb against damp; a tumulus was raised overhead."
Page 111: The emperors of the Han, as well as royal family members and some very privileged favorites such as Huo Guang, were buried in jade burial suits because jade was believed to have magical properties which would preserve the body for eternity.
Page 111: QUOTE: "Further details of these procedures appear in prescriptions that we have for the long series of ceremonies with which the Eastern Han emperors and their immediate relatives were laid to rest. A total of eleven stages was punctuated by vocal lamentation that took place at set intervals. Once it had been accepted that the emperor had died, officials donned white garments; the gates of the city were closed, and troops were put on alert. The corpse was laid out and perhaps embalmed, to be dressed in twelve layers of shrouds and then fitted with a jade suit whose pieces were linked with golden thread. Supplies of ice delayed decomposition of the corpse before it was placed in the series of coffins; these were made of catalpa timber, chosen on account of its long-lasting properties and perhaps hauled over a long distance from the south. Jade emblems and other types of insignia of officials were placed within the coffin before it was sealed, and the doweling was planed smooth. Officials presented the heir apparent with the text of the Gu ming, a document that takes its place in the Shangshu, those venerated texts of old that laid down the patterns and precedents that all good monarchs should emulate. Solemnly he acceded to his august position; the gates of the palace and the city were reopened."
Page 111-112: QUOTE: "Divination decided the day chosen for interment; the cortege was prepared, the exorcist of the palace invoked his powers and performed his rituals to forfend all evil. A large banner proclaimed to all that the deceased Son of Heaven lay within the catafalque, and a senior official read aloud his valedictory rescript. At break of day the procession set out on its lengthy journey from the palace to the site of the tomb. Three hundred strong men who stood by with ropes for haulage were accompanied by three hundred officials, three hundred colonels, and sixty members of a choir and dancing troupe. Lowered through several stages, the coffin finally reached its last resting place, where the correct furnishings were duly brought together with those rendered by the newly acceded emperor. As the last act, the late emperor's clothing was conveyed to the chamber of rest, for reappearance according to the regular rite that has been described above."

Liu's Chapter on Brilliant Artifacts

Liu, Cary Y. (2005). "The Concept of 'Brilliant Artifacts' in the Han Dynasty Burial Objects and Funerary Architecture: Embodying the Harmony of the Sun and the Moon," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 204–221. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 207-208: From Han texts it is known that there were some objects that were designated for the living and some which were designated specifically for the dead and their afterlife. Objects for the living could be utilized in everyday life and could be placed in tombs with the dead, but objects specified for burial were not allowed into any palace or quarters of the living unless they were properly announced at funerary ceremonies. Objects and artifacts for the dead were called "fearsome artifacts," "objects for the dead," or "brilliant artifacts."
Page 208-209: While discussing the tomb of Liu Kuan, (r. 97–85 BCE), last King of Jibei (who had to commit suicide after cursing the emperor during a sacrifice and having a licentious affair with his father's widow), Liu says about commoners tombs: QUOTE: "Similar ceramic vessels...animal figures...jade bi discs...lacquer items...and coins...have been found in numerous other Han royal and common tombs. Like royal burials, the tombs for officials and commoners were regulated by sumptuary codes that delimited their size, scale, and furnishings. At the Wu family cemetery three stone tombs have been discovered. Tombs 1 and 2 had been plundered before they were excavated in 1981, and a third tomb was only discovered in 2002...The fragmentary burial artifacts recovered from Tomb 1 included ceramic pieces of a basin, tray, hu jar, dishes, eared cups...and a model of a farm compound similar to the example in this exhibition...Also remaining was a single bronze wuzhu coin."
Page 209: In Han burials, there are actual life-size one-horse, two-horse, and four-horse chariots buried within tombs, along with many miniature replicas of chariots, which could service the deceased occupants in all their afterlife needs.
Page 213: Here Cary Y. Liu talks about the two different souls of each person, QUOTE: "Besides tripods, other objects buried in tombs were probably credited with a similar brilliance that attested the exemplary virtues and moral rectitude of the deceased. Like tripods, when all was in harmony, replicas of stoves cooked...replicas of wells supplied water...musical instruments played, storage vessels were always full...and gaming sets brought success and winnings...Although the living function and mundane use of brilliant artifacts are negated, it is in their extraordinary uselessness that an afterlife use emerges. The brilliance inherent in buried objects, however, apparently could only shine during conditions of harmonious balance, and by the Han dynasty, people may have seen this balance embodied in the character meaning brilliance (ming), which is composed of the characters for sun (ri) and moon (yue). This notion of cosmic equilibrium may have derived from the early conceptionof the human soul as po, meaning 'lunar brightness.' By the Han dynasty the soul was popularly conceived as dual—the po soul corresponding to the female, lunar yin element, and the hun soul to the male, solar yang element. As discussed by Ying-shih Yü and Mu-chou Poo, the idea of a hun soul is said to have derived from the earlier idea of the po soul."
Page 214: On this page is a drawing representing a silk mortuary banner painted with pigment, much like this famous one from Mawangdui in Hunan, only this one comes from Tomb 9 at Jinque Shan, Linyi County, Shandong province. It is 200 cm tall, 42 cm wide, and is now located in the Shandong Provincial Museum Collection. This banner, like the one at Mawangdui, shows the designs of a sun and a moon, with a crow painted within the sun and a toad painted within the moon just like the Mawangdui banner! Cary Y. Liu says, QUOTE: "It may be the harmony of spirit brilliances between comsic yin and yang forces, respectively of the sun and moon, that is depicted in the pictorial stone carvings adorning funerary architecture of the Han dynasty...The sun and moon are also paired on mortuary shrouds or mantles...that were draped over a newly dead body and then over the interred coffin...Auspicious incantations pairing the sun and moon were also cast on Han-dynasty bronze mirrors...This idea of harmonious balance may also underlie the royal ritual structure known as the Brilliant Hall (mingtang)."
Page 215-216: QUOTE: "Prohibited in the Han dynasty, the practice of burying human victims became rare but not unknown. Despite warnings by Confucius and his followers, however, the practice of burying lifelike human figures of wood and ceramic increased in popularity, as attested by the life-size terra-cotta army buried at the mausoleum of the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty, or the smaler figures found at Han-dynasty royal tomb sites...Besides lifelike human figures, live horses, deer, and other animals continued to be buried alive or after ritual slaughter in Han tombs."

Bower's Chapter on the Nude Figurines

Bower, Virginia (2005). "Standing man and woman," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 242–245. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

NOTE: The nude male and female figurines illustrated in this chapter are made of dark gray earthenware with traces of pigment, each about 56 cm tall, and date to abou 141 BCE. They no belong to the Princeton University Art Museum.
Page 242: QUOTE: "These two armless nude earthenware figures with clearly delineated genitalia are of a type that originally had wooden or cloth arms attached by pegs through holes at the shoulders and were attired in fabric or other perishable materials. Mold-made with some handwork, these figures sometimes exhibit surprising individuality in facial type and variations in height. They are generally red or gray earthenware, and many were subsequently coated overall with a base coat of reddish brown pigment and then painted with facial features and hair. A second kiln firing may have been conducted to affix the pigments. Painted details, such as the red headband visible here on the Standing man, can also sometimes be discerned."
Page 242: QUOTE: "Prior to the 1980s unprovenanced examples of nude sculpture of this type were generally dated to the Han dynasty, based on comparison with other Han sculpture. They were not much discussed in publications, however, perhaps because of doubts about their authenticity, or because of their discomfiting (in the context of the mainstream Chinese art, whether pictorial or sculptural) nudity."
Page 242: QUOTE: "Since the 1980s this type of mortuary sculpture, mostly males but also some females, began to be archaeologically recovered from burials associated with the Han imperial Liu family. One of these burials is a large tomb thought to belong to a Liu family member, discovered in the vicinity of present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Most commonly, however, these figures are found in pits or trenches associated with Western Han imperial necropolises. Finds have ranged in date from the tomb complex of the founding Han emperor Gaozu (r. 206–195 BCE) to the necropolis of emperor Xuandi (r. 74–49 BCE). Although examples may have continued to be made into the Eastern Han, other types and styles of ceramic mortuary sculpture, often glazed rather than painted, came to predominate."
Page 242: QUOTE: "Such nude figures were also found where they were manufactured, at government workshop and kiln sites in the area of the Western Han capital of Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). In addition a few have been found at an imperial princely tomb complex at Mangdang Shan in Henan Province. Filling ancillary pits, small-scale ceramic fully-clothed 'armies,' exhibiting certain regional traits, has now been found in Jiangsu and Shandong provinces. It is not impossible that in the future nude figures might be uncovered at imperial burial sites in these areas. Archaeologists generally believe that this type of figure was restricted to burials of those of the highest rank."
Page 242: QUOTE: "Excavated examples have not only firmly dated these sculptures in the Western Han dynasty, but also attest that they were originally dressed. Many reveal impressions of what is likely to have been fabric (hemp or perhaps silk) attire. More noticeable are the traces of sewn-together leather-plate armor that still cling to some warriors. As to the figures' missing arms, the consensus seems to be that these were made of wood, although some suggest that they may have been made of cloth."
Page 242-244 (picture on 243): QUOTE: "The best-published and most extensively excavated Western Han imperial necropolis (to date) is the Yangling mausoleum of emperor Jingdi (r. 157–141 BCE) and his consort empress Wang (d. 126 BCE). In numerous pits or trenches from this site, a wide range of ceramic funerary sculptures have been found. Many examples of standing unclothes males (some identified as eunuchs) and some females were recovered. Such figures recovered at Yangling and elsewhere are distinctive in having clearly defined genitalia. It should be emphasized that these unclothed figures were only part of a larger group of ceramic mortuary sculptures, which included various domestic animals as well as clothed men and women (ceramic figures whose attire is rendered in that medium). Noteworthy are some kneeling females, some with their arms held up conealed in large ribbed sleeves in a pose similar to that of Kneeling female attendant (cat. no. 5)."
Page 244: QUOTE: "Standing man and woman most likely originated in Shaanxi Province, as that is where the majority of such figures have been found, and likely date to the Western Han reigns of emperors Jingdi through Xuandi. Moreover, these two figures may not have come from the same pit or trench within a burial site, or even from the same site. Among excavated unclothed figures, males are more numerous, and these are predominantly soldiers though some may be civilian attendants. Fewer female figures have been unearthed, and less is known about them. They are generally smaller in stature, have longer torsos and slightly different buttocks, are sometimes found with oxcarts, and are often believed to be civilian attendants. Some scholars believe that some of these females may also be soldiers, which is not impossible since women played a more important role in combat in China than is sometimes known. Images of female warriors are depicted in the Wu rubbings (cat. nos. 1.2, 1.20)."

Bower's Chapter on the Kneeling Female Attendant

Bower, Virginia (2005). "Kneeling female attendant," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 246–247. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

NOTE: The female figurine illustrated on page 246 is of the Western Han, made of dark gray clay with pigments over white slip, and is 39.4 cm tall.
Page 247: QUOTE: "A number of kneeling figures similar to the present one were excavated in 1966 from various pits at a site known as Renjiapo in the eastern suburb of Xi'an. This site is believed to be the necropolis of Empress Dou (d. 135 BCE), the wife of the early Western Han emperor Wendi (r. 180–157 BCE). Its dark gray clay, once covered with white slip and pigments, as well as its serene oval face, make this is [sic] a very typical example of early Western Han mortuary sculpture, most likely created in the Xi'an area, where the Western Han capital Chang'an was located. As noted in Sleeve dancer (cat. no. 6), a large number of figures of women with oval faces and similar coiffures, made of gray earthenware and painted in white slip, have been recovered from the Xi'an area. These figures have generally been dated to the early Western Han period."
Page 247: QUOTE: "In its respectful kneeling posture this figure is comparable with the many kneeling male and female figures seen in the Wu rubbings (fig. 1). In the rubbings almost all the figures that can be identified as female wear elaborate lobed headdresses, whereas this figure, like many Western Han female figures, is shown with no headdress and hair hanging down in back and bound below the nape of the neck. The kneeling posture is generally interpreted as a show of respect, presumably for the deceased. Note, however, that in this era before the advent of the chair in China, even high-ranking persons knelt rather than sat, and that kneeling did not necessarily indicate low rank, let alone servility. The large male figures who kneel while receiving homage in the central pavilion scenes in the Wu rubbings (cat. nos. 1.9, 1.26, 1.36) are evidently of high status."

Bower's Chapter on the Sleeve dancer

Bower, Virginia (2005). "Sleeve dancer," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 248–251. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 248: QUOTE: "Dances in which much of the effect was created by arm-controlled rippling of the dancer's sleeves—sometimes extremely long, sometimes extremely wide—are now generally referred to as 'sleeve dances' (xiuwu). They were performed in China from as early as the Warring States period but in the popular imagination are most closely associated with the Han dynasty. Images of performers twirling their arms trailing lengthy sleeves may have been found among Han tomb sculptures, jade plaques, paintings, decoration on bronze vessels, and pictorial stone carvings. In a scene in the Wu rubbings (fig. 1), a male or female slave dancer and an acrobatic dancer doing a handstand perform atop a row of low drums. The object between the sleeve dancer and the acrobat-dancer is likely a plate or bowl used in the performance. Left of the dancers a group of figures are playing a game of liubo (cat. no. 1.12). Perhaps this entire scene can be viewed as entertainments enjoyed in the afterlife."
Page 248: QUOTE: "Images exist showing sleeve dancers performing with drums, with drums and bowls, and sometimes just with bowls; striking examples have been found in both Sichuan and Shandong. In a scene of entertainments in an Eastern Han tomb at Zhucheng, Shandong, people are shown beating on low circular objects upon which a dancer is performing, indicating these may really be drums. The general term used to describe this sort of sleeve dance is usually guwu ("drum dance") or panguwu ("bowl drum dance"); sometimes the latter term is thought to refer to the shape of the drums, but it may also indicate jumping over and around bowls as part of the dance."
Page 248: QUOTE: "Sleeve dancing was done by males and females, alone, in pairs, or in groups, or as part of quasi-acrobatic performances utilizing low drums. Depictions of all these can be found in Han art. Most associated with sleeve dancing, however, are dances done by women wearing long robes. While male and female dancers could both wear this type of robe, sometimes they are distinguishable by their coiffures. Customarily during the Western Han women in this garb wore their hair long and self-looped at about the shoulder level to hang down the back in a single neat tress, while men pinned their hair up and wore a cap. Nevertheless, though some surviving Eastern Han sleeve-dancer images wear an elaborate puffed hairstyle that is distinctly feminine, many others remain indeterminate gender."
Page 248-250 (picture on 249): QUOTE: "Western Han-dynasty sleeve dancers are among the most beautiful of all Chinese ceramic tomb sculptures, and Sleeve dancer is an especially elegant example. Originally this gray earthenware figure was coated with white slip and delicately colored. Traces survive of the original pigments of pink and brown. In form and stance, Sleeve dancer closely resembles a somewhat taller (49–50 cm) female dancer excavated along with several other earthenware figures in 1954 from Tomb 24 at Baijiakou, northwest of present-day Xi'an. Within the excavated group there was at least one kneeling figure, one figure standing in respectful pose, and one dancer. Importantly, this suggests that many sleeve-dancer mortuary figures may have originally been part of larger ensembles. This observation finds support in the original pairing of this Sleeve dancer with two other female figures presumably from the same tomb: a kneeling figure with hands held as if clapping, and a second dancer with both arms raised and long sleeves fluttering back over her shoulders. Furthermore, given the close similarity in costume, coiffure, and manufacture of these figures to the Baijiakou and other excavated female figures, it is almost certain that this Sleeve dancer comes from the Xi'an area, where the capital of the Western Han was located."
Page 250: QUOTE: "Sleeve-dancer tomb figures have also been found away from the capital area. One of the most interesting representations of the sleeve dance is a Western Han ceramic tableau of musicians, acrobats, dancers, instruments, vessels, and figures, excavated in 1969 in Ji'nan, Shandong. Among the sleeve dancers is a male with a moustache accompanied by two probably female sleeve dancers."
Page 250: QUOTE: "Han poetry contains descriptions of sleeve dancers, such as those by Zhang Heng (78–139) in his Xijing fu (Western metropolis rhapsody), that are especially apt for this Sleeve dancer and other Western Han examples from burials in the Xi'an area. An evocative description of sleeve dancing is included in Zhang Heng's Nandu fu (Southern capital rhapsody):"

White cranes gliding by;

A cocoon unwinding its threads.

Their long sleeves, twirling and twisting, fill the hall;

Gauze-stockinged feet, taking mincing steps,

move with slow and easy gait.

They hover about long and continuously as if

stopped in mid-air...

Page 250: Bower goes on to write, QUOTE: "Textual accounts of sleeve dancing are also recorded in pre-Western and early Western Han texts such as the Han Feizi, and even include one historical reference involving the founder of the Han dynasty. Su Yan correlated many of these textual references to all the various types of sleeve dancing with a variety of images from Sichuan, Henan, and Shandong."

Ruitenbeek's Chapter on the Triangular Hollow Tomb Tile

Ruitenbeek, Klaas. (2005). "Triangular hollow tomb tile with dragon design," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 252–254. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

NOTE: This is the chapter on the image you already scanned and uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, the one with the dragon and the warrior with the sword and shield.
Page 253: QUOTE: "The period during which large hollow tiles were used for tomb construction coincides fairly precisely with the dates of the Qin and Western Han dynasties, with the majority dating to the first century BCE. The tiles are of two main types: the more common bear relief designs composed of many repeated impressions of different small stamps; less commonly are very large tiles with geometric borders framing large motifs executed in intaglio by a few large stamp impressions. Most of both types are rectangular; a few are triangular and were used in pairs to form the gables of house-shaped tomb chambers. All the intaglio tiles were found in Luoyang and vicinity; all share a natrualistically styled repertoire of large birds, human figures, horses, dogs, wild animals, dragons, and trees; and all seem to come from one workshop or a small number of closely related workshops. The Royal Ontario Museum owns about sixty intaglio tiles, purchased from the hundreds that were on the market in Luoyang in the 1920s and 1930s. About sixty more have been published in China since the 1980s. All are scattered finds; none have been properly excavated from a known site."
Page 253: QUOTE: "This gable tile is exceptional in that its decoration does not consist of a number of repeated motifs, but of one large stamped dragon on each face; one with a rider, one without (fig. 1). Both dragons measure about seventy centimeters from snout to tail, and thus are by far the largest single stamped design found on any tomb tile. They were not produced, however, by one giant stamp, but by carefully aligning a number of partial stamps. Five stamps were used for the dragon with a rider: head and breast; middle section with sword- and shield-brandishing rider; withers with hind leg; and the tail in two sections. We know that a single stamp rendered the dragon's midsection and the rider, because the rider's right foot covers a dragon tentacle without any crossing of lines. Exactly the same dragon with rider is found on another, rectangular, tile in the Royal Ontario Museum's collection; the riderless dragon is also stamped on a rectangular tile in the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh."
Page 253-254: QUOTE: "Hollow tomb tiles were formed in a wooden trough of the same size and shape as the tile. It was lined with cloth to allow for easy removal of the formed clay. First a large slab of clay, cut with a string from a block, was pressed against the bottom of the form to fashion one face of the tile. At right angles to this slab were attached narrower strips of clay; these would form the narrower sides of the tile. A sandbag was then laid inside the clay-lined form and the top slab put in place over it; the sandbag prevented the top slab from sagging. After the assembled tile had dried to a leather-hard consistency, it was removed from the form. Almost all rectangular tomb tiles have one or two round holes cut into one of the two narrow sides, and an oblong aperture in the other. The aperture allowed for easy opening of the sandbag, pouring out the sand, and removing the bag. Some tiles, including this triangular one, have only the round holes, which means that the bag was sacrificed. According to W.C. White, the holes were used for connecting the tiels with rods or ropes. There is no evidence for this, and it seems much more likely that the holes were cut to permit good circulation of hot air during firing. After the tiles were wetted to soften the surface and carefully smoothed with a spatula to remove the impression of the lining cloth, the stamped designs were impressed."
Page 254: QUOTE: "On its longer vertical side this tile bears an inscription, scratched before firing, that reads nan he xi ("west of the south gable"). He is the technical term for the head- and footboards of a wooden coffin, and apparently was also used for the gables of tile tombs with a vault in the shape of an inverted V. The inscription provides linguistic evidence that tomb chambers of hollow tiles were originally conceived as ceramic versions of wooden outer coffins. Perhaps a further indication of this is the fact that all hollow tomb tiles of this type with intaglio lines are decorated on both sides. A hollow-tile tomb of the simpler type, with a flat ceiling, might be compared with an outer coffin of the Mawangdui type, with its richly decorated exterior (but undecorated interior). In Eastern Han tomb chambers such as Zuo Biao's tomb (cat. no. 12), the lining stones are carved on the interior only. This may indicate a chronological transition from other coffins decorated primarily ont he exterior (like the Mawangdui coffin), to tile chambers decorated on both sides (like the present one), and finally to stone burial chambers decorated only on their interior, visible, face."
Page 254: "Only one face of this triangular tomb tile is colored. Thanks to the inscription, we know that it was the interior face; evidently the tomb's interior was more important than its exterior. Hollow-tile tombs thus seem to be a transitional stage between the tombs of the Warring States and Western Han, constructed of heavy logs containing nested coffins, and the brick and stone chambers of the Eastern Han and later."

Beningson's Chapter on the Tomb Wall Tile

Beningson, Susan L. (2005). "Tomb wall tile stamped with designs of an archer, trees, horses, and beasts," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 258–260. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 259: QUOTE: "Hollow bricks came into use in tomb construction during the late Warring States period. During the Han dynasty they became an integral part of tomb architecture and imagery, particularly around modern-day Luoyang and Zhengzhou, Henan province. Hundreds of bricks, many stamped with intaglio designs, were unearthed from 1925 to 1932, during the construction of the Longhai Railroad. The hollow pictorial brick in the Princeton collection became the first known in 1936 as part of the C.T. Loo collection."
Page 259: QUOTE: "Hollow bricks were made from gray clay that was made into thick slabs and formed in large draw molds. The two large faces of the brick were attached with narrower pieces of clay which formed the sides, to create the hollow box. While still wet, the clay was impressed with molds or stamps, which created both the pictures and the geometric designs in intaglio lines. Unintentionally overlapping of stamps was quite common, and can be seen in the inner border of the Princeton tile on the upper left side. Hollow bricks were ligher and less prone to fissuring during firing than solid bricks. They were used in conjunction with carved bricks, and were often left unstamped to accomodate painting, as in Bu Qianqiu's tomb. They remained popular until the late Han dynasty, when tomb architecture became more complex, including long passageways or arches, which hollow-brick construction could not support. At that time they were replaced almost entirely by decorated solid bricks."
Page 259: QUOTE: "Hollow bricks were used for the doorframe on either side of the tomb door, for the top of the door lintel, and to seal the door (fig. 1). They were also included in the walls of the main tomb chamber, as well as for the ceiling ridge and the ceiling itself (cat. no. 8). The hollow bricks for the ceiling supports were triangular sections that followed the ceiling slope and were often painted (cat. no. 7). Both these triangular slabs and the doorway lintel were supported on pillars. Usually the hollow bricks used for the tomb floor have plain surfaces and those for the ceiling have geometric designs. Typically bricks in other locations have pictures bordered by geometric designs. Hollow bricks were also used outside the main tomb structure in the construction of stairways and in other locations."
Page 259-260: QUOTE: "The picture on the Princeton brick is divided into three sections that are demarcated by fruit-bearing trees whose roots extend beyond the lower border. At far left a hunter sprints leftward while looking back over his shoulder to shoot an arrow from his bow. The upper arc of the bow mirrors the shape of his elongated and hooked nose, a feature perhaps intended to indicate a foreigner. To the upper right of each tree is a bird with two elongated tail feathers, facing left while flying to the right. Under the left-hand bird a crane both walks and faces right. In the center is a pair of deer, the male in front charging to the right, the doe also moving rightward but looking toward the left. To the right of the deer is a second, identical, crane. To the right of the second tree a tiger pounces to the right while looking back to the left, its neck arched in the same curve as that of the bird above it. Bordering and framing these images top and bottom are two bands of geometric designs, an inner band of lozenge and an outer band of wave patterns. The outermost borders are similar to the uppermost border on all four sides of the third layered coffin from Tomb 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province. The present hollow-brick tile may display auspicious imagery of the Han cosmological universe. The hunter, tiger, and deer all inhabit the celestial landscape on the bronze chariot fitting (cat. no. 29) in this exhibition, and archers, cranes, and birds can be found in the rubbings of the 'Wu family shrines.'"

Steinhardt's Chapter on the Pleasure Tower Model

Steinhardt, Nancy N. (2005). "Pleasure tower model," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 275–281. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 275-277: After a lengthy description of the tower model on page 276 (earthenware with green glaze, 111.8 cm high, 40.6 cm wide, and 50.8 cm in diameter, assembled from five separate parts, supposedly representing a four-story structure with a courtyard wall enclosing the bottom story, balustrades on the upper three levels, with parallel roof tiles and circular roof tiles capping and concealing the ends of the rafters, and above each level's eaves are balconies; the second story has two windows having two figures with outstretched arms, and the third and fourth stories each have one figure in a window with outstretched arms), Nancy Steinhardt writes, QUOTE: "Although ceramic towers have been found in both Western and Eastern Han tombs and occasionally in pre- and post-Han tombs in at least ten Chinese provinces (Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Sichuan), the majority are dated to the Eastern Han period, and most of the examples similar to this one are from tombs in the north central Chinese provinces Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi. Almost every feature of this tower can be found in others, but no identical one is known, nor, among the hundreds surviving, are there any exact duplicates."
Page 277: QUOTE: "For example, another glaze earthenware tower (90 cm high and 28 by 31 cm at the base), dated to the late Eastern Han period and excavated in Shan County, Henan, exhibits the large, upturned-leaf decorations at the corners of ridge poles, a prominently displayed bird flanked by the same acroteria at the center of the top roof ridge, and clearly defined parallel roof rafters on every eaves (fig. 1). Yet the Shan County tower is smaller, only its top story has a porch, and it was molded in one piece. Originally it may have had more figures, attached or removable. It shares with the present tower a front courtyard and animals visible through an open window at proper left in the courtyard's front wall. A notable feature is the adjacent keyhole-shaped opening. Whether a variation of the more common quadrilateral apertures or possessing some still undetermined meaning, openings of this shape can be found on other Han towers, further evidence of the shared elements in a group of individual structures."
Page 277: QUOTE: "Miniature ceramic buildings have been considered an important component of Han burials since the initial studies of Chinese funerary objects. Already in the first half of the twentieth century, prior to widespread excavation in China, major museums, including the Musuem of Fine Arts, Boston, the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, and the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, had acquired tall earthenware structures. They were as well known as the rubbings from the 'Wu family shrines,' and usually were discussed together with the shrines in literature about Han art. The miniatures and rubbings figured in writings about both Chinese architecture and Chinese sculpture, for it was not determined if the mingqi and reliefs of buildings or the 'Wu shrines' themselves were replicas of actual Han buildings, or idealizations made specifically for funerary contexts, or both, or neither."
Page 278: QUOTE: "Five and one-half decades of excavation have yielded hundreds more towers. Over sixty Han tombs with extensive interior mural programs are now known, some including towers (fig. 2), in contrast to fewer than ten in the 1940s. Regional types and subtypes of earthenware buildings have been suggested. Approximately one hundred earthenware structures from tombs in Henan Province, for example, have been classified into thirteen types: quadrilateral, multistory storehouses, including granaries; cylindrical storehouses; structures with courtyards; houses; towers; kiosks; multistory structures for performances; watchtowers; gate-towers; mills; places of manufacture, including ceramic workshops; animal pens, often joined with outhouses; and wells."
Page 278: QUOTE: "Yet fundamental questions about earthenware architecture, some of which also are prompted by representations of architecture on the 'Wu family shrines,' remain unresolved. The problem of what to call them is one that has plagued Chinese and Western scholars since the first modern writings about these earthenware buildings. Because the structures are funerary art, they are sometimes called mingqi. Yet there is no textual basis for equating a building with a ritual vessel. There is also the question of individuality. Mass production by workshops has been shown to dominate funerary art, and interchangeability of mass-produced parts is the basic tenet of Chinese architecture."
Page 278: QUOTE: "The bold silhouettes of men and horses on almost every surface of the 'Wu family shrines,' and figures from Chinese legend and lore that repeat on the same shrine and appear on more than one shrine, support ideas of mass production and interchangeability. Yet as noted above, a component such as a leaf-like eaves-end may be repeated on a tower, and identical or extremely similar figures or animals might appear on more than one tower, but each tower appears to have been integrally conceived and no two are the same overall. Finally, the most compelling question remains the most elusive: how much closer are we now than we were a hundred years ago, when Chavannes published the now universally recognizable silhouettes from the 'Wu shrines,' to being able to confidently reconstruct Han architecture? The earthenware forms are often referred to as models (moxing), but in fact we do not have buildings or documents that prove that the small buildings were based on actual structures or vice versa. Then as now, we turn to the earthenware structures in the absence of existing wooden architecture to inform us about the Han building tradition."
Page 279: QUOTE: "The most convincing associations between actual structure and 'model' have been suggested through comparisons with que, another problematic Chinese term. Often translated 'pillar-gate,' que can form part of outer walls, sometimes at the wall corners and other times flanking an entry. Que also designates one of a pair of towers directly in front of an entry, sometimes along an approach lined with other pairs of monumental sculpture. A pair of que, for example, remained in front of the 'Wu family shrines' when Chavannes studied the site (fig. 3)."
Page 279: QUOTE: "In 1961 Chen Mingda published research on twenty-three Han que, most of them investigated by him in 1936, 1939, and 1941 in Henan and Sichuan, and a few additional ones studied by the Sichuan Cultural Relics Commission in 1956. Thirty-one years later only six more Han que had been identified, for a total of twenty-nine. Of these, twenty were in Sichuan, four each in Henan and Shandong, and one in Beijing. No new hypothesis about their purpose or context had been offered. It may not be coincidental that a majority of the earthenware towers have been uncovered in tombs in these three provinces and that the same provinces are also important sources of Han funerary relief sculptures (the regions of Chengdu in Sichuan, Nanyang in Henan, and the many sites in Shandong including the 'Wu family,' Zhu Wei, and Xiaotang Shan shrines). Still, the main point of similarity between any of the que and the earthenware towers is simply that they are tall in comparison with the actual or molded size, respectively, of the human figure. Que may be formed of four or five layers of brick or stone, but by the criteria that determine the stories of a 'model'—roof eaves and/or porches—que are two stories, sometimes with an exterior balustrade suggesting a porch. Que were but one form of Han architecture, as earthenware towers are one type of funerary art, and it remains conjecture if equivalent forms in wood existed for either of them or if they shared purposes or symbolism."
Page 279-280: QUOTE: "Only a few features of the que or earthenware towers can probably be assumed to be facsimiles of Han timber architecture. Roof eaves of both que and earthenware towers are in all likelihood intended to replicate courses of ceramic tile over wooden roofs, occasionally with the circular decorated tiles that covered rafter ends. Cantilevered supports for the over-hanging roof eaves are believed to follow the forms of bracket sets. Yet verification for these assumptions, today as a century ago, comes from the presence of these features in later architecture, from poetic descriptions of Han buildings, and through acceptance of the notion that a tomb sculpture replicates an aboveground timber or brick structure."
Page 280: QUOTE: "Separate from the form are those particular and perhaps individually commissioned features found on earthenware towers that only occasionally find equivalents in relief sculpture on a que. On the present tower they are the man clinging to the slippery roof slope, the terrier poking his face out of the courtyard window, the adjacent bow, and the figure borne by a dragon above them. Drawing on knowledge of the 'Wu shrines' carvings, it is possible to speculate that the entire front presents interrelated units of narrative and that the tower might be understood as five registers, each narrating its own story or stories. So far, it has not been possible to associate these elements with heroes, legends, or literature of the Han, although the crossbow on the front and back courtyard walls seems to symbolize defense against intruders. Crossbow and dog together may be an image of 'watch and ward.'"
Page 280: QUOTE: "Perhaps less specifically meaningful, but probably symbolic, are the birds perched on the bracket sets that support the eaves. Bracket sets on earthenware towers are often transformed into animals, much like the handles on bronze vessels of the Zhou period, and birds are found on more Han roof ridges than not...including roofs pictured on the 'Wu shrines.' One association for birds on a roof ridge is upward flight, in other words, towards the heavens, and another is the heavenly body brightest to the naked eye, the sun. One of the most common representations in Han funerary art, a black bird in the disk of the sun, symbolizes the positive energy of the cosmos, yang. The fenghuang, a fantastic bird conventionally termed 'phoenix,' appears often in associations with the south, summer, vermillion, and cosmic harmony. The linkage between bird and dragon, the latter appearing above the crossbow on the front and back of the earthenware tower, is especially intriguing, because it calls forth an image of the feng-bird or fenghuang, one of the guardians of the Immortal-inhabited Mount Kunlun, who in later times was paired with the luan-bird or dragon. The frequency of birds on roof ridges in Han funerary art in all likelihood suggests and association between the bird and the heavens. Hence the omission of birds from roof ridges of que seems to indicate that the grave objects and the monumental freestanding towers did not carry the same symbolic freight."

Steinhardt's Chapter on the Tower Model

Steinhardt, Nancy N. (2005). "Tower model," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 283–285. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 283: Steinhardt describes the features of another green-glaze earthenware tower model from the Eastern Han Dynasty, this one representing a three-story structure, the model itself being 106.7 cm in height and has base dimensions of 34.5 by 38 cm. Like the other tower described in the previous chapter, this has upper levels with porches and a base level with a walled enclosure. It also has birds capping the tower, birds at the center of supporting bracket arms, a dog looking out the front of the courtyard, and instead of a molding decoration of a crossbow on the wall to the right of the dog as in the other model, this one has an animal-faced door knocker. As seen on one of the towers (fig. 1) on page 284, other model towers also featured animal-faced door-knockers. This tower on page 282 also has figures who stare out of windows like the one in the previous chapter, although in this model (and on the model in fig. 1 on page 284) there are figures standing at the corners of the tower's balcony balustrades. QUOTE: "The rarest feautre of this tower is the courtyard entry facade. The three low and two higher roofs and the very limited low-relief articulation have a presence more massive and much harder to penetrate htan their height of fifteen or twenty centimeters would suggest."
Page 283-284: QUOTE: "An explanation for the notably stark and thus severe facade may lie in the patterns on the depictions of circular tiles that edge the eaves-ends. Not only are they found on several green-glazed miniature towers that have the above-described corner acroteria, but actual tiles with what appear to be the same pattern have been excavated at the ruins of both Han capitals, Chang'an of the Western Han and Luoyang of the Eastern Han. The tiles from Chang'an were uncovered at the ruins of the palace-complex Weiyang Gong (fig. 3), and those from Luoyang were found in a funerary precinct near White Horse Monastery (Baima Si), dated to the Eastern Han period (fig. 4)."
Page 284: QUOTE: "The similarities in roof-tile pattern among miniature towers and excavated objects of daily life seem to afford rare and highly indicative evidence that the earthenware miniatures might replicate real structures. Actual tiles bearing the patterns in question, discovered in urban architectural settings, inside the walls of Han emperors' own palaces and capital cities, may even indicate that the solid, formidable quality of the present tower's walls was intended to reflect the entryway to a Han capital."

Juliano's Chapter on a Model Farm

Juliano, Annette L. (2005). "Model of a farm compound with human figure, sow and suckling pig, chickens, trough, and basin," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 286–289. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 287: QUOTE: "During the Han Dynasty the quantity and variety of clay mingqi proliferated, so that the tomb furnishings record the prosperous lives of upper class landowners. Tombs were fully equipped to sustain the deceased in the afterlife, and included models of servants, entertainers, musicians, and garden pavilions; oil lamps, guardians, and striking watch towers illuminated and protected the tomb. Included also were the more mundane necessities of life, such as stoves, wellheads, lamps, and storage jars. Often the mingqi paralleled pictorial images painted, carved in stone, or stamped on tiles to decorate the walls of tombs and shrines. Underlining the importance of agriculture in Han life and economy, the many types of architectural models that came into use then included farm buildings, ranging from modest single-story structures and granaries to large farm compounds with attached animal pens and yards."
Page 287: QUOTE: "This farmyard or compound, fashioned out of dark clay, has high walls topped with simulated tile roofs along the back, one side, and part of the other side and the front. On the unwalled front, steps lead up to a wide walkway, patterned with decorative circular tiles stamped into the clay...The main walkway with its circles leads in one direction to a small roofed building with a door and two windows, perhaps a privy; in the other direction to a low parapet facing the courtyard. Along the bottom of the inside walls of this clay model, four parallel horizontal lines with periodic vertical scoring suggest a brick-like foundation that would have supported the stucco walls. Inside the enclosed farmyard is a sow suckling piglets, chickens, and a trough and basin for water and feed. Many very similar structures, containing pigs or a mix of animals, have been excavated from tombs across north China (fig. 1), and a fragment of one such example was recovered from Tomb 1 at the cemetery associated with the 'Wu shrines' (fig. 2)."
Page 287: QUOTE: "Complementing clay models of stoves, wellheads, and farmyards with animals, lively kitchen scenes painted or carved on tomb walls, including those of the 'Wu family shrines' (fig. 3), showed the preparation of food, from the butchering of the animals to the roasting. In these scenes, victuals hung on racks usually include fish, fowl, and meat. Many Han tombs, especially those of the Eastern Han, contained ceramic pigs, pigsty, and chickens. Meat, inclding chicken, pork, and beef, was certainly part of the diet of the rich but not readily made available to the ordinary Chinese. Although beef was highly prized, oxen were so important as draft animals that the government occasionally prohibited their slaughter. Chicken was probably the most accessible form of meat for average Chinese, though not for the very poor."

Hiromi's Chapter on the Storehouse Model

Hiromi, Kinoshita. (2005). "Storehouse model," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 290–291. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 291: QUOTE: "This well-proportioned hollow rectangular structure clearly refers to a wooden prototype, even though the details are partly obscured by the green glaze, now a silvery iridescence from burial: the facade, pierced with a rectangular window in the center, is applied with clay strips in imitation of wooden slats, and the slanted tiled roof is supported by four dougong brackets. Five birds roost on the central roof ridge (detail). The entire structure is raised above the ground by six pot-bellied bears, depicted kneeling on their hind legs with front paws resting on their knees."
Page 291: QUOTE: "Glazed examples of architectural models, including watchtowers, granaries, and animal dwellings, likewise with bear-form supports, have frequently been excavated from Han tombs in northern China. Storehouses of related type appear especially in Henan Province. Their prototype may have contained any number of things; the Huainanzi, a mid second-century BCE text, describes the royal storehouses as holding the raw materials of weapons and chariots used in hunting and warfare."

Liu's Chapter on the Green-glazed Wellhead

Liu, Cary Y. (2005). "Green-glazed wellhead," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 292–295. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 293: QUOTE: "This green-glazed ceramic model of a wellhead of a draw well takes the shape of a narrow-waisted cylinder rising to a broad, flat rim on which is set a small water bucket. Above the wellhead is an A-frame superstructure consisting of two inward-leaning struts that rise to support a crossbeam with projecting dragon-head finials at each end. At the center of the crossbeam two small posts carry a tiled hip roof. Housed under the roof is a pulley that would have been used for drawing water by means of a rope and bucket...the cylinder may actually represent the sunken well shaft."
Page 293: QUOTE: "Since ancient times wells, as a source of life-giving water, came to be associated with water spirits and deities such as dragons. They were also believed to serve as a cosmic gate leading into the earth below, and were paired with heavenly gates (tianmen) and heavenly wells (tianjing) opening into the heavens above."
Page 293: QUOTE: "A well was often the center of a village or house, and thus became a symbol of community and family order. The written character for well (jing) resembles a tic-tac-toe grid, and many Han-dynasty well models in ceramic and bronze are similarly rectilinear in plan...This orderly configuration also became linked to the ancient, idealized well-field (jingtian) system of land-use division espoused by Mencius (fourth century BCE) and Dong Zhongshu (ca. 179 – ca.104 BCE), and unsuccessfully instituted by the usurper Wang Mang (r. 9–23 CE) as part of his reform efforts during the Han interegnum."
Page 293: QUOTE: "Wells are often depicted in food preparation scenes in Han pictorial carvings of home settings. In the 'Wu family shrines' rubbings are several depictions of water being drawn for cooking from narrow-waisted wellheads with well-sweeps and buckets."
Page 293-294: QUOTE: "In agriculture, wells for field irrigation were used in northern China and along the Yellow River valley, including Shandong. Burial models of near life-size replicas of wells in tombs have been found throughout these regions. Such models and replicas are believed to have been included in tombs—along with stoves, latrines, granaries, and sacrifice offerings—in order to provide for the tomb occupant in the afterlife. The special placement of wells in some tombs and the discovery of seeds and animal bones inside or near some of the wells, however, suggest that buried wells may also have played a role in mortuary ceremonies or have had special symbolic meaning."

Thompson's Chapter on the Wellhead

Thompson, Lydia. (2005). "Wellhead with dragon, bird, and guardian designs" in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 296–299. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 297: Thompson writes, QUOTE: "Han-dynasty tombs were often furnished with ceramic grave goods intended to provide an ideal environment for the deceased. Model (in the sense of miniature) lamps, stoves, incense burners, granaries, courtyard dwellings, containers, servants, livestock, and wellheads are some of the items typically found in Han-period tombs. This use of model grave goods began in the Zhou dynasty, gradually replacing the practice of burying real objects and persons. It was hoped that the spirit of the deceased, which could be maleficent if neglected, would incline to remain contentedly in its tomb if accorded proper ritual observance and burial objects to sustain its existence in the afterlife."
Page 297: QUOTE: "Model wellheads, such as the present example, were intended to provide a water supply for the deceased after death, as their prototypes did in life."
Page 297-299: Thompson's short chapter focuses on a rectangular wellhead made of unglazed earthenware from the Han Dynasty, which shows scenes of animals and people carved in low relief on its four sides, most notably representing Chi You, the God of War and the God of Rain.

Hiromi's Chapter on the Stove Model

Hiromi, Kinoshita. (2005). "Stove model," in Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', 300–301. Edited by Naomi Noble Richard. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Princeton University Art Museum. ISBN 0300107978.

Page 301: QUOTE: "Model stoves made of bronze, and especially of earthenware, appear in tombs from the Western Han into the Six Dynasties. Their appearance in early Han tombs, along with the utilitarian objects such as braziers, lamps, incense burners, and mirrors, signals not merely the introduction of a new category of grave godos, but, more importantly, a change in the conception of the afterlife. Beginning in the third century BCE, ritual vessels—containers for food and wine offerings to the ancestors of the deceased, which were of paramount importance in tombs of late Shang and early Zhou—appear to have decreased in importance. At this time new categories of objects were being made that were not necessarily used for ritual practice—that is, in offering food and wine for ancestor worship—but were part of secular banqueting."
Page 301: QUOTE: "This animal-shaped stove illustrates the imagination and creativity of Han bronze makers. Raised on four slender horse-hoofed feet, the body of the animal functions as the firebox, into which fuel would have been placed through a rectangular opening at the back. The elongated neck of the tortoise-like creature would have vented the smoke from the firebox out through its open mouth. In the top surfacee of the stove body are three circular openings, one large, upon which two bronze flat-rimmed basins sit, and two smaller ones. A very similar example was excavated in 1983 from a late Western Han tomb in Shuo County, Shanxi."

Central Asian Transmission of Buddhist Texts to China

Zhang, Guanuda. (2002). "The Role of the Sogdians as Translators of Buddhist Texts," in Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road, 75–78. Edited by Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. ISBN 2503521789.

Page 75: Zhang writes, QUOTE: "According to early Chinese literary records, Buddhism passed through the main oasis city-states around the Tarim Basin to China in the first century C.E. We know little about this earliest phase of the eastward transmission of Buddhism along the international commerce route. But we are better informed about the role played by the Iranians in its eastward spread, especially their contribution by translating Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Chinese hagiographic records show that most of the early Buddhist translation work from the Central Asian languages into Chinese was done by the Parthians, Bactrians, Sogdians, and Saka-Khotanese in collaboration with Chinese literates. The first missionary known by name was An Shigao. He was a Parthian prince who had renounced the throne to become a Buddhist monk and arrived at Lo-yang, the Later Han's capital, in 148 C.E. The surname An in Chinese seems to be derived from Arsak-, the name of the Parthian ruling house, Arsacids, and was later adopted by other missionaries from eastern Iran, such as An Xuan and An Faxian (Darmabhadra). This surname, first referring to the missionaries of eastern Iranian extraction, was to be transmitted to denote the Sogdians coming from Bukhara. Towards the second and in the third century more translators bore the surname Kang, such as Kang Mengxiang (active at Lo-yang from 194 to 199), Kang Senghui (?–280, active in Wu of the Three Kingdoms), Kang Ju, Kang Sengkai (Samghavarman, arrived at Lo-yang in 252), Kang Falang, Kang Fachang, and Kang Sengyuan, among others. The translation of The Buddha of Immeasurable Life Sutra, one of the three basic canons of Pure Land Buddhism, was ascribed to Kang Sengkai (Samghavarman). It was rendered into Chinese in 252. Evidently Kang is also an ethnic surname, and the monks bearing such a surname in Chinese were of Sogdian origin."
NOTE: If you're interested, here is the Sogdian guy's Chinese character name and Pinyin: Saņghavarman (康僧鎧/康僧铠 Kāng Sēngkǎi).

Roman Glass in China

An, Jiayao. (2002). "When Glass Was Treasured in China," in Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road, 79–94. Edited by Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. ISBN 2503521789.

Page 79: QUOTE: "From the Han (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.) to the Song period (960–1279) glass was treasured in China, not only because the Chinese enjoyed the material's clearness and transparency but because glass was mysterious to the Chinese. The Chinese were responsible for many important inventions—silk, paper, porcelain, fireworks—but not glass."
Page 79: QUOTE: "The earliest glass, in the form of beads, seems to have been made in Mesopotamia in the mid-third millennium B.C.E., while glass vessels do not appear until the middle of the second millennium, in both Mesopotamia and Egypt. Western glass spread to China around the fifth century B.C.E., at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period (771–476 B.C.E.) or the beginning of the Warring States Period (475–221 B.C.E.). Soon the Chinese were making their own glass with local materials and developing their own designs."
Page 79: QUOTE: "The first glass appeared in China as beads and small pieces of glass inlay for metal objects. Eye beads are the most elaborate form of glass, as shown by these examples, that were unearthed in a noble's tomb in Hubei province (fig. 1). Similar eye beads were excavated by Japanese archaeologists in Iran; they can be dated a little earlier than the Chinese ones, to the sixth century B.C.E."
Page 79: QUOTE: "In the Xinjiang area, a meeting point between East and West, some eye beads were unearthed at Luntai; they date from the eighth to the fifth centuries B.C.E."
Page 80: QUOTE: "Although the east-west trade route was not open at the time, these discoveries in Iran, in Xinjiang, and in central China indicate cultural and economic exchange. The nomadic tribes in Central Asia played an important role in this and other forms of exchange; glass beads, in particular, were admired by nomadic peoples, and beads are easily portable over great distances."
Page 80-81: QUOTE: "In spite of this trade, imported glass beads were perhaps too rare to meet demand. Soon after glass eye beads reached China, imitations were made, typically in ceramic with a glaze overlay, as with some examples from a Warring States Period tomb. However, ceramic imitations still could not satisfy demand and this impelled Chinese craftsmen to make their own glass eye beads. During the middle part of the Warring States period (around the fourth and third centuries B.C.E.), large numbers of glass beads appeared, in both nobles' and commoners' tombs. These finds are distributed all over China, but are concentrated in Central China, Hunan, Henan and Hubei provinces. The beads on the right, for example, are from Henan province, dated to the fourth century B.C.E., and, although they resemble the earlier beads, they are lead-barium glass. This kind of glass composition is unique to China. In Western Asia and Egypt, glass was made of soda; perhaps because China had limited resources of soda, glassmakers had to try other materials."
Page 81: QUOTE: "The Chinese were not just satisfied to copy Western eye beads, but soon began making typically Chinese objects. Using glass, they imitated traditional jade objects, such as jade discs or bi...translucent glass looks like jade but is less costly."
Page 81-82: QUOTE: "Glass vessels were also made in the Han dynasty. The two cups pictured here (fig. 2) are from a Western Han prince's tomb, in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, and dated to 128 B.C.E. They are the earliest glass vessels made in China. The double-handled cup (fig. 3) was found in another princely tomb in Mancheng, Hebei province; it was buried in 113 B.C.E. This is a typically Chinese form. During the Han, vessels of this type were usually made of lacquer or ceramic; this one, however, is of lead-barium glass."

NOTE: Although you are unable to see the pictures, the two cups foundfrom the Jiangsu tomb dated 128 B.C.E. look like short, stubby cylinders. The double-handled cup from the tomb at Mancheng, Hebei, dated 113 B.C.E., looks a lot like this double-handled jade cup, a picture you took at the Freer Gallery, although the jade cup seems taller and less wide.
Page 82: QUOTE: "We have seen that glass was treasured in China, but only glass that came from far away was treasured—and not until the importation of Roman glass was glass truly treasured. Roman glass, that is, glass manufactured in the Roman Empire from the first century B.C.E. to the fifth century C.E., was exotic and considered of special quality. Early Roman glass coincides with the flourishing of the Han Empire. The emperor Han Wudi (140–86 B.C.E.) sent emissaries to the Southern Sea to buy such glass."
Page 83: QUOTE: "A glass bowl (fig. 4) was found in Guangzhou, in a Western Han tomb and is dated to the early first century B.C.E. It was cast and its surface is crude. When held to a light, the surface is a beautiful deep blue color. X-ray fluorescence analysis shows that it is soda-lime glass. This is the earliest Roman glass found in China. Since Guangzhou is near the South China Sea, it is possible that this glass bowl came along the maritime trade route."
Page 83: QUOTE: "Similarly, fragments of a Roman mosaic-glass ribbed bowl may have come via the sea route. They were found in a prince's tomb near Nanjing. They belong to a type that was popular throughout the Mediterranean in the first centuries B.C.E. and C.E. The tomb dates to 67 C.E., not much later than the bowl's manufacture in the West."
Page 83-84: QUOTE: Han Wudi also opened the Western Regions, and contacts with the West entered a new phase. Roman glass began to be imported into China via the overland desert or Silk Road. A bottle with opaque white streaks (fig. 5) was discovered in an Eastern Han tomb in Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han dynasty. Chinese written records tell of many Western Asian traders settling in Luoyang at this time."

Iranian Luxury Vessels in China

Harper, P.O. 2002). "Iranian Luxury Vessels in China From the Late First Millennium B.C.E. to the Second Half of the First Millennium C.E.," in Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road, 95–113. Edited by Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. ISBN 2503521789.

Page 96: QUOTE: "The period we are considering begins in Iran and Mesopotamia with the era of early Parthian Arsacid rule in the second century B.C.E. To the east of Iran (in the area that is now northern Afghanistan, eastern Uzbekistan, and Tadzhikistan), the Greco-Bactrian kingdom established its independence from Alexander's Macedonian Greek successors, the Seleucids, in the third century B.C.E. but then collapsed in the second century B.C.E. under the pressure of Iranian tribes, the Saka, from the north. These tribes subsequently in the first century B.C.E. moved south into the Indian subcontinent under pressure from another people from the east, the Yuezhi. Some of the Yuezhi, the Kushans, created in the first centuries C.E. another great kingdom in Bactria and northern India from which Buddhism was introduced to China."
Page 99-100: On the embossed silver and bronze lidded containers found in Shandong, Yunnan, and in Guangdong at Guangzhou on the south China coast (which Harper calls on page 97 a "major center of sea trade in the Han dynasty"), Harper writes, QUOTE: "It is not impossible that the covered vessels found in China, made in the third to second century B.C.E. (without the cast feet and the animals on the lid) are Seleucid or early Parthian works of art. The high relief of the embossed pattern is still close to the deep Achaemenid lobes and quite different from the later Parthian and Sogdian rather two-dimensional meander designs. It remains unclear whether these lidded, lobbed containers were made in Iran or Bactria. The second century B.C.E. is a period in which there is little comparable, excavated evidence from Iran and Mesopotamia. The luxury items that are known generally lack an archaeological context but their appearance suggests that in Parthia as in Bactria the art of the second century B.C.E. was characterized by a mixture of Greek and Iranian elements. Such a combination of Iranian and Greek decorative elements is apparent on one of the lobbed vessels found in China where a stylized plant ornament borders both halves. This pattern is based on a popular Hellenized garland motif: laurel with lancelot leaves, a decorative feature that is widespread and persistent in the art of the Greek Hellenistic and later Roman worlds. This motif is combined with the Iranian embossed pattern on the bowl found in China."
Page 106-107: QUOTE: "The presence of Dionysiac imagery on objects associated with the Iranian world that have been found in China is also evident on a large and heavy, silver gilt plate (fig. 6) on which Dionysos, resting on the back of a feline, appears as a central focus. This work, a chance find during road construction in Jingyuan County, Gansu Province, was probably made in the second or third century C.E. presumably in some late Roman, eastern Mediterranean center or from molds derived from that source...Dionysiac imagery of a similar nature is seen earlier in pre-Kushan and Kushan Bactria, notably at Tillya Tepe in northern Afghanistan, where an image on a gold belt found in a man's grave dating from the first century B.C.E. to the first century C.E. may represent Dionysos riding on a feline."

Wang's Book Chapters on the Capitals

Wang, Zhongshu. (1982). Han Civilization. Translated by K.C. Chang and Collaborators. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300027230.

Chang'an, Capital of the Western Han

Page 1: The ruins of Chang'an are situated about 10 km northwest of modern Xi'an. While Chang'an is 2 km south of the Wei River, the old Qin Dynasty capital Xianyang is located north of the river. Only scattered roof tiles and rammed earth or brick wall ruins remain.
Page 1: QUOTE: "The building of the city of Changan was accomplished in three stages during the Han dynasty. (1) Under Emperor Gao Zu, Changlegong Palace was an expansion of Xinglegong, a Qin Dynasty resort palace. In addition, Weiyanggong Palace was constructed to the west of Changlegong and an armory was built between the two palaces. (2) Under Emperor Hui Di, the city wall was constructed. The building of the wall probably began at the northwestern corner: the west wall was the first to be erected, next the south wall, then the east wall, and finally the north wall. (3) Under Emperor Wu Di, Mingguanggong Palace was built north of Changlegong; Guigong and Beigong palaces were built north of Weiyanggong; and Jianzhangong Palace was constructed to the west, outside the city. In addition, Shanglinyuan Park was expanded and the artificial lake called Kunmingchi was opened. At that point, the capital city was basically complete."
Page 1-2: Although the layout of the city was basically a gigantic square, the new construction projects of Changle and Weiyang palaces forced engineers to build a zigzag southern wall at one point, as well as a zigzag northern wall due to topography and the contour of the river.
Page 2: Two surveys of the ancient wall ruins were undertaken in 1957 and 1962, finding that some of the above ground wall structures still existed and the underground foundations were still intact. They discovered an east wall that was 6,000 m (19,685 ft) long, a south wall that was 7,600 m (24,934 ft), a west wall that was 4,900 m (16,076 ft), and a north wall that was 7,200 (23,622 ft). Overall the total length of walls equalled 25,700 m (84,318 ft), which equals a bit over 62 li (of the Han period) as described in the ancient Han jiu yi (a 1st century AD text by Wei Hong).
Page 2: The city wall was made of rammed earth, and had a height of over 12 m (40 ft) with a base width of 12 to 16 m (40 to 53 ft).
Page 2: The wall was built by conscript labor and convict labor. Wang estimates that the wall took five years to complete, each section taking a whole month to build by the hands of about 145,000 workers.
Page 2: The city moat was 8 m (26 ft) wide and 3 m (10 ft) deep. An excavation in 1962 outside of Zhangcheng Gate proved that wooden bridges were built over the moat.
Page 2: There were twelve city gates; the gates along the east wall were Xuanpingmen, Qingmingmen, and Bachengmen; the gates along the south wall were Fuyangmen, Anmen, and Xi'anmen; the gates along the west wall were Zhangchengmen, Zhichengmen, and Yongmen; the gates along the north wall were Hengmen, Chuchangmen, and Luochengmen.
Page 3: QUOTE: "The city gates followed strict designs. Each gate had three gateways, and each gateway was 6 m [20 ft] wide. The width of the gateway corresponded exactly to four times the width of a carriage." This fact had even been noted by Zhang Heng in his Xijing fu, and by the later commentator Xue Zong (d. 237).
Page 3: Since Bachengmen, Fuyangmen, Xi'anmen, and Zhangchengmen, being close to the Changle and Weiyang palaces, did not have large avenues extending from their gateways, there were only eight large avenues within the walls of the city, extending from the remaining eight gates. Although this was confirmed by the excavation of 1962, contemporary Han records even state this fact.
Page 3: The longest of the avenues was Anmen Gate Avenue at 5,500 m (18,045) in length. Xuanpingmen Gate Avenue was the second longest at 3,800 m (12,467 ft), while the shortest was Luochengmen Gate Avenue at just 850 m (2789 ft). The other avenues were on average about 3,000 m (9,842 ft). All avenues, despite variations in length, were 45 m (148 ft) in width. Each avenue was divided into three parallel lines separated by two drainage ditches, each about 90 cm (35 in) wide and 45 cm (18 in) deep. The central lane, which was about 20 m (66 ft) wide, was reserved for the emperor, while each of the flanking lanes for the public had a width of 12 m (40 ft).
Page 4: The drainage system of Chang'an included large drainholes dug under the city gates and lined with bricks and rocks, the top of which formed an arch made of brick. The ditches dug in the avenues carried rainwater to these drainholes which fed the water into the moat. Pottery waterpipes were also placed at the foundation to help drain the water away.
Page 4: Changle Palace and Weiyang Palace, both erected in the southeastern portion of Chang'an before the city's walls were built, had their own walls that were 20 m (66 ft) wide at the base. The entire length of Changle's walls was 10,000 m (32,808 ft), while it enclosed an area of 6 km², or about 1/6 of the entire area of the city. The walled perimeter of Weiyang was 8,800 m (28,871 ft), and enclosed an area of 5 km², or about 1/7 the entire area of the city. Although the foundations still exist, only a small portion of Weiyang's west wall can still be seen, rising 11 m (36 ft) in height. The foundation of Weiyang's Audience Hall (Qian Dian) still stands as well, with a north-south length of 350 m (1,148 ft) and an east-west width of 200 m (656 ft).
Page 5: Between Changle and Weiyang palaces was the city armory, enclosed by walls that were 320 m (1,050 ft) east to west and 800 m (2,625) north to south. Another wall split this rectangular area down the middle, partitioning the armory into two separate courtyards. In both were warehouse buildings for storing weapons and some others where officials would reside. The largest of these warehouses was 230 m (755 ft) long and 46 m (151 ft) wide. Although the wooden racks of the storage areas no longer survive, their stone bases are still in place, which testify to the weapons racks described in Zhang Heng's Xijing fu. Although the armory and many other buildings were destroyed during the revolt against Wang Mang and most of the weapons removed, some were still found, including iron armor, ji halberds, spears, swords, knives, arrowheads, and ge halberds.
Page 5-6: Gui Palace was located north of Weiyang and near Jianzhang Palace. The 1962 excavation revealed that Gui had a walled enclosure that was 1,800 m (5,905 ft) east to west and 800 m (2,625 ft) north to south, having a total perimeter of 5,300 m (17,388 ft). Although the Jianzhang Palace's remains were discovered in 1962 as being located outside the western ramparts, its exact dimensions are not yet known. The locations of the Bei Palace and Mingguang Palace are yet to be found.
Page 6: North of Jianzhang Palace was Taiye Lake. Supporting various Han records about stone fish sculptures along its north shore, a massive stone sculpture of a fish was dredged from the lake and measured almost 5 m (16 ft) in length.
Page 6: Chang'an had nine marketplaces, all clustered in the northwestern area of the city, since the southern and central portions of the city were taken up by palace space. QUOTE: "On the surface in this area archaeologists have collected many pottery figurines and molds for coins, suggesting that this northwestern area had handicraft workshops." The Book of Han states that the marketplaces were established in 189 BC, meaning the site for them was chosen before the city walls were erected.
Page 7: With the marketplaces placed in the northwest, the main residential area was in the northeast. Ordinary people and officials had their dwellings here, along with a few mansions of the aristocracy.
Page 7: Along with Bachengmen, Xi'anmen, and Zhichengmen, the gatehouse of Xuanpingmen was destroyed during the revolt against Wang Mang. Excavation reveals coins of the Western Han and Wang Mang period, accurately dating burning of the gate. Xuanpingmen was cleared of its debris and repaired, but Bachengmen and Xi'anmen never had their debris cleared away, meaning those gates were non-operational during the Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, and Six Dynasties. Zhichengmen had some of its debris cleared away so that it was used on a reduced scale.
Page 7-8: Xuanping Gate was repaired in the Eastern Han with new rammed earth walls at the northern and southern openings; the Book of Later Han states that this repair took place in 43 AD. Xuanpingmen was used throughout Eastern Han. Xuanpingmen was repaired in the middle of the fourth century by the Later Zhao, the surfaces of the central and southern openings reconstructed with fired and sun-dried bricks.
Page 8: No major rebuilding took place after Later Zhao, although the gate continued to function throughout the Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern Dynasties, and Sui Dynasty. It was only during the Tang Dynasty that the gate was purposely blocked.
Page 8-9: The Qin Dynasty's royal parks of Shanglinyuan were abandoned at the beginning of Han, but were incorporated into the palace parks by Emperor Wu of Han. These royal parks were located to the southeast and southwest of Chang'an, and in them were placed birds and animals for the emperor to hunt. Several resort palaces were built in these parks, the remains of which have been discovered along with bronze vessels, basins, tripods, jars, and cooking pots found in storage pits.
Page 9: In 120 BC, Emperor Wu had the artificial Kunming Lake drudged between the Feng and Yu Rivers southwest of Chang'an. Wudi built it in order to train a naval fighting force on its waters in preparation of war with the Kunming state. QUOTE: "It was also built to alleviate a water shortage in the capital. After two thousand years the remains of the lake are still vaguely recognizable. The lake site now is a depression more than 10 square km in area. An elevated ground in the northern part appears to have been an island within the lake, possibly the site of the Yuzhang Hall described in the Xi jing fu."
Page 9-10: When Wang Mang became regent at the end of Western Han, he started a new flurry of building projects, although these were not of regular palaces but religious and ritual structures. Like the structure built at Mount Tai, Wang Mang had a Ming Tang built in Chang'an, a QUOTE: "ritual hall where the emperor pronounced the new year, officiated at festivities, performed rituals, and received the feudal lords." Wang Mang had a Pi Yong built, which was a QUOTE: "place where the emperor performed rituals and music and promulgated virtuous principles." Wang also had a Ling Tai, or Spiritual Terrace built, as well as the Taixue, or Imperial Academy. When Wang Mang enthroned himself and initiated the Xin Dynasty, he had Nine Temples (Jiu Miao) built in Chang'an. These buildings were QUOTE: "designed in accordance with both traditional Confucian regulations and Taoist yin yang and wu xing (Five Elements) principles." Except for the Pi Yong in the southeastern section of the city, all of these ritual structures were built in the southwestern section of the city. However, all of these structures were destroyed with the fall of Wang Mang, and were never rebuilt.
Page 14: As seen in a picture on this page, the remains of carriage tracks at the Baicheng Gate still exist.

Luoyang, Capital of the Eastern Han

Page 29: The ancient ruins of Han-era Luoyang are located about 15 km (9.3 miles) east of the modern city of Luoyang in Henan. In addition to the walls, the city had natural barriers as its defenses, including the Mang Mountains to the north and Luo River (Henan) to the south. Due to its pristine site as a junction for transportation and communication, the Western Zhou built a major city there known as Chengzhou, which lasted throughout Eastern Zhou. The Western Han established Luoyang on the same site, and would be the same city which the Eastern Han made its capital.
Page 29: In 25 AD, Emperor Guangwu of Han chose Luoyang as the Han's new capital and occupied the already-existing South Palace of Luoyang. He expanded the city far beyond the boundaries of the old Zhou Dynasty and Western Han city (enclosing the Zhou Dynasty tombs which were once located outside the city).
Page 30: Above ground sections of the eastern, western, and northern walls of Han Luoyang still exist today, some of the ruins still 7 m (23 ft) tall. The southern wall was washed away centuries ago when the Luo River changed its course. By using old records to confirm that the remains of the Ming Tang and Ling Tai ritual buildings were 2 or 3 li in distance from the southern wall, archaeologists believe that the southern wall was located in what is now the middle of the Luo River.
Page 30: Made out of rammed earth, the wall of Luoyang was found to have different base widths at each side with 14 m (46 ft) for the eastern wall, 20 m (66 ft) for the western wall, and 25 m (82 ft) for the northern wall. Wang says these variations can perhaps be explained by the need to enhance defenses on the western and eastern walls during the following Cao Wei and Jin Dynasty. As for the length of the walls, the eastern wall was 3,900 m (12,795 ft) long, the western wall was 3,400 m (11,155 ft) long, and the northern wall was 2,700 m (8,858 ft) long. By taking the two southernmost points of the eastern and western walls, historians estimate that the southern wall was 2,460 m (8,070 ft). QUOTE: "Since the southern wall was in the middle of what is today the Luo River, we must add approximately 30 m [98 ft] to the length of both the eastern and western walls to determine their full length. Once we do this, then we can calculate that the total length of the four city walls of Eastern Han Luoyang must have been approximately 13,000 m," or 42,650 ft. Although some of the walls were curved to match topography, the overall shape of the city was rectangular.
Page 30-31: Eastern Han Luoyang had 12 gates, 3 on the eastern side, 3 on the western side, 4 on the southern side, and 2 on the northern side. The east wall had Shangdongmen, Zhongdongmen, and Maomen; the west wall had Guangyangmen, Yongmen, and Shangximen; the north wall had Xiamen and Gumen; the south wall had Kaiyangmen, Pingchengmen, Xiaoyuanmen, and Jinmen.
Page 31: In the 1962 excavation, the remains of the gates on the eastern, western, and northern walls were discovered, and although the southern ones had been destroyed by the shifting river, their locations were determined by the direction of the four avenues that ran north to south through the city. Remains of the avenues themselves were discovered in the same archaeological survey.
Page 31: Proving that historical records were correct, the survey also proved that, like Chang'an, each of the gatehouses of Luoyang had three accessible gateways.
Page 31-32: Despite the fact that the southern wall had four gates, there was a total of five avenues running north to south through the city, because one avenue that ran north from Pingchengmen ended at the southern gate of the South Palace. There were also five avenues that ran east to west. The two longest avenues of the city stretched 2,800 m (9,186 ft). Some of the avenues had a width of only 20 m (66 ft), while most of the city's avenues were 40 m (131 ft). According to the Luoyang ji, the avenues had three lanes, the middle one reserved for noblemen and officials, and the two side lines used by commoners, the left one for entering and the right one for exiting.
Page 32-33: The most prominent palaces of Luoyang were the Bei Palace (North Palace) and Nan Palace (South Palace), both of which existed in the Western Han but were significantly renovated and expanded during the Eastern Han. The South Palace in Luoyang was already famous in Western Han, as Emperor Gaozu of Han held a banquet there in 202 BC. The chancellor Wang Xun under Wang Mang occupied the South Palace in 22 AD when he led ten thousand troops there. Expansion of the palace began in 25 AD when Emperor Guangwu of Han occupied Qufei Hall, while the most important structure was completed by 38 AD, the Anterior Hall. According to Wang in 1982, there have been no thorough excavations of Luoyang and so the South Palace has not been uncovered.
Page 33: The North Palace was rebuilt by Emperor Ming of Han from 60 to 65 AD. The Deyang Hall was the most prominent of this, as it could house 10,000 people, had a tall flight of stairs, and a Zhuque Que tower that allegedly could be seen from 40 li away. Just like the South Palace, the archaeological survey of 1962 did not yield the exact location of the North Palace.
Page 34: In addition to these palaces, there was the Yongan Palace, located to the northeast of the North Palace. There was also the Zhuolongyuan imperial park located in the northwest of the city. The offices of the Grand Commandant, Chancellor, and Imperial Secretary were located to the southeast of the South Palace. The Grand Storehouse and Armory were located northeast of the North Palace, right next to the northeastern corner of the city wall. The Buguang and Yonghe Precincts, located near Shangdongmen on the eastern wall, were the residential areas for the upper class, namely the high ministers of state and nobles. For example, the residence of Dong Zhuo was located in Yonghe Precinct. The common people actually lived outside the city walls in houses clustered around the city gates, a setup that Wang says is similar to Western Han Chang'an. As for the three main commercial centers, there were the South Market, the Horse Market, and the Gold Market. Both the South Market and Horse Market were located outside of the city walls. The South Market was in the southern suburb, while the Horse Market was in the eastern suburb. The Gold Market was located in the city, southwest of the North Palace and northwest of the South Palace.
Page 34-35: In 190 the rebel Dong Zhuo forced Emperor Xian of Han to flee Luoyang for Chang'an, while Dong Zhuo had the palaces, temples, and houses of Luoyang burnt to the ground. When Emperor Xian returned to the city it was in total ruins, and so he was forced to concede to his Prime Minister Cao Cao to move the capital to Xuchang in 196.
Page 35-36: Luoyang was rebuilt during the Cao Wei and Jin Dynasty, but it was burned to the ground again in 311 during the Xiongnu invasion of Liu Cong (Han Zhao). When the Northern Wei rebuilt the city as their new capital in 493, the layout of the city was very different from the Eastern Han. Instead of reverting back to two or even three palaces in the previous design of Luoyang, Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei had one large walled palace built on the site of the old North Palace. The walls formed a neat rectangle with both the eastern and western walls measuring 1,400 m (4,593 ft) and the northern and southern walls both 600 m (1,968 ft). Unlike the gigantic amount of space taken up by the Han palaces, the Northern Wei palace only took up 1/10 of the entire surface area of the city.
Page 38-39: The Book of Later Han says that Emperor Guangwu of Han had the Pi Yong (Hall of Learning), Ming Tang (Ritual Hall), and Ling Tai (Spirit Terrace) all built by 56 AD. All three of these structures were located outside the city to the south, confirmed by archaeological excavation.
Page 39: The Pi Yong was located along a road near Kaiyangmen Gate. It had a square ground plan with each wall measuring 179 m (587 ft). There were four clusters of buildings spaced evenly apart, each cluster having three buildings. It was the site of the subsequent Wei and Jin dynasties' Pi Yong, and was partially rebuilt during Northern Wei but reconstruction was not completed during that dynasty (for reasons that Wang does not disclose).
Page 39: The Ming Tang was also located on a road near Kaiyangmen Gate, although it was located 150 m (492 ft) east of the Pi Yong. It's ground plan was also square in shape, with each wall measuring 400 m (1,312 ft) in length. Within this enclosure was the main building of the round terrace which was 62 m (203 ft) in diameter. Both the Western Jin and Northern Wei rebuilt their Ming Tang on the same site.
Page 39: The Ling Tai was located along a road outside of Pingchengmen Gate, about 80 m (262 ft) east of the Ming Tang. The design was roughly that of a square, with the eastern and western walls both measuring 220 m (722 ft) long while the northern and southern walls were only 200 m (656 ft) long. The main building of the Spirit Terrace had a square ground plan, its base measuring 50 m (164 ft) on each side. Although the top level of this terrace was destroyed, the ruins of the terrace still stand 8 m (26 ft) high.
Page 39-40: Continuing the description of the Eastern Han Dynasty Ling Tai, QUOTE: "The upper level was 1.86 m higher than the lower level and was approachable by ramps. The structures on the lower level in reality were verandas...The structures on the higher level on each side of the central terrace consisted of five rooms each. The floors of these rooms were lined in rectangular tiles and the walls were painted various colors. The eastern rooms were painted green, the western ones white, the southern ones red, and the northern ones black. Obviously, these colors were related to the Four Deities that the structures represented (i.e. the Green Dragon, the White Tiger, the Red Bird, and the Black Turtle). It is noteworthy that the five rooms on the western side had dark inner chambers that were sunk below the central terrace. In these dark inner chambers the floor was lined with square tiles. According to the 'Treatise on Astronomy' in Jinshu, Zhang Pingzi (Zhang Heng, A.D. 78–139) constructed a bronze armillary sphere in a sealed room; it is perhaps these chambers that the text refers to. During the Wei and Western Jin dynasties, the Eastern Han Ling Tai continued to be used. But since it suffered severe damage during the fighting of the last years of the Western Jin, it was abandoned during the Northern Wei and a Buddhist pagoda was built on top of the terrace. The Buddhist images carved on bricks which were found during our excavation date from the Northern Wei."
Page 40: The Taixue (Imperial University) was built from 29 to 32 AD, having two distinct sections, the first one located north of the Pi Yong and the second located 100 m (328 ft) northeast of the first section. The first section had western and eastern walls that both measured approximately 200 m (656 ft) while the northern and southern walls both measured approximately 100 m (328 ft). Fragments of Chinese classic texts inscribed on stone were found in this section. The second section was also rectangular in plan, with its northern and southern walls both measuring approximately 200 m (656 ft) while the eastern and western walls measured 150 m (492 ft).
Page 40: During the Eastern Han, the number of students enrolled in the Taixue often exceeded 30,000. In 175 AD, Emperor Ling of Han had the Confucian classics cut in stone and placed at the Taixue. This became a major attraction, so much so that we are told from historical texts that more than a thousand carriages a day jammed the street along the Taixue so that people could read and copy from the stone tablets. The Taixue was damaged by fire during in 190 during the rebellion of Dong Zhuo. The Taixue was rebuilt in later periods.

Wang's Miscellaneous Book Chapters

Wang, Zhongshu. (1982). Han Civilization. Translated by K.C. Chang and Collaborators. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300027230.

Han Agriculture

Page 52: The most important agricultural food staples during the Han Dynasty were foxtail millet, rice, wheat, barley, panic millet, and beans, while millet and wheat were the definitive products north of the Yellow River. In the Yangzi River region, wheat, barley, and rice were mostly produced, while rice paddies dominated southern agricultural fields. The Han Chinese ate long-grain rice, short-grain rice, and glutinous rice.
Page 53: The Han Chinese also consumed sorghum, Job's Tears, taro, mallow, mustard green, melon, bottle gourd, bamboo shoot, the roots of lotus plants, and ginger. Some of the fruits the Han ate included the chestnut, jujube, pear, peach, plum (including the plum of prunus salicina and Prunus mume), apricot, and the red bayberry.
Page 53: Hemp was grown and commonly used for weaving cloth.
Page 53: The use of iron agricultural implements was widespread during the Han, found even on the frontiers from Inner Mongolia to Yunnan. QUOTE: "The types of implements include the spade, shovel, pick, and plow, all used for tillage; the hoe used for weeding; and the sickle, used for harvesting." There were also rakes used for loosening the soil.
Page 53: Han plowshares used to cultivate the soil were made entirely out of iron, unlike the Warring States Period plowshares made almost entirely out of wood except for the blade.
Page 54: Moldboards have been found in several sites excavated and dated to the Han Dynasty. They were attached to the top of the plowshare and were used alongside the plowshare to turn the soil.
Page 54: The Han Chinese used oxen as draft animals for driving the plow, and they are depicted as such in numerous Han tomb brick stampings and painted murals. The plow could be driven by one or two oxen.
Page 54-55: The Han Chinese used the three-legged seed drill, made of iron, and pulled along by an ox like a plow.
Page 55: The Wei and Jin Chinese employed the harrow (tool) drawn by oxen, and it is very possible it existed since the Eastern Han. The farmer stood on the harrow as the ox dragged it, to increase downward pressure. After the plows turned the soil, the lumps of earth had to be broken apart with the teeth of the harrow. After the seeds were sown, they had to be covered by a leveler, which was also pulled by an ox. The leveler, like the harrow, was depicted in Wei and Jin art, but may have been used as early as Eastern Han.
Page 55-56: The Zhengguo Canal built by the Qin Dynasty was renovated during the Western Han, serving purposes of transport and irrigation in agriculture. The Western Han Chinese also linked the new Bai Canal to the Zhengguo Canal. The Han also renovated and maintained the Dujiangyan Irrigation System built during the Qin. In 1974, a Han Dynasty stone statue of Li Bing standing almost 3 m (10 ft) tall was found at the bottom of the Dujiangyan. Apparently, QUOTE: "It was placed in the middle of the water not only to commemorate Li Bing's deeds but also to serve as a gauge of the water level."
Page 56: The Chinese made extensive use of wells to irrigate farm fields. In addition to river water, artificial ponds and embankments were made to store irrigation water. Sluice gates were used to regulate water levels flowing from artificial reservoirs into nearby fields.
Page 56-57: After grains were harvested using iron sickles, QUOTE: "threshing and winnowing had to be done.; these are also featured on certain pictorial bricks and murals. It is noteworthy that in the Han tombs in Luoyang and Jiyuan of Henan we have also found pottery models of winnowing machines. Generally speaking, millet and wheat were planted in the North, and the threshing process was necessary to separate out the chaff; whereas in the South, where rice was cultivated, the winnowing machine was needed to separate out the husks. However, from the Han tombs excavated at Luoyang and Jiyuan, we see that some winnowing machines were also used in the northern Central Plains area."
Page 57: QUOTE "To process grains, a jiandui (treadle-operated tilt hammer) was commonly used. It was a simple machine operated by a foot whose purpose was to pound grain. Pictures of this machine appear on pictorial stones and bricks as well as in pottery models found in many places. From historical records we know that during the Wei and Jin dynasties there was also widespread use of water-powered tilt hammers. Mills, consisting of two rotating stone slabs, were also common during the Han. Actual mills as well as pottery models of them have been discovered at many archaeological sites and tombs. The earliest stone mill was found in a Han tomb in Mancheng. Underneath the mill there was a large bronze bowl, used to catch the flour ground out by the mill."
Page 57: The Han Chinese domesticated and ate chickens, ducks, and geese. They also had domesticated horses, camels, cows, sheep, pigs, and dogs. QUOTE: "In pottery models found in Han tombs, pigpens are often connected to the privies, the arrangement indicating that pig excrement was used to fertilize the fields."
Page 58: The type of game animals hunted during the Han included rabbit, sika deer, turtle dove, goose, owl, Chinese Bamboo Partridge, magpie, common pheasant, and crane (bird). Fish and turtles from natural rivers and lakes and artificial ponds were also hunted.
Page 58: Obviously, there was widespread cultivation of the mulberry tree and silkworm to produce silk, a product made to supplement agricultural production of small-time private village farmers and by large-scale manufacturers.
Page 58-59: From census records found in Han tombs, the average family in Eastern Han had 24.6 mou of land, or 6 mou per person (each mou is equivalent to 456 square m). According to Han records, 6 mou of land could only produce about 20 piculs (each picul equivalent to roughly 20 liters). A person's daily food requirement necessitated the consumption of 18 piculs a year, leaving the farmer with little surplus. To make matters worse, Han records also show heavy demands from taxes and for corvée labor service. This no doubt drove many small-time farmers into bankruptcy, forcing them to seek aid, shelter, and tenant jobs from large-scale landowners. QUOTE: "Some even had to sell themselves as slaves." The rise of rich, privately owned country manors swallowing up once independent farms and collecting all of the bankrupt farmers who used to work them could be seen by as early as the late Western Han.
Page 59-60: Due to the lenient laws of the Eastern Han, this land aggrandizement became more severe as QUOTE "manors became both more numerous and larger. Agricultural production on the manors was carried out by the landowners' slaves and others who were personally dependent upon them; that is, the so-called bond-servants." At the same time, the manors of wealthy landowners became self-sufficient, as a varied work force could produce enough food for everyone and enough side industries to sell non-agricultural products for extra profit. This includes the production of hemp and silk for clothing, wine for ritual or beverage drinking, and vinegar for food.
Page 60: As seen in Han tomb murals of Holinger, Inner Mongolia where a prominent official, landowner and colonel of the Wuhuan Army was buried, the murals depict all the labor processes of agriculture, as well as the layout of the manor. On the manor is a walled fort with a tall watchtower. QUOTE: "Hence we can see that the manor's buildings included those used for military or defensive purposes. The farmers who worked on the estate were not only the wards of the powerful landlord, they were also members of his private militia." In addition to clues in late Eastern Han historical texts about farmers who were given martial duties, QUOTE "From a late Eastern Han tomb in Tianhuishan in Chengdu, Sichuan, archaeologists found clay figures of farmers and soldiers; they not only are wearing the same kind of clothes, the farmers are also shown wearing large battle knifes [sic]. This evidence further corroborates the military roles of the farmers at that time."
Page 61: During the late Eastern Han, Cao Cao curbed the power of landlords by prohibiting land aggrandizement and establishing the tuntian or "agricultural colony" system. QUOTE: "There were two kinds of tuntian, the commoners' and the soldiers'. In the first, common farmers who did not ahve their own land or oxen were recruited to farm government land under the direction of various agriculture officials. Fifty to sixty percent of their harvest had ot be turned over to the government. In the second kind of tuntian, soldiers were organized to engage in agricultural production and the harvest was used by the military." Two Wei or Jin dynasty wall murals of a military tuntian were found at Jiayuguan, Gansu province.

Lacquerware Crafts

Page 80: There is evidence lacquerware existed in Neolithic China, made by the Hemudu culture. As proven by fragments, there were many lacquer crafts made by the Shang Dynasty, including basins and boxes, with black designs (i.e. of taotie, leaf, thunder-cloud, and Chinese dragon) against a red background.
Page 81: Lacquerware production became common in the Warring States Period, when advances in manufacturing lacquerware were dramatically enhanced. Lacquerware production in the Han Dynasty was widespread, as proven by the enormous amount of archaeological finds in the past decades.
Page 81: QUOTE: "The core materials used in Han lacquerware are mainly wood and fabric; bamboo cores were also used, but only rarely." The next page also says that wood was more common than fabric cores.
Page 82: The methods of creating the wooden cores for lacquerwares involved using a turntable for curved or rounded lacquerwares, carving the wood without a turntable for non-curved wares, or nailing thin pieces of wood together to form a thin cylinder.
Page 82-83: In terms of decoration, painting with lacquer involved mixing pigments with semitranslucent lacquer which could be painted onto a lacquer surface; this was the most common method. Another involved painting with oil, the latter which was mixed with pigments, but this method yielded designs which deteriorate easily over time, unlike the lustrous lacquer-based paint. Another decoration method was incising the designs into the lacquer with a pointed needle. Incised designs included figures of tigers, hares, birds, fish, dragons, horses, and other animal designs, as well as horses and carriages, human figures, cloud-scrolls, floral designs, and geometric motifs. Some incised lacquerwares were inlaid with gold and silver.
Page 83: Han lacquerwares also had gilt or silvered bronze mountings added to the rims of lacquerware basins, vessels, storage boxes, and cosmetic boxes. Gilded buttons were inlaid into the handles of lacquered cups. Other Han lacquerwares were inlaid with crystal or glass beads.
Page 83: The price of lacquer-made goods was high, as one lacquered cup was equivalent in price to that of ten bronze cups. It was recorded that it took the labor of a hundred workmen to make a single lacquered cup, and the work of a thousand workmen to make a single lacquered screen. Since they were expensive luxury items, lacquerwares were often inscribed with the clan name characters or official titles of the officials or nobles who owned them.
Page 84-85: Many of the lacquer items made in the Han were crafted in workshops run by the government, either in imperial workshops managed by the central government or in local departments of commerce and handicraft. Some lacquerwares were incscribed with an incredible amount of detail. For example, the lacquerwares made for the Western Han Marquis of Ruyin (his tomb at Shuanggudui in Fuyang County, Anhui Province) bore not only the owner's name and title, but many bore the name of the type of vessel (such as a zhi vessel), its voluminous capacity in a unit of measure (for example, 5 sheng), the date it was made, the official who oversaw the work, and the workman's name who made the item. There are many lacquerware items where the name of the workshop is inscribed, such as the lacquer workshops in Shu and Guanghan prefectures of Sichuan that were attested to in the Book of Han. Other centrally-controlled workshops mentioned in the Book of Han were located in Henan and Shandong.
Page 85: Confirming statements made in the Book of Han, some Han lacquerwares were found to have gilt or silvered bronze mounts.
Page 86-87: The imperial mark of "chenyu" incised on lacquerwares used specifically by the emperor were found far from the capital in Qingzhen (in Guizhou), Pyongyang (in Korea), and Noin Ula (in Mongolia); Wang says this indicates that the emperor offered lacquerwares as gifts to his far-flung officials, to leaders of minority groups, and to foreigners. Like many other lacquer items, the ones found at Qingzhen, Pyongyang, and Noin Ula had inscriptions of "the year of manufacture, the name of the workshop, the type of vessel and its capacity, and the names of officials and workmen involved." In fact, it even mentioned the specific job in the division of labor next to each of the surnames of the workmen, including a wood-core cutter, a person who applied the first layers of lacquer, a person who applied the final layers of lacquer, a person who painted the design, and on some these are followed by the workman responsible for gilding the bronze handles or mounts, while one name title is debated as to whether it signifies one who incises or one who polishes and buffers, while another was an inspector responsible for making sure the vessel was clean, and finally the general supervising foreman of the entire workshop. This methodical process and division of labor was refined by at least the late 1st century BC, during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han (33–7 BC), while only part of these steps was mentioned in the inscriptions on lacquerwares dated to the early 1st century BC.
Page 87-88: Government lacquer shop workmen came from one of three distinct groups of people during the Han, those being exiled peasants, convicts, and skilled craftsmen who were often slaves.

Bronzes

Page 100: Here he talks about the great amount of luxury bronzewares found in Prince Liu Sheng and Dou Wan's tomb at Mancheng in Hebei, which included the gilt bronze sculpture of a maid holding a real lamp which could be adjusted so that rays of light could be projected in different directions or made bright or dim; the smoke from the lamp also went into the body of the sculpture, leading Wang Zhongshu to conclude that this was an antipollution device.
Page 101-102: In a strange phase of degeneration, the rich and sophisticated patterns achieved in bronzeware production during the Warring States and Western Han became rare during the Eastern Han, as even palace utensils became no exception. "Instead, plain bronzes became popular," that is bronzewares with little decoration. There is speculation as to why this came about. It could have simply been a fashion statement. Or, the refinement of decoration on lacquerwares and the increasing use of the latter might have pushed bronzewares onto a level of lesser importance in terms of daily use as vessels, utensils, etc. However, evidence to the contrary shows that the bronze industry had in now way been diminished in Eastern Han; in fact, the scale of production was further developed. Others speculate that the plainness in most Eastern Han vessels indicates a decline in professional bronze craftsmanship, but this does not sit well with the fact that some Eastern Han bronzewares were still highly decorative.
Page 102: Bronzewares were used not only within the palace by the imperial family, as the nobility, government officials, and even mid-to-small landowners purchased and used bronzes. QUOTE: "Their popularity has been substantiated by the excavation of many Han tombs. It is fair to say that precisely because of the simplification of bronze patterns it was possible to produce large quantities of bronzes, thus making them widely popular during the Han."
Page 103: Han bronze items included lamps, incense burners, tables, irons, stoves, and dripping jars. "Although bronze lamps existed during the Warring States period, Han lamps greatly exceeded those of the Warring States in variety, quantity, and popularity."
Page 103: Even as plain bronzewares became popular, gilded bronzes with thin engraved lines became equally so. Relief casting decoration on bronzes was known in the Han but not before; on a Western Han goblet found in Shanxi and dated to 26 BC, there is relief castings popping out and representing monkeys, camels, oxen, rabbits, sheep, deer, tigers, foxes, bears, wild geese, crows, ducks, birds, and other animals. The Han continued the Warring States practice of inlaying with gold, silver, and precious stones, such as with corals, turqouise and blue gems.
Page 103-104: Bronze was also used to make intricate models of carriages, horses, and mounted horsemen. Chinese civilization was one of the first to create bronze mirrors, and there was no shortage of them made during the Han.
Page 104-105: The Warring States style of bronze mirrors was the mainstay during the early Western Han, but by the time of Emperor Wu of Han there were mirror types and decorations that were unique and distinctively Han, such as the grass-leaf pattern mirror and star-cloud pattern mirror. Many Western Han mirrors had decorations of the Four Deities (Green Dragon, White Tiger, Red Bird, and Black Turtle). Mirrors with dated inscriptions (of the production date) appear during the Wang Mang interregnum, as this trend persisted in Eastern Han. A new style emerged during Eastern Han as well, with mirrors having cast designs in relief. These new relief mirrors featured decorations of deities, spiritual beasts, human figures on horses or in carriages, etc. Whereas Western Han styles were uniform throughout China, the latter Eastern Han style was developed first in Zhejiang and diffused slowly throughout the country, so that a variety of styles could be found in north and south China.
Page 105: QUOTE: "In 1953 an investigation of a Western Han copper-mine site in Xinglong, Hebei Province, disclosed shafts, ore-selection ground, and smelting workshops. The mine shafts were more than 100 m below the ground surface, and led to spacious mining areas. Iron hammers and pegs found near the shafts were the mining tools. Tunnels were dug around the mining area. Ores were selected near the exits of the tunnels and then taken to four nearby smelting workshops. The furnaces seem to have been round brick structures, according to what is left of them."
Page 106-107: In addition to the central government and prefectural government production of bronzes for the palace or for government offices, private bronze smelting was also quite common. "Private mirror producers often made use of mirror inscriptions to advertise the superior quality and elegant design of the mirrors they made."

Iron Implements, Weapons, Armor

Page 122: Wang says that the widespread production of iron tools during the Han Dynasty in both farming and waterworks increased productivity of food crops (and other farm products) thus boosting the overall population of China to about 60 million people; this is compared to some scholars' estimates that China of the Warring States Period only had 20 million people.
Page 122: Iron tools made during the Han included the plowshare, pickax, spade, shove, hoe, sickle, ax, adz, hammer, chisel, knife, saw, awl, nails, etc. which QUOTE: "raised the efficiency of carpenters, bamboo craftsmen, stonemasons, and earth builders, making possible completion of large-scale construction projects."
Page 122: Iron tools were essential for shipbuilding. In 1975, an ancient shipyard discovered in Guangzhou is now dated to the Qin or early Han period, having three large platforms capable of building wooden ships that were 30 m (98 ft) long, 8 m (26 ft) wide, and had a weight capacity of 60 metric tons.
Page 122-123: Even by the early Western Han period, long iron swords (about one meter long) had completely replaced the short bronze swords (less than half a meter) characteristic of the Warring States Period. A new type of large iron knife with a ring at the end of the handle appeared during the Western Han, and became a major weapon during Eastern Han; it is depicted on many stone carvings of soldiers also holding shields. SIDE NOTE: You should poke around the article Chinese swords and describe a few in the Han article if you can find sources on them.
Page 123: Although bronze ge halberds were still used to some extent in Western Han, they were soon completely replaced by iron spears and ji halberds. The spearheads themselves were on average half a meter long, while the spearhead with the wooden shaft together would have been 2.5 m long. As for bronze to wholly-iron weapons, the same went for arrowheads; at first the tip remained bronze and the shaft of the iron, but eventually the entire arrow was crafted of just iron.
Page 123: There is a large number of Han Dynasty iron armor specimens from various excavations. These were of the scale armor type, as Han suits of armor literally had thousands of tiny iron plates, such as a 2,800 plate scale armor suit found in the Western Han tomb of Liu Sheng at Mancheng, Hebei.
Page 123: There were also barbed iron balls with sharp points sticking in all directions, thrown on the ground to deter marching soldiers and riding cavalry outside of city gates.
Page 123: For everyday essential utensils, iron played the biggest role than other metals such as bronze. Common domestic iron tools included ding tripods, stoves, cooking pots, belt buckles, tweezers, fire tongs, scissors, kitchen knives, fishhooks, and needles.
Page 124: Iron lamps were just as common as bronze ones, and iron mirrors became popular towards the late Eastern Han.
Page 124: Here he talks about how iron and salt were monopolized under Emperor Wu's reign; no big surprise there.
Page 125: Of iron products produced by the state after the monopoly's institution, iron goods bore inscriptions that hinted at which prefecture and even which workshop they were made in.
Page 125: FINALLY! I now know where Tieshengguo is located; it is in Gongxian, not the Gongxian in Sichuan, but the Gongxian at the foot of Mount Song in Henan. Along with blast furnaces and crucible furnaces found there, there were also puddling furnaces which could turn liquid cast iron into steel or wrought iron. QUOTE: "Most of the smelting furnaces were semisubterranean with walls made of refractory bricks, and both the bricks and the bottom of the furnace were covered with refractory clay."
Page 126: Even more important (in my mind) was the find at Tieshengguo of the types of feul used, which were wood, coal and coal cakes. QUOTE: The coal cakes were made of coal powder mixed with clay and quartz."

Ceramics

Page 141-142: Gray Pottery. Although gray pottery had existed during the Shang and Zhou, during the Han it surpassed previous gray pottery in quality. Wang states that "It is no exaggeration to say taht in succeeding periods the techniques of gray pottery manufacture did not advance beyond the level attained by the Han potters." The firing was uniform, the firing temperatures reached beyond 1000° C (1832° F), and the finished product was very hard. The larger gray pottery wares ranged from 50 to 70 cm (20 to 28 in) in height. Warring States, Western Han, and Eastern Han kilns found at Wuji in Wu'an County, Hebei province were examined by archaeologists, and it was found that Han kilns had larger chambers, longer fire tunnels, and improved chimney designs compared to earlier kilns. Except for some having parallel bowstring lines, incised geometric patterns, or stamped patterns, most gray pottery was plain and without decoration. The old Neolithic cord mark pattern was rare by Western Han, and virtually died out after that era. Its continued use was not seen in vessels, but it was seen in roof tiles. Some gray pottery vessels had painted designs applied after firing, so the paint on these usually has not survived, flaking easily. Since none of the painted wares were found in residential areas, only in tombs, it is safe to say they were of a funerary use. Some pottery vessels were even covered in lacquer.
Page 143: Hard Pottery. Coexisting with the gray pottery was a southern Chinese ceramic type called ying tao, or "hard pottery", made from a strong and dense adhesive clay native only to southern China. (i.e. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, and southern Jiangsu). Hard pottery was fired at an even higher temperature than gray pottery, while the ceramic paste was harder. They often had a stamped checkerboard pattern or an incised wave or sawtooth pattern.
Page 143-145: Glazed Pottery. A new type of glazed pottery with a thick brown or green glaze became prominent, appearing first around Guanzhong in Shaanxi province the mid Western Han Dynasty as well as Luoyang in Henan, and afterwards became widespread and even common by the late Western Han. The brown glazes were the earliest, while the green glazes were an even newer type. The green glaze wares trumped the popularity of brown glaze wares by the Eastern Han period. The glazes of these contain oxidized lead. The firing temperature was relatively low at about 800° C (1472° F). The Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty had glazed ceramics, but these were a lighter green and were fired under much higher temperatures. Han glazed wares imitate some Han bronze wares, while models of granaries, stoves, water wells, towers, and depictions of humans and animals were often made from glazed pottery.
Page 145: Celadon. The light-green-glazed stoneware known as celadon was thought to exist only since the Three Kingdoms, but now there are shards of celadon wares that are thought to have been invented during the Eastern Han period in Zhejiang province, in the region of Shaoxing and Shangyu.
Page 146-147: The ceramics industry was mostly in the hands of private owners of workshops. However, local governments also operated their own ceramics workshops who stamped their goods to identify which government workshop they were derived from.
Pages 147-148: The making of bricks and roof tiles was an important part of the overall ceramics industry in Han. Brick-making began in the Warring States Period, and were used mostly in constructing tombs. The bricks used in tombs had characteristically hollow cores, and were often very large, more than a meter (3.28 ft) in length. In contrast, a smaller brick type that measured 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 in) long was used for many types of buildings. The square type was used most often for paved floors. The rectangular type was used to build dwellings, granaries, the walls of water wells, water drain holes, and replaced the larger hollow brick in vaulted tomb architecture by the Eastern Han period (a trend which actually began in the Western Han, but did not supersede the use of the large hollow brick at that point). Bricks were not used for building city walls, as the Chinese were content with stamped and rammed earth structures. Han tomb architecture included the feature of wedge-shaped-brick arches and archways. Some bricks featured mortise and tenon joints. Some tomb bricks had decorative motifs stamped onto them.
Page 148-149: The oldest pottery roof tiles archaeologists have discovered in China date to the Western Zhou Dynasty, while their production was widespread during the Spring and Autumn Period. Tiles could be flat or cylindrical, while flat tiles were always placed on a lower level while the cylindrical tiles overlapped them from above. During the Warring States Period, the faces (or eaves) of cylindrical tiles were often semicircular, with plain faces or decorated faces. During the Han, cylindrical roof tiles were often stamped with a cord-pattern decor. The semicircular faces were gradually replaced by full circle ones. Decorations on the face became uniform in design and decoration, from the large cities to the small towns. A common eave pattern was the scrolling cloud motif. Palaces and government halls had impressed character decorations on them indicating the name of the building. Some tiles had auspicious phrases in Chinese characters impressed onto them for decoration. Buildings of a ceremonial nature during the reign of Wang Mang had tiles which showed one of the Four Deities on their eave faces.

Tombs

Page 175: Burial chambers were built of brick and stone. As of 1982, some ten thousand Han Dynasty tombs have been discovered. Prior to Han, most tombs were of the rectangular earthen pit type, of varying sizes, built from the ground downward, hence called "vertical pits". During Western Han, underground tomb chambers were built down and then laterally underground, hence called "horizontal pits". In the Western Han, large hollow bricks were used, but by the Eastern Han, smaller and non-hollow bricks were used to make the domed chambers and archways of the tombs. Some tombs in the Eastern Han were also made out of stone. Horizontal tunneling into mountain cliffs to make tomb chambers existed in both Western and Eastern Han. By using stone and brick construction in tombs, QUOTE: "These features came from an effort to imitate the houses of the living."
Page 176: Tombs in the Warring States Period were vertical earthen pits with wooden encasings or sidings, a trend that did continue in Western Han, although it existed side by side with the new brick and stone tombs.
Page 176: For the burial caskets of royalty, nobles, and high officials, they had several wooden layers covering the inner coffin.
Page 176: The imperial tombs dug into mountainsides were arranged to have several compartments, those being a front hall, a number of side chambers, and a rear hall. This was the case of the tomb of Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan. His tomb had a front hall where drapes and "principal grave goods" were placed, a southern side chamber for horses and carriages, a northern side chamber for storage, and the rear hall contained the coffin itself. Actual timber houses with tiled roofs were erected in the front hall and side chambers, while the rear hall had a house built of stone slabs with two stone doors. Overall the structure of the tomb imitated residential architecture that could be found above ground.
Page 177: In the early Western Han, hollow-brick tombs were laid out in much the same way Warring States' rectangular pit graves looked, but by the mid Western Han, the hollow-brick tombs began imitating the layout of a house with gabled roof and door-shaped front wall. These hollow bricks were stamped with decorations, while some tombs had polychromic murals. Tombs found in Luoyang had murals of the Four Deities (Green Dragon, White Tiger, Red Brid, and Black Turtle), as well as Fu Xi and Nüwa. Luoyang tomb murals also depicted historical scenes, such as the Feast at Hong Gate. Tombs also had sky charts.
Page 177-178: Sometime in the mid Western Han, tombs with arches built of small bricks appeared, and would eventually phase out the large hollow-brick tombs. In the tomb of the Marquis of Fuyang (in Wangdu, Hebei), murals depict officials, attendants, processions of horses and carriages, as well as scenes of banquets and entertainment.
Page 178: The murals found in the Holinger, Inner Mongolia tomb of a military colonel of Wuhuan District illustrate his official career through scenes of horses and carriage processions. Inscriptions reveal he was a native of Dingxiangjun and was selected as a Xiaolian candidate for appointment, whereafter he served administrative posts and then his colonelcy in Wuhuan. The murals even showed town scenes of where he previously worked, with streets, official buildings, markets, and warehouses. There was also a mural of his manor where many different agricultural tasks were carried out by his retainers.
Page 178: The stone chamber tombs that became prevalent in Eastern Han had engraved designs, thus called "tomb with pictorial stones" (hua xiang shi mu); their layout imitated that of actual houses above ground. In a tomb excavated in 1954 in Yinan, this connection is made most explicit with an engraved courtyard scene revealing that the layout of the tomb was identical to the layout of his real home.
Page 179: As for burial mounds heaped on top of these underground structures, they did not exist in Shang and Western Zhou, started on a small scale in the Warring States Period, and became universal during the Han Dynasty.
Page 179-180: Building shrines on top of tombs also began in the Warring States, but it did not become very popular until the Han Dynasty, along with building monumental towers. Many of the monumental towers were built of masonry and bricks, so many of them survive today! There's a picture in Wang's book. Stone animal sculptures were also built outside of tombs.
Page 180: Beginning in Eastern Han, stone steles were placed in front of tombs, which recorded the dates of birth and death along with a short history of the tomb inhabitants' lives.
Page 180: During Western Han, wooden coffins were assembled by using mortise and tenon joints while the lid was secured by wooden wedges placed into notches on both the lid and coffin. During the Eastern Han, the use of iron nails became universal in building them.
Page 181: The coffins of the wealthy were elaborately decorated, some totally lacquered. Continuing an old Zhou tradition, Han coffins had funerary banners draped over them, which were used in the funerary procession leading towards the tomb before burial. Wang says the typical banner is about 2 m (6.5 ft) long, or roughly identical to the length of the coffin. The banners were made of silk and painted in fine color pigments featuring pictures that depict the world of men, heaven, and the underworld. Heaven is shown to have the sun, moon, and sometimes stars, while the sun has a golden crow and the moon a toad and a white rabbit, and sometimes Chang'e, the goddess of the moon. The underworld is portrayed as having aquatic animals and an aquatic palace at the bottom of the sea. The world of men shows scenes of daily life and a small portrait of the tomb master himself. More humble tombs had banners of hemp instead of silk, while some had no pictures or simply images of sun and moon. All banners had inscriptions of the tomb owners' names as well as their homeplaces.
Page 181-182: A trend that began in Western Han (and continued into Eastern Han), some Han nobles and royalty were interred in the jade burial suit, made of small square jade plates, strung together by gold, silver, or copper threads.
Page 182-183: Some Han tombs also had books of bamboo slips that listed the entire inventory of the grave goods in the tombs, including their names and quantities. Instead of bamboo strip books, wooden tablets were also used.
Page 206: In addition to the layout of the tomb imitating that of the house above ground, tombs were also furnished with all the vessels and utensils that one would have used in daily life. The Chinese believed that these items could be used by the dead in their afterlives so they could continue to be comfortable in the other world.
Page 206: The food items found placed in tomb number 1, meant for consumption in the afterlife, included rice, wheat, barley, panic millet, foxtail millet, soybeans, red beans, melons, jujubes, pears, plums, strawberries, malva, mustard greens, lotus roots, bamboo shoots, pigs, cattle, sheep, dogs, deer, rabbit, ducks, cranes, pigeons, owls, wild geese, magpies, sparrows, Mandarin ducks, pheasants, bamboo pheasants, three different types of carp including crucian carp, perch, and bream. These foods were often cooked and stuffed in cereals, cakes, and other wrappings. Condiments included honey, soy sauce, and salt. There was also a hefty amount of wine. The names of the dishes prepared were listed on the inventories found in the tombs.
Page 206-207: Clothing items found in the tombs included padded robes, double-layered robes, single-layered robes, single-layered skirts, shoes, socks, and mittens. Most of these items were made of silk. Large bamboo-matted suitcases were used to store these clothing items. Items found in suitcases included patterned fabric and embroidery, common silk, damask and brocade, the leno (or gauze) weave, all with rich colors and designs.
Page 207: The most common grave items were bronze, lacquer, and pottery goods, most of them being food or drink containers. Lamps, incense burners, irons (for ironing clothes), toilet article boxes, mirros, knives, and swords were also common items. Lavish ornaments found in tombs of the wealthy included beads and pendants made of jade, opal, amber, quartz, gold, and silver. While early and middle Western Han grave goods often contained what the tomb occupants used in real life, by the early Western Han period it became popular to use goods that were made exclusively for funerary burials. The earliest of these were small models of stoves and granaries of the early Western Han, a tomb item that became common by the mid Western Han. Then models of other building types started to appear in mid Western Han, including models for querns, wells, pigsties, multistoried buildings, pestling shops, and farm fields. There were many pottery models of pigs, dogs, sheep, chickens, ducks. These became even more prominent in the Eastern Han.

Expansion, Trade, and Foreign Relations

Davis's book

Davis, Paul K. (2001). 100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195143663.

Chu-Han Contention

Page 43: In the Battle of Gaixia during the last days of the Chu-Han contention, the Han allegedly had 300,000 soldiers led by Liu Bang while Chu allegedly had 100,000 soldiers led by Xiang Yu.
Page 44: Xiang Yu, a militarily skillful but uncultured man from the Chu homeland in east-central China, led Chu forces against Liu Bang, a commoner who held a minor official post under the fallen Qin Dynasty. Xiang Yu, along with his uncle, had previously gained a reputation for leading a Chu rebellion against Qin in 209 BC. Liu Bang marched his homegrown force from Hubei to join Xiang Yu's movement in the fourth month of 208 BC. A new Kingdom of Chu was established with is own king. Xiang Yu became the preeminent leader of the armed forces of the opposition once he helped lift the Qin siege of the opposition stronghold at Zhulu. While Xiang Yu was busy there, the King of Chu had sent Liu Bang to attack the Qin heartland in Hanzhong, which held the Qin capital of Xianyang. In the tenth month of 206 BC, Liu Bang scored a major victory at Lantian, which was followed by the capitulation of the last Qin ruler, Ziying, and the occupation of Xianyang by Liu Bang's forces.
Page 44: Liu Bang was able to stabilize the region until Xiang Yu arrived two months later. Xiang Yu had the deposed Qin ruler executed and then had his men pillage Xianyang once he carried off the stores in the treasury for himself and his officers. The alienated Liu Bang did not challenge Xiang Yu, and instead safely played a neutral role. Instead of following the heavily-centralized Qin model, Xiang Yu began reorganizing China into various minor kingdoms that would belong to a larger confederacy led by him. He achieved this by killing the King of Chu and taking the throne for himself. Liu Bang was rewarded and slighted at the same time when he was given a minor kingdom to rule in the remote southern part of the Qin homeland called Han, thus Liu Bang called himself the King of Han. This was perhaps a move by Xiang Yu to provide distance between himself and a potential rival. To make things more tense, rumors flew about that Xiang Yu's advisors were suggesting that Liu Bang should be assassinated.
Page 44-45: In the fifth month of 206 BC, Liu Bang went on a campaign quelling the kingdoms of the west which composed the old Qin heartland. When he approached Luoyang, he heard news that Xiang Yu had deposed and killed the King of Chu. This allowed Liu Bang to rally other kingdoms to the cause of avenging this regicide, but his assault on Chu's stronghold at Pengcheng was a failure. Liu Bang was only able to escape due to a sudden storm that stalled Xiang Yu's troops. To make matters worse, some of Liu Bang's family members were held hostage by Xiang Yu, including Liu's father. The momentum started working against Liu Bang, as more kingdoms decided to side with Xiang Yu in this fight.
Page 45: Once again, at Xingyang along the Yellow River, Liu Bang barely escaped with his life following a defeat. Xiang Yu was unable to pursue Liu Bang, however, since the general Han Xin was making major inroads in the east. At Guangwu, the enemy armies camped on opposite sides of the Yellow River. Xiang Yu threatened to kill Liu Bang's father if he did not surrender, but Liu Bang did not budge. Xiang Yu, on the other hand, decided to spare Liu Bang's father. Then Xiang Yu challenged Liu Bang to single combat and managed to wound Liu Bang with an arrow bolt shot from a crossbow. Liu Bang withdrew into Chenggao which was then beseiged by Xiang Yu. However, Xiang Yu, hearing reports about Liu Bang's supporters having successes elsewhere against Chu, had to withdraw with part of his forces and left only a smaller force to continue the siege against Chenggao. Liu Bang used this opportunity to barge out of the city and defeat the remaining besiegers. When Xiang Yu learned of this, he pulled back around to meet Liu Bang, but the latter retreated into the mountains.
Page 45: At this point in 203 BC, Xiang Yu offered Liu Bang a deal where he would split China in half, the eastern side belonging to him and the western side to Liu Bang. Liu Bang conceded to this arrangement, which prompted Xiang Yu to release the Liu relatives from captivity.

Battle of Gaixia

Page 45: This arrangement was short-lived, though, since Liu Bang's advisers urged him that he had enough support from the various kings to assault and destroy Xiang Yu in the east. Add to this the advantage that Chu troops were almost totally exhausted at this point from constant marching and lack of supplies.
Page 45: At Gaixia in modern Anhui province, the two forces met. Liu Bang coerced his subordinates to follow him into battle by enticing them with the prospect that they would be given fiefs. Xiang Yu erected a walled camp at Gaixia, while Liu Bang's forces surrounded in the twelfth month of 202 BC. The forces arrayed were allegedly 300,000 under Liu's banner and 100,000 under Xiang's banner. General Han Xin attempted to attack Xiang Yu's center when he led his army out on the field, but his assault was not successful in breaking Chu's formation. However, when two other Han generals attacked from the flanks, the Chu army began to falter, allowing Han Xin to renew his attack on the center. This forced the Chu forces to retreat within their fortified camp.
Page 45: After a night of heavy drinking, Xiang Yu fled his camp with 800 cavalry in the early morning. When Liu Bang was awoken and told what had happened, he despatched 5,000 cavalry to pursue them. With only 100 horsemen left, Xiang Yu crossed the Huai River. Since he was completely lost, he stopped to ask a farmer where he was. The farmer tricked him by telling Xiang Yu to go in one direction that actually led to a swamp. It was here that Han cavarly finally reached him and cornered him.
Page 45-46: Xiang Yu was convinced that Heaven was against him and that it was no personal fault of his own that he was now in this predicament. To prove this, he planned to ride through the enemy formation and kill an enemy general while also severing banners. He divided his remaining cavalry into four squadrons which departed from the hilltop in different directions. This threw the Han troops into confusion, Xiang Yu did manage to kill a Han officer, and the Chu troops and Xiang Yu managed to meet up on the east side of the river. Then Xiang Yu divided his men into three divisions and attacked the Han troops again. The Han troops responded by dividing their own troops into three and pursuing these three enemy bodies, not knowing which one contained Xiang Yu. Again, Xiang Yu was able to kill another Han officer. Allegedly, he only lost 2 men in this melee, while the Han lost some 50 to 100.
Page 46: This moving battle continued southward towards the Yangzi River, where a boatman offered to ferry Xiang Yu to escape to the other side to safety, but Xiang Yu was not interested in avoiding Heaven's eventual judgment. He gave the boatman his prized horse (which he rode out into combat for the last 5 years), and then led his men (now all dismounted) to face Han for the last time. Xiang Yu became surrounded and was wounded several times. Knowing that there was a price for anyone who brought back his head, he decided to kill himself out of defiance.
Page 46: All the forces of Chu surrendered to Liu Bang after Xiang Yu's death, except for those in the city of Lu. Liu Bang was impressed with the city's defiance and courage. He rode up to the city walls himself with the head of Xiang Yu. The city surrendered once they saw the severed head, and Liu Bang treated the surrendered inhabitants courteously. Liu Bang buried Xiang Yu with full honors and did not harm Xiang's family.
Page 46: With power vested in him, Liu Bang's followers urged him to take the title huangdi, which he accepted and became Emperor Gaozu of Han, reigning from 202 to 195 BC. Liu Bang became a very well-respected ruler, reversing the ban on books imposed by Qin. However, he did retain the political organization left behind by the Qin empire with its various province administered by governors appointed by the imperial government. Liu Bang also rewarded his faithful generals with fiefs for their services.

Yü's Book

Yü, Ying-shih. (1967). Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Introduction: The Problem and Its Origins

Page 2: As Ying-shih Yü points out, trade and expansion in the Han Dynasty period was a result of the court's offensive against the Xiongnu and their desire to control various tribal and nomadic groups on the frontiers, so that disturbances and unwanted incursions could be kept to a minimum. The eventual direct trade with Central Asia and indirect trade with states further west was a side benefit, but not the chief goal, which was to suppress hostile components across China's vast frontier borders. In this case, Han expansion was QUOTE: "a means to an end rather than an end in itself." Emperor Wu's expansion of the empire brought about a wave of posthumous criticism by later Western Han ministers. As for Emperor Wu, QUOTE: "Even the expansionist emperor himself issued a decree toward the end of his life expressing his regrets."
Page 2-3: Later Emperors, such as Emperor Xuan and Emperor Guangwu, were reluctant to follow the expansionist policy in the Western Regions. This is displayed in many examples, such as the Eastern Han Dynasty's annual aid of 74,800,000 cash given to the states of the Western Regions in comparison to the 100,900,000 cash given yearly to the Southern Xiongnu alone.
Page 3: The Han Chinese state's interaction with foreign peoples will also be analyzed in regards to its relation with Confucian thought and the so-called Confucian state.
Page 4: The Chinese had a long history of relations and predicaments with northern barbarian groups. For example, the abandonment of the Zhou capital at Hao (near what was to be Chang'an) to a new site at Luoyang in 722 BC was a direct result of the Rong people's invasion.

Policy Background and Foundations of Trade

Foreign Policy

Page 9-10: Foreign policy decisions in the Western Han Dynasty were focused chiefly on the Xiongnu threat. Emperor Gaozu of Han narrowly escaped an embarrassing defeat at the Battle of Baideng in 200 BC, after a seven-day siege. At the insistence of his adviser Liu Jing, Emperor Gaozu implemented the heqin policy which assured that the Han would provide the Xiongnu with annual tribute and provide their leader, the shanyu, with a Chinese princess bride. In return, the Xiongnu pledged that they would no longer raid beyond Han China's borders.
Page 10-11: Despite this agreement, China's leaders from Emperor Gaozu to Emperor Wu were plagued by the Xiongnu menace, which the heqin policy did not abate.
Page 11: During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, the statesman Jia Yi wrote a long memorial to the throne criticizing the heqin policy, which follows as thus:

The situation of the empire may be described just like a person hanging upside down. The Son of Heaven is the head of the empire. Why? Because he should remain on top. The barbarians are the feet of the empire. Why? Because they should be placed at the bottom. Now, the Hsiung-nu are arrogant and insolent on the one hand, and invade and plunder us on the other hand, which must be considered as an expression of extreme disrespect toward us. And the harm they have been doing to the empire is extremely boundless. Yet each year Han provides them with money, silk floss and fabrics. To command the barbarians is the power vested in the Emperor on the top, and, to present tribute to the Son of Heaven is a ritual to be performed by vassals at the bottom. Hanging upside down like this is something beyond comprehension. . .In your minister's estimation, the population of the Hsiung-nu does not exceed that of a large Chinese hsien or district. That a great empire has come under the contorl of the population of a district is something your minister feels very much ashamed for those who are in charge of the affairs of the empire. Why doesn't Your Majesty try to employ me, your minister, as an official in charge of the shu-kuo or subject states? Should your minister's plan be adopted, your minister would be able to, on the one hand, tie the neck fo the Shan-yü and put his life at our mercy, and, on the other hand, force Chung-hang Yüeh to prostrate himself in order to receive flogging on his back. Moreover, the entire Hsiung-nu people would also be made to obey only the Emperor's order.

Page 11: Note, Chung-hang Yüeh QUOTE: "was a Chinese eunuch who was sent to the Hsiung-nu against his will as an escort with a Chinese princess under the reign of Emperor Wen. Out of hatred he therefore devoted himself to the interests of the Hsiung-nu as against those of Han China. He was very much hated by the Chinese as a traitor."
Page 12: Jia Yi's suggestions (i.e. that the defensive policy should be changed to an offensive one and that the heqin system should be replaced by a tributary system favoring China) were rejected by the court in his day. However, when the process of renewing the heqin agreement arose in 135 BC, a Court Conference was called into session on how to act. There were two competing factions present at this conference, one led by the Imperial Secretary Han Anguo and the other by Wang Hui, an official who served on the frontier and was knowledgeable in foreign affairs with the nomads. Han Anguo defended the heqin policy while Wang Hui desired to abolish it in favor of an offensive strategy. Han Anguo won the majority consensus of ministers, so the heqin policy was retained by Emperor Wu.
Page 12: It would take another court conference in 134 BC to finally convince the majority of ministers present that Wang's policy of attacking the Xiongnu should be implemented; the Emperor bowed to consensus. Thus the break with the Xiongnu and the final end of the heqin agreement occurred the following year in 133 BC.
Page 12: The second court conference shifted foreign policy in part because of the enormous financial burden on the Chinese state caused by the flow of tribute into the hands of the Xiongnu. Furthermore, Han generals were constantly defecting to the Xiongnu, weakening the power of the empire to fight back. There was no lasting peace in sight.
Page 13: In order to separate the Xiongnu from the peoples they dominated in Central Asia, the Han Dynasty sent diplomats to the Western Regions. Thus an expansionist policy was retained, with some Reformist modification, until the end of Western Han. During Eastern Han, a very different scenario existed since the Xiongnu had already been split between the Northern Xiongnu and Southern Xiongnu. The latter was a tributary of China and living across its frontiers. The former was the enemy faction located further north. Living within the Eastern Han Dynasty's frontiers were tribes of Qiang, Wuhuan, and Xianbei. Thus, the immediate concern was not to expand the empire, but to maintain the various peoples already living within it. Emperor Guangwu of Han did not accept hostages from the states of the Western Regions and rejected any suggestion of mounting an offense against the Northern Xiongnu, deeming interior issues to be much more important.
Page 14: As seen in his long memorial in 169 BC presented to Emperor Wen of Han, the statesman Chao Cuo was an advocate of "using barbarians to attack barbarians," a policy of incorporating surrendered Xiongnu horsemen into the Han military, which was eventually adopted (at least by the time of Emperor Wu of Han).
Page 14-15: During the Eastern Han, this policy of "using barbarians to attack barbarians" was modified to fit a new situation. The Eastern Han abolished the mandatory military service and conscription systems in favor of volunteer forces. Yet the Han also employed the surrendered nomads living on their frontiers (i.e., the Southern Xiongnu, Wuhuan, Qiang) in the Eastern Han's wars of expansion and suppression of local barbarian rebellions. Surrendered nomads living in Han's frontiers were also put to work doing heavy labor services for local governments. These nomadic barbarians also played a significant role during the wars of the subsequent Three Kingdoms.
Page 15: The Han also employed the "divide and rule" technique, which is similar or virtually the same thing as "using barbarians to fight barbarians". For example, when the people of Tonkin revolted in 137 AD, the Han minister Li Gu suggested that the Han should send money and honor one faction of the Vietnamese rebels, so that they would turn and fight each other, a suggestion which worked to the success of Han strategy. Money was used in the same way in dividing the Qiang people when they fougth with Han.
Page 16: Enticed by the prospect of imperial rewards, the Xianbei were used by Han to defeat the Northern Xiongnu in 88 AD, a victory gained for Han that did not employ a single Han Chinese soldier. In the same year, when the Yuezhi turned to the Han court for aid in light of the Qiang people's assault on them, the Han court decided it was best not to intervene and just let the barbarians exhaust each other in a fight. The Eastern Han court was comfortable enough to make these decisions, because they faced a multitude of troublesome but small and divided barbarians, whereas the Western Han had faced a gigantic and unified Xiongnu Empire spanning their entire northern border.

Economic and Commercial Policy

Page 16-17: Emperor Wu of Han decided not to sit by passively as the Xiongnu raided the borders and took captives; instead he launched military campaigns against them, erected forts and watchtowers along a new frontier, sent garrisons of troops to defend these new fortifications, and when the treasury could no longer support these ventures, he established government monopolies on salt, iron, and liquor. He also established the system of equable marketing. For the time being, these economic reforms were a success and helped pay for the expansionist policies under him.
Page 17-18: The economic policy of the Western Han era stressed the importance of agriculture over what it deemed secondary pursuits of commerce and industry. Therefore, the economic policies under Emperor Wu maintained the principle that the government should control industry and regulate commerce. Although this might appear to be unfavorable to merchants, both domestic and foreign trade continued to grow unabated throughout Western Han.
Page 18-19: The Eastern Han economic policies were also favorable to the merchants and trade. In defeating his rivals and consolidating his hold over China, Emperor Guangwu of Han needed the aid of the gentry landholding class as well as the rich merchant class. Therefore, no restrictions were imposed on the merchants during Guangwu's reign. Yü even says that it is fair to call the Eastern Han economic policy as laissez-faire. Furthermore, the central government terminated its monopolies on salt and iron in favor of localized control of these industries. The salt and iron offices were once controlled by the Minister of Agriculture for the central government, but after the Han was restored these offices were shifted to local commandery and county governments.
Page 20-21: However, the local governments' control over salt and iron only existed in intervals. It is apparent from edicts of the Eastern Han that during the reigns of Emperor Guangwu of Han and his successor Emperor Ming of Han, there was an open market and private competition (among merchants) for salt and iron production and distribution. A discussion was made in 81 AD during Emperor Zhang of Han's reign to restore the local government's monopolies, which was instituted sometime between 84 and 86 AD. However, Emperor Zhang apparently regretted reinstituting the local salt and iron monopolies, which turned out to be a failure. The local government's salt and iron monopolies were disbanded when Emperor He of Han took the throne in 88 AD, who stated in his edict that Emperor Zhang had given him posthumous orders to abolish the, QUOTE: "salt and iron monopolies of the various provinces and principalities. The people should be given freedom to engage in salt production and iron casting and pay taxes to the Emperor, as in former cases."

Agricultural and Industrial Resources

Page 21: The spread and intensification of agriculture during the Han were owed to the widespread availability of quality iron tools such as the ox-drawn plough capable of turning up deep soil. The Han government even hired experts to teach people how to use agricultural implements.
Page 22: Irrigation works were handled by local commandery and county governments. The widespread availability of iron tools may have made it possible to dig all the deep water wells which were used to feed irrigation channels.
Page 22: Han farmers cultivated rice, barley, wheat, millet, and soybean. Millet and rice in particular were Han agricultural products in high demand by the Xiongnu.
Page 23: Sericulture and the production of silk was handled by the private sphere and government authorities simultaneously. The Western Han central government had two important silk workshops in the capital Chang'an, the East Weaving Chamber and West Weaving Chamber, both of which consumed about 50,000,000 cash annually. Due to government expenses, the East Weaving Chamber had to be shut down in 25 BC while the West Weaving Chamber was renamed simply the Weaving Chamber. The Eastern Han central government also maintained a silk workshop. In addition to central authority, local governments in silk-producing regions also maintained workshops, the most renowned one located in Qi (what is now Shandong). It is recorded that during the reign of Emperor Yuan of Han, the workshops of Qi employed several thousand workers each season and cost the government tens of thousands of cash coins. Sichuan province also had a renowned workshop which produced a fine brocade; it was a central government workshops, since no local government ones are known to have existed there.
Page 23-24: Private household businesses selling silk were largely concentrated in Sichuan, especially by the beginning of the Eastern Han. Sichuan was actually well known for its production of hemp clothes during Western Han, in addition to silk.
Page 24: Besides silk, lacquerware was an important export item. The lac tree which produced lacquer was found mostly in Sichuan and Henan, which became the main centers of trade for this item. Ten government workshops making lacquer existed during Han, while three of these were located in Sichuan. Although many bear inscriptions, most of them do not; it is believed that the ones which do not were produced by private merchants and household businesses.
Page 24-25: The iron industry in China was of supreme importance, as it QUOTE: "not only indirectly accelerated agricultural development, but also directly strengthened the military power of the empire." By the beginning of Western Han, iron weaponry had already outphased that of bronze weaponry. Contemporary Chinese strategists recognized that this made Han China a superior military force. Government workshops for iron under Emperor Wu were established in 40 different provinces. Iron workshops employed several hundred to a thousand workers a day. Convicts and conscripts alike provided the manpower for these iron works. They would receive food and clothing from the government while working. Some iron work sites had as many as twenty furnaces for smelting.
Page 26: Before the government takeover of the iron industry in 117 BC, private iron smelters could likewise employ about a thousand workers a day in their workshops. Private iron manufacture existed during Eastern Han, at least in some areas where local authorities did not take over.
Page 26-27: The bronze industry was not a government monopoly, but the government did play a role in it. The gathering of copper ore was used to make large amounts of mirrors and coins. During the Western Han, Anhui and Jiangsu were the main areas where copper ores were gathered for bronze production. In the Eastern Han, Sichuan became a major area for gathering copper ore for the same purpose. The Han government established workshops in the capital and in other localities for the production of bronze items, especially mirrors. The Privy Treasurer, one of the Nine Ministers, supervised the government workshops that produced bronzewares.
Page 28: Besides the salt and iron industries, the Han government at least played a limited role in all the other major industries, a practice of balancing government and private interaction in industry that remained a hallmark of China's imperial system. The government workshops furnished the emperor's quarters, provided imperial gifts to barbarians, and provided the empire with a steady flow of goods to promote tributary trade.

Transportation System

Page 28-29: Although there was a considerable amount of road-building prior to 221 BC, the Qin and Han dynasties surpassed this with their heavy centralized control. During the Han, it was the responsibility of all local governments to look after the maintenance, repair, and construction of their roads. If a local official failed to upkeep the road system in his jurisdiction, he was subject to impeachment.
Page 29: Canals were just as useful for agricultural irrigation as they were for transporting the grain produced. The Lingqu Canal, built during the Qin era, played a major role in the shipment of trade goods during the Han Dynasty. Since it connected the Lijiang River of Guangxi with the Xiang River of Hunan, all commodities from Guangzhou could be easily transported to the Yangzi River valley region, all by water travel.
Page 30: Trade could also be done by sea. Up until the year 83 AD, tribute from Annam (Chinese province) in what is now northern Vietnam, as well as from nearby areas, would be shipped through the South China Sea, along the Fujian coast, and sail north all the way to the mouth of the Yangzi River, where it would be forwarded to the capital at Luoyang.
Page 30-31: People on land got around on horseback or riding in carts. It was common for people in the north to own private horses. Carts could be pulled by horses or by donkeys and oxen. Carts pulled by horses were used by government employees for official purposes. During the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Han, the merchants were forbidden to ride in carts pulled by horses, but Yü says this prohibition did not survive after his reign. While horse-drawn carts were used to haul around people, ox- or donkey-drawn carts were used to haul cargo and goods. It was the latter type of cart used by the merchants, since oxen could haul much larger capacities (for commercial goods).
Page 31: For example, when a force of Wuhuan nomads halted a Chinese trade caravan in 135 AD on the northwestern frontier, the caravan was said to have more than one thousand carts pulled by oxen.
Page 31: Donkeys, oxen, and horses were also made to carry goods on their backs; donkeys were the prime animal used for this purpose. Donkeys were actually imported to China from the Xiongnu, soon to become a favorite animal of the Chinese due to its low price, its patience during travel, and ability to carry heavy loads.
Page 31-32: As seen in pottery tomb models, for river transport the Chinese had considerably large ships, which had anchors in the front and a rudder in the rear. Ships that used oars to steer had as many as sixteen oars. There is also written descriptions of storied tower ships, or lou chuan. For simple means of transport, the Chinese also had the bamboo raft.
Page 32-33: For a long time, the public housing facilities along public highways were reserved for official lodging only. However, over time they also came to accomodate private itinerants simultaneously. Since markets sometimes sprang up in the neighborhoods they were located in, it can be hardly doubted that merchants began to lodge in these public houses.
Page 33-34: As for the counterpart of private inns, they had a long history in China, known as "traveler's lodge" and "guest house" and "hostel". By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the public housing facilities became largely replaced by private inns and lodges. The growth of private inns in Eastern Han times can be seen as a correlation with the general growth and lack of restrictions placed on commerce and merchant activity.

Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations under the Tributary System

The Xiongnu

Page 36-37: As seen in the written evidence of both Jia Yi and the Chinese traitor Zhonghang Yue, both the Han Chinese and Xiongnu were well aware what the heqin agreement was capable of: corrupting Xiongnu customs so that they would forget their nomadic way of life and become enticed by Han material culture, ultimately becoming subdued by the Han. For example, relying on tasty Chinese foodstuffs, instead of relying solely on practical foodstuffs like milk and kumiss which were readily available to the nomads.
Page 41: Besides their reliance on their own pastoral herds, the Xiongnu relied on the Chinese economy and acquired goods from it by raiding their borders and stealing the goods directly, by accepting gifts through tribute, or trading with Chinese merchants. Starting in 198 BC and not ending until 133 BC, the second of these categores (i.e. tribute) dominated the means of which the Xiongnu acquired necessary Chinese goods.
Page 41-42: The heqin agreement included the following:
- A Chinese princess was to be married to the shanyu.
- The Chinese were to make annual payments to the Xiongnu, which included silk, wine, rice, and other items in fixed amounts.
- The Han Dynasty and Xiongnu Empire were to treat each other as equal ("brotherly") states.
- The Great Wall of China would be the demarcation line between their two respective worlds.
Page 42: Of all the tribute items which showed the Xiongnu were economically insufficient, the Xiongnu relied most heavily on food and clothes. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, the amount of tribute items were increased as cash (in gold or coins) were also added to the list of tributes. During Wen's reign the heqin agreement also incorporated an agreement for the first time on border trade. The exchange of tribute between the Xiongnu and Chinese was largely a one-way traffic, as the meager amount of Xiongnu gifts given to the Han court did not match the exorbitant amount of imperial gifts given to the shanyu. Furthermore, the Xiongnu continually raided Han borders while at the same time demanding increases in tribute. On some occasions the Xiongnu would give the Chinese emperor a couple camels or horses, as a token of "friendship".
Page 43: After the heqin agreement broke down and the Xiongnu became severely weakened, they were eventually forced to accept partnership in a tributary system which made China the superior partner. This means that the Xiongnu would have to send hostages to China, would be forced to come to China to pay homage, and had to send tribute in return for the imperial gifts they received.
Page 43: After the Xiongnu suffered many defeats by China, Emperor Wu of Han sent his ambassador Yang Xin to negotiate with the shanyu in 107 BC, demanding that the shanyu send his heir apparent to live in Chang'an as a hostage. The shanyu rebuked this and continued to use the language of outdated heqin terms.
Page 43-44: After the Xiongnu had suffered a round of defeats, they respectfully called on the Chinese to resume heqin relations in 119 BC. Emperor Wu called together a Court Conference to discuss the issue. The majority of ministers rejected the idea of retaining the heqin agreement, and wanted to establish a tributary agreement, so Emperor Wu implemented the new policy. When the Han Chinese envoy came to the shanyu to dictate the new terms, the shanyu was outraged and imprisoned the Chinese envoy.
Page 44-45: Sour relations continued in this manner until the time of Emperor Xuan of Han (r. 74–49 BC), when the Xiongnu were finally brought into the tributary system that Emperor Wu had tried to implement. After 60 BC, the Xiongnu Empire broke apart into five warring factions. By 54 BC, the Xiongnu became divided into two large branches (Northern and Southern, the former in Outer Mongolia and the latter in Inner Mongolia) that would never coalesce with the same strength to threaten Han China as they had before (they did unite briefly during the reign of Wang Mang, but broke apart into Southern and Northern branches during the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han, see page 49). When the Southern Xiongnu were defeated and hard pressed by the Northern Xiongnu, the former offered its allegiance to the Han Dynasty for protection in 53 BC. By doing so, they had to abandon the equal "brotherly" status with the Chinese and accept tributary state status instead. The Xiongnu nobles were largely against the idea, which became hotly debated, but in the end their shanyu Huhahye accepted Han tributary terms.
Page 45: Under the terms of the new agreement, Huhanye Shanyu sent his son to Chang'an in 53 BC as a hostage while he personally made an appearance at the court in 51 BC, presenting tribute to Emperor Xuan of Han. QUOTE: "The surrender of the Hsiung-nu was by far the most important single event in the history of foreign relations of the Han period. On the one hand, it enhanced the prestige of Han China in the Western Regions to an unprecedented degree, and, on the other hand, it also marked the formal establishment of tributary relations between the Hsiung-nu and Han China. This probably explains why Hu-han-yeh, the Shan-yü of the southern branch, was treated with unusual honors during his stay in the Han capital."
Page 45: With the establishment of the tributary system, Han Chinese goods began to flow into the hands of the Xiongnu freely, after over eighty years of interruption. While Huhanye was in the capital in 51 BC, he received 20 catties of gold, 200,000 cash, 77 suits of clothes, 8,000 pieces of various kinds of silk fabrics, and 6,000 catties of silk floss. After he returned home, the Han sent to him 34,000 hu of rice.
Page 45-46: When Huhanye came to the Han court again in 50 BC, he was given 110 suits of clothes, 9,000 pieces of silken fabrics, and 8,000 catties of silk. There were many other items, but they are too numerous to mention here (Yü doesn't want to get off-topic!).
Page 46: Although the Chinese still granted the Xiongnu with enormous amounts of gifts like in the heqin system, the tributary system was different in that the shanyu was inferior to the Han emperor, he could only receive goods upon written request or when he visited the capital, and goods were no longer in predetermined amounts; instead the emperor used his own discretion when choosing the size of gifts or aid to be given to the Xiongnu.
Page 46-47: Here's an example of how an emperor could be swayed to reverse a decision of his based upon a Court Conference majority consensus. The shanyu realized that by visiting the court in person, he was given a greater amount of gifts than when he merely sent in a written petition requesting aid. In 3 BC a Court Conference was called into session when the shanyu requested to come and pay homage the next year in the capital. The majority of ministers agreed that the visit should be turned down since the shanyu's trips were costing China too much. Emperor Ai of Han then approved of the Court Conference's decision and decided to turn down the shanyu's request. However, the Emperor changed his mind when Yang Xiong sent in a lengthy memorial to the throne saying that such an unfriendly attitude would be hurtful to relations and that QUOTE: "political necessity weighed far above its economic undesirability."
Page 47-48: The shanyu's retinue usually numbered around 200 each time he came to pay homage, but in 1 BC he requested permission to bring a retinue of 500, which the Emperor reluctantly agreed to, thus the amount of gifts bestowed on the Xiongnu was increased dramatically. This can be seen in the table tabulated below; it was keenly recognized by the Song Dynasty historian Sima Guang in his Zizhi Tongjian, who noted a trend of ever increasing amounts of silk tribute to the Xiongnu on each visit to the capital:

Imperial gifts given to the shanyu during his visits to the capital
Year (BC)	Silk Floss (measured in catties)	Silk Fabrics (measured in pieces)
51	6,000	8,000
49	8,000	9,000
33	16,000	18,000
25	20,000	20,000
1	30,000	30,000

Page 47-48 continued: As shown here, the amount reached its peak and probably remained at that amount during the reign of Wang Mang. Ying-shih Yü says that it must be pointed out that these numbers are the only ones clearly indicated in the Book of Han. The figures in the table above cannot be viewed as the total amount of silk given to the Xiongnu in this period, since every payment was likely not to be recorded in the Book of Han.
Page 48: Han Chinese silk goods and lacquerwares dating to the late 1st century BC/early 1st century AD were found in Xiongnu tombs of northern Mongolia, at the Noin-Ula kurgans.
Page 49: The increasing amounts of silk given to the Xiongnu show how important the tributary system was to the Chinese, so much so that they were willing to pay a heavy price (literally). From scanty amount of evidence it has been proven that the heqin agreement actually had the Chinese handing over less silk than in the tributary system (whatever 10,000 pi of silk means, which was the shanyu's suggested increase in 89 BC).
Page 49-50: During the end of Wang Mang's rule, the Xiongnu reunited and took advantage of the Chinese Empire's internal chaos. They began raiding the Chinese frontiers once more, and even attempted to reestablish heqin relations. However, they broke apart into two branches (Northern and Southern) again in 47 AD, while Emperor Guangwu of Han had consolidated the Chinese Empire once more and brought the Southern Xiongnu back into the tributary system in 50 AD (i.e., the shanyu of the Southern Xiongnu sent a hostage prince to the capital, sent tribute, and appeared in the capital to pay homage). This second split of the Xiongnu in 47 AD was a permanent one, because the Northern Xiongnu were a few decades later decimated by the Han Dynasty. In the visit to the capital in 50 AD, the Southern Shanyu received 10,000 pieces of silk fabric, 10,000 catties of silk, 25,000 hu of rice, and 36,000 head of cattle.
Page 50: From this point on, Han-Xiongnu relations became regularized. At the end of each year, the Shanyu sent his tribute bearers and a hostage prince, and in return the Chinese handed over the hostage prince of the previous year. Xiongnu envoys received their own set of gifts, as well as the mass of Xiongnu nobility under the shanyu (so not just the shanyu himself was bestowed with gifts).
Page 50-51: Evidence that the Xiongnu economy had broken down by this point is the fact that they required gifts of tens of thousands of sheep and cattle from the Han court. The administrator Yuan An (d. 92) remarked in 91 AD that the Later Han provisions given to the Xiongnu amounted to the cash equivalent of 90,000 to 100,000 annually. This is confirmed by a memorial sent by the shanyu in 88 AD, who said that the Xiongnu relied on China for food and each year received gifts numbering in the hundreds of millions. Furthermore, the Xiongnu were required to give the Chinese tribute in return.
Page 51: This increase in goods and dependence on these goods most likely correlate with a population expansion. In Huhanye's time (i.e. mid 1st century BC), it is estimated by Yü that the Southern Xiongnu population did not exceed 60,000, but by 90 AD, the total number of Southern Xiongnu is given in the Book of Later Han as 237,300 people.

The Qiang, Wuhuan, and Xianbei

Page 51-52: The Xiongnu defeated and subjugated the Qiang people of Gansu around the same time that the Han Chinese lost at the Battle of Baideng in 200 BC. When the later Emperor Wu of Han invaded the Hexi Corridor, one of his main objectives was to split apart the Xiongnu-Qiang alliance and to befriend the Qiang people.
Page 52: The Qiang were a scattered people who began moving into the Chinese frontier to make contact during Emperor Xuan of Han's reign, but they were too scattered to incorporate into the tributary system effectively. Nevertheless, in 98 AD one of the more powerful Qiang tribes paid homage to the Han court during the reign of Emperor He of Han, and in return they received imperial gifts.
Page 52-53: As early as the 1st century BC during Western Han, Qiang people were employed to guard the Chinese frontier and interacted with the Chinese on a daily basis. Yet some Chinese took advantage of the language barriers and different customs of their people in order to steal their cattle, women, children, and rob them of other belongings. This enraged the Qiang, who then revolted against Chinese authority. As early as 88 BC, the Xiongnu tried to persuade the Qiang to revolt against the Han under the pretext that the Han were draining their manpower due to the labor services the Chinese had the Qiang perform. As written by Ban Biao in 33 AD and many other Eastern Han writers, the problems of Chinese robbing the Qiang, overworking the Qiang, and the Qiang subsequently revolting against Han continued into the Eastern Han period.
Page 53-54: The Wuhuan people, living mostly in southern Manchuria, were subjugated by the Xiongnu during the beginning of the Western Han. They were forced to pay tribute of cattle and furs to the Xiongnu. When the armies of Emperor Wu defeated the Xiongnu, the Wuhuan people were incorporated into the Chinese tributary sphere and regularly paid homage to the Chinese court.
Page 54: However, during the end of Western Han, when conditions in China were breaking down, the Xiongnu imposed a tax on the Wuhuan, forcing them to hand over cloth and fur. When the Chinese persuaded the Wuhuan not to pay the Xiongnu any tax, the Xiongnu captured some 1,000 Wuhuan women and children and forced the Wuhuan to pay a steep ransom in cattle, cloth, and fur.
Page 54: The Wuhuan became a Xiongnu ally during the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han, and partook in the raids on Chinese territory. When the Xiongnu realm was split and became weakened in 46 AD, Emperor Guangwu won the Wuhuan back over to the side of Han with gifts of silk and cash. A large group of Wuhuan came to the Han court in 49 AD to pay homage, presenting tribute of slaves, cattle, bows, and animal hides that were complimented by imperial Han gifts given in return. Many Wuhuan became settled across the frontier and were given provisions of Chinese food and clothes.
Page 54-55: During Eastern Han, an office was reestablished at Ningcheng in Chahar (province) (what is now eastern Inner Mongolia) which dealt with the affairs of Wuhuan and Xianbei tribes. The office was responsible for forwarding gifts to them and forwarding their hostages to Luoyang. By the mid 2nd century AD, however, relations began to break down.
Page 55: The Xianbei people were also active in Manchuria, but did not become active along the Han Chinese frontier boundaries until the Eastern Han period. Like the Wuhuan, the Xianbei were conquered by the Xiongnu during the beginning of Western Han and were forced to pay tribute. They were militarily stronger than the Wuhuan but were just as economically weak as the Wuhuan. As late as the 2nd century AD, some Xianbei were forced to render military service for the Xiongnu. The Xianbei alternated between submission and rebellion in their relations with Han China, engaging in trade as often as they did plunder along China's northern provinces.
Page 55-56: Two Xianbei chieftains paid homage to the Han court in 54 AD, and when it was learned that the Han Chinese were willing to dispense a large amount of gifts, many more Xianbei chieftains submitted in 58 AD. After this, the Han provided them with annual gifts that were valued at 270,000,000 cash! This was three times the value in gifts given to the Southern Xiongnu, a testament to the military strength of the Xianbei.
Page 56: However, relations broke down after the Han forces led by general Dou Xian defeated the Northern Xiongnu in 91 AD, forcing them to flee westward. The Xianbei took the opportunity to occupy former Northern Xiongnu lands and absorbed some 100,000 Xiongnu people into their forces. With a sudden and gigantic expansion in land and manpower, the Xianbei began their incursions of northern China. They were not incorporated back into the tributary system until the Yongchu Period (107–113), when they were offered even better economic terms than they were before. The Han regularized trade with them and built two "hostage hostels" in Ningcheng, eastern Inner Mongolia, for hostages of the Xianbei to reside. It is recorded that 121 Xianbei tribes became part of China's tributary system at this time, meaning a lot of hostages had to be overseen. When Eastern Han authority began to break down, the Xianbei became aggressive once more and attacked the northeastern and northern frontiers.

Surrendered Barbarians and Their Treatment

Page 65: When a barbarian surrendered to the Han Dynasty, they were subjects of the Chinese emperor but had a unique status. They were seen as candidates to become full members of Chinese society, but in the meantime they were viewed as half-barbarian and half-Chinese.

The Inner and Outer Dichotomy

Page 66-67: As explicitly stated by Cai Yong in 177 AD, the Great Wall of China and the frontier barriers built by the Han distinguished the line between the "inner" and "outer" worlds, the former containing the center of the known Chinese world (Zhongguo) and the latter representing a vast expanse of territory governed by non-Chinese barbarians. The term "inner" and "outer" was also used by some Han statesmen as a justification to halt expansionary campaigns.
Page 67: The term "inner" and "outer" could also apply to Han provinces within the interior of China and provinces which were on the periphery of the frontier.
Page 67-68: Despite Cai Yong's statement about inner and outer worlds, the reality was that barbarians were active on both sides of the Chinese border. There was a distinction between barbarians who surrendered and lived within the Chinese frontier ("inner barbarians") and those who were beyond the frontier and perceived as hostile. This arrangement existed during the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty and lasted through the entire Eastern Han.
Page 68-69: Wei Man, who fled to Korea and established Wiman Joseon, ruled a kingdom that was considered an "outer vassal" by the Western Han court. He became associated with the term "outer frontier-guarding barbarians". The "frontier-guarding barbarians" may also apply to the Wuhuan tribes which submitted to Emperor Wu of Han, who had them placed in five frontier provinces to guard against Xiongnu invasions. Although the Wuhuan tribal chieftain paid homage to the Han court every year, he was still considered an inner barbarian, meaning he was not too different from the regular tribute-bearing barbarians. The Han also made distinction between the Qiang people who regularly raided Chinese territory and the Qiang people who served as "frontier-guarding barbarians" and lived within the Han Empire.
Page 69-70: Once a barbarian tribe submitted to Han, the first thing Han did to distinguish them as "inner barbarians" was to tear down the frontier barriers which were used as defensive measures against them; instead, local defense was entrusted to the new inner barbarians.
Page 70: It should be noted that the Southern Xiongnu were perhaps viewed as "outer barbarians" despite the fact that they submitted to Han by paying tribute. In 33 BC they offered to guard the northwestern Chinese frontier areas if the Han tore down their defenses and removed their garrisons; the Han court did not trust the Southern Xiongnu sufficiently enough to allow them to guard their entire northwestern frontier, so the barrier defenses remained, and the Xiongnu continued to live in their own territory.

The Classification of Surrendered Barbarians

Page 70-72: The term neishu, or "to become inner subjects" was used to describe barbarian surrender. The surrender was not of individuals, but of tribal groups led by a semi-autonomous chieftain (semi-autonomous in regards to his relationship with the Han court). Neishu usually entailed the inclusion of barbarian people and new fertile land into the Chinese Empire. Population figures of these surrendered "inner" tribes were more or less accurately gathered due to the fact that the surrendered barbarians had to fulfill taxation and corvée labor obligations for the Han state.
Page 72-73: When a chieftain and his large tribe of barbarians surrendered, they were organized under a shuguo, or dependent state. This system existed since the Qin Dynasty but it was greatly extended under Emperor Wu of Han. From 121 to 120 BC, five dependent states were established along the northern border to accomodate the 40,000 some Xiongnu who surrendered. A Chinese official entitled shuguo duwei was appointed to each dependent state in order to manage tribal affairs (each shuguo duwei was of course aided by a staff of minor officials). Under the dependent state system, the surrendered barbarians were allowed to conintue with their original way of life and retained their social customs.
Page 73-75: It is a bit ambiguous as to whether or not every dependent state comprised "inner barbarians" or "outer barbarians," i.e. whether or not each and every dependent state was considered to exist within the Han frontier, not beyond it.
Page 76: In theory, the dependent state system was a way for the Han court to keep an eye on tribes which were deemed rebellious and were not ready to be accepted as regular subjects under Chinese rule. Other barbarians who were deemed more submissive to Han rule were placed under regular Chinese administrative units of jun and xian (commandery and county), although a xian with a very large proportion of barbarians living in it was often distinguished as a dao instead.
Page 76-77: Here are two examples of large amounts of "barbarians" settled under regular administrative commanderies and counties. In 128 BC, some 280,000 people in northern Korea requested the Han court to grant them status as "inner subjects", therefore the commandery of Canghai (蒼海) was established (although it was abandoned two years later). When the Ailao barbarians of Yunnan submitted to the Han court, two counties were carved out of their lands.

Chang's Book

Chang, Chun-shu. (2007). The Rise of the Chinese Empire: Volume II; Frontier, Immigration, & Empire in Han China, 130 B.C. – A.D. 157. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472115340.

Intro: Virgin Land, National Security, Agricultural Colonization

Page 1: The conquests of Emperor Wu brought the limits of the Chinese empire, for the first time in Chinese history, all the way to what is now modern Xinjiang. Yet little about the newly conquered territories is discussed in the official and standard histories. For example, the Hexi Corridor is only given brief mentioning in the Records of the Grand Historian and Book of Han. However, excavated wood and bamboo records which were long lost to history have surfaced to show a nuanced history of the Hexi Corridor, which Chang will use in his book as an example for how the Tarim region may have been administered as well under a colonial system. Documents found from around the Juyan Lake Basin will also form a core part of Chang's analysis.
Page 3: In Han times, the Hexi Corridor comprised four prefectures (NOTE: this is 郡jun, which means Chang translates COMMANDERY as PREFECTURE), those being Wuwei, Zhangyi, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang. The Hexi Corridor stretched from the westernmost edges of the Yellow River to the Tarim Basin, located in what is now the modern provinces of Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang (at one time, also a small part of northwestern Qinghai). The Qilian Mountains (also Nan Shan) marked the southern edge of this region, while the northern edges are formed by the Bei ("Northern") Mountains and Heli Mountains.
Page 4: Before the Han conquest of the region in 121 BC, the area was inhabited by the Yuezhi, the Wusun, and the Xiongnu. When the Qin Dynasty collapsed, the Yuezhi were still the most powerful group in this region, taking voluntary hostages from the others. However, this was upsetted by the Xiongnu (numbering about a million strong), who battled with them from 204 to 203 BC and pushed their community of some 400,000 westward first into Saka territory (around Lake Balkhash) and then later to Daxia (Bactria) in Central Asia (i.e., into the basin of Amu Darya in what is now modern Afghanistan).
Page 4-5: Before moving into Bactria, the Yuezhi occupied the Saka territory and in 176 BC fought and killed the leader of the Wusun named Nandoumi (in a place between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang). His infant son Lajiaomi (referred to by his title of kunmo in Han texts) was raised by the shanyu of the Xiongnu. Lajiaomi accepted Xiongnu dominance while he trained his Wusun in strict military arts. With the consent of the shanyu of the Xiongnu, Kunmo Lajiaomi led his Wusun warriors to fight the Yuezhi in Saka territory from 161 to 160 BC, killing the Yuezhi king and forcing them to move west to Bactria. Kunmo Lajiaomi then occupied Saka territory for his Wusun peoples who were now declared independent from the Xiongnu. The latter had occupied the Hexi Corridor from 177 to 176 BC, and by now had became the sole ruler of that region.
Page 5: After the Xiongnu occupied Hexi Corridor in 177 BC, they used it as a staging ground to assault the Chinese border regions of Longxi (in modern southern Gansu) and Beidi (modern northeastern Gansu and southeastern Ningxia). Due to these raids, the Han government maintained heavy garrison defenses along the western edges of the Yellow River.
Page 5-6: It was the martial reforms under Emperor Wu of Han in establishing a large cavalry-based army for long-range campaigns that brought about the Chinese conquest of the Hexi Corridor beginning in 121 BC. Two campaigns were led in that year by Huo Qubing, who advanced as far as the middle of the Qilian Mountains, each time with over ten thousand cavalry. Huo allegedly killed or captured 40,000 Xiongnu in these campaigns, which would make up roughly one-third to one-half of all Xiongnu in the Hexi Corridor. The shanyu was outraged and sought to execute the two Xiongnu wise kings in charge of the region, King Hunye and King Xiuchu (both subordinates of the Worthy King of the Right), although these two surrendered their remaining forces to Han before the shanyu could have them killed.
Page 6: However, Xiongnu King Xiuchu changed his mind halfway to leading his surrendered forces to Han, splitting off with a rebel detachment of 8,000 Xiongnu. The combined forces of Xiongnu King Hunye and Han general Huo Qubing crushed King Xiuchu's forces and killed him. King Hunye then formally surrendered to Han with 40,000 Xiongnu. Thus, the Hexi Corridor was conquered by Han, incorporated into the Empire, and there was a scarce amount of Xiongnu raids as far as Longxi, Beidi, or Shang (in modern Shanxi) after that point.
Page 6: The Han government moved approximately 725,000 people from the Guandong region of central China to the region south of the northern bend of the Yellow River. After further successful campaigns by Huo Qubing and Wei Qing, the Han government moved 60,000 farming officials and soldiers to populate the western side of the Yellow River and build new irrigation works in 119 BC.
Page 6-8: The Han built watch stations and forts in Hexi Corridor, but this would not be enough to consolidate such a vast new region that was largely unsettled still by Han Chinese. The Xiongnu posed a constant threat still, so the Han plotted to ally with the Wusun and have them reenter the western areas of the region to block a Xiongnu advance. The diplomat Zhang Qian was even sent out to Wusun territory in 116 BC to convince them to move, but the Wusun leader had no desires to repopulate the old homeland. Therefore the Han had to make concerted efforts to populate the region, with convicts sent as far as Dunhuang in 114 BC in order to cultivate new lands.
Page 8: The Qiang people, who numbered some 50,000 at this point, made an alliance with the Xiongnu in 112 BC to push the Han Chinese out of the Hexi Corridor. In a general flank, the Qiang assaulted from the south and the Xiongnu from the north, squeezing in on the Han position. In 111 BC the Han made a massive counterattack of some 100,000 infantry and cavalry to face the Qiang and another 25,000 cavalry—led by Gongsun He and Zhao Ponu—to face the Xiongnu. Both of the latter commanders were successful. After this the Han successfully populated Hexi with garrisoned troops and farming officials to ensure security and growth of agricultural cultivation. Zhangyi and Jiuquan commanderies were settled first, while the commandery of Dunhuang was established in 98 BC and then Wuwei commandery in 72 BC, the latter signifying the full colonization of the region.
Page 9: When the Han people spoke of establishing a new frontier, such as in the proposal headed by Sang Hongyang in 89 BC to populate what is now Luntai County, they always referred to the establishment of watch stations. New frontiers were commanded by a military officer, yet civilian laborers working for the government migrated there to cultivate new lands in order to create self-supporting communities on the new frontier. When a chief commandant (duwei) was assigned to a frontier region, that was a sign that the area had become cultivated and populated enough to warrant his presence and command.
Page 9-10: A chief commandant was assigned to an area that already harbored many fortresses, each under a single commandant who had their own subordinate officers.
Page 11-12: When a county (xian) was established in an area once solely commanded by a chief commandant, a new county magistrate then handled all civilian affairs, while the chief commandant was relegated to handling only military affairs.
Page 13: From 108 to 101 BC, the Han built an effective system of watchtowers and signal stations stretching from Jiuquan city, past the Jade Gate in Gansu, and into the Lop Nur area. By 103 BC, the Han had built a cluster of watch stations that could be found at Khara-Khoto in what is now Inner Mongolia. When Zhangyi and Jiuquan were established in 111 BC, the first known buildings erected in these territories were for watch stations.

Han Frontier System: Origins, Theories, and Patterns

Page 15-16: Chang's model for Han frontier development consists of eight essential components, those being QUOTE: "(1) forced and voluntary migration of people to the new regions (2) full government support of new immigrants (3) military protection of regions under development (4) land cultivation by civilians or military or both (5) free land for immigrants (6) organization of immigrants under the military system in the initial stage and under the regular local administrative system at the developing stage (7) strict military control of frontier regions, and (8) immigrants forbidden to leave their assigned locations without government permission."
Page 18: Following the Han defeat by the Xiongnu at the Battle of Baideng in 200 BC, the heqin marriage and tribute agreement devised by Liu Jing (fl. 202–98 BC) was implemented in light of the fact that Han could not make an effective counterattack. However, this policy of appeasement broke down and lost all effectiveness as the unstable Han regime tried every measure to defend its borders. In 169 BC, the official Chao Cuo (200–154 BC) sent a proposal to Emperor Wen of Han called "Guard the Frontiers and Protect the Borders", which provided a detailed account of how to counter the Xiongnu militarily. Chao concluded that an effective migration policy had to be enacted to man the borders with proper defenses, detailing the long-range benefits of such a plan. For more see Chao Cuo.
Page 22: The expansion of the bounds of Chinese civilization was a direct result and reaction to the threat of nomadic raids and incursions by the Xiongnu. The Han needed a large frontier buffer zone to protect China proper while at the same time dismantling Xiongnu power with an offensive strategy of long-range attacks that necessitated the establishment of far-flung colonies to support militias and garrisons.

Han Colonists: Organization, Composition, and Character

Page 23: Although the Xiongnu inhabiting the Hexi Corridor surrendered to the Han in the autumn of 121 BC, the Han Dynasty did not establish garrison outposts in the Juyan Lake Basin region until 119 BC. Systematic development of the Juyan region did not take place until 110–105 BC, while the Khara-Khoto area did not have its walled headquarters of Juyan City until 103 BC. The general Lu Bode (fl. 119–89 BC), Chief Commandant of Crossbowmen, was sent to Juyan City in 102 BC in order to supervise its development.
Page 23-24: Lu independently commanded Juyan until his death, when a Chief Commandant was then appointed by the central government to take over affairs. This continued until 72 BC, when a county government with a magistrate was established to head civilian affairs, although the Chief Commandant was still in charge of all military concerns.
Page 25: The Chief Commandant earned Equivalent to 2000 bushels. He had commandant subordinates who earned Equivalent to 600 bushels, and subcommandants who earned only Equivalent to 200 bushels. Although the Chief Commandant had a rank salary which was equal to that of a colonel in a regular Han army, his authority was much greater and was given much greater responsibilities.
Page 29-31: The newly-established county governments in the frontier zones were for a long time limited to administering only the small towns where their headquarters were located, as most people out on the frontier were actually still managed by garrison authorities headed by the Chief Commandant. It took a very long time and gradual process of development for new civilian governments to spread the reach of their authority into outlying civilian areas which for a long time were administered by the military.
Page 33: The majority of civilian migrants to the frontier regions came at the government's expense; it was only when an area became self-sufficient that people started coming at their own expense to settle there.
Page 33-34: From wooden documents found in the frontier areas, it is known that the civilians who moved into these areas were quite diverse, from hired laborers, landowners, and merchants. However, the economy in these regions were still agrarian-based.
Page 34-35: Military servicemen comprised the majority of settled people in the frontier zones. The majority of servicemen were garrison soldiers, while the second largest group was farming soldiers. There was a scarce amount of cavalrymen. Another type of soldier that appeared regularly on the registers was the irrigation soldier. QUOTE: "Whether the irrigation soldiers were actually farming soldiers or garrison soldiers assigned to irrigation work is not clear. But since they had specific registers they were probably recruited specifically as irrigation soldiers."
Page 37: In addition to conscripts, the Han also had hired soldiers. They were employed in the various campaigns under Emperor Wu and became a core component of military forces during the reigns of later emperors. The status of the hired soldiers was also equal to that of the recruited garrison soldier.
Page 42: Some residents in the Juyan region were family members of the servicemen, and were located in the headquarters. From the written evidence found, it appears that onlt the family members of the soldiers and officers who were not native to Juyan actually lived in the garrison settlements. QUOTE: "This group included the parents, wives, children, brothers, and sisters of the servicemen."
Page 43: There were also semi-independent personal attendants and followers consisting of private followers of officers and volunteers for the army. Regular private followers in the interior of the empire were tasked with simple servant's work, but the monthly grain provisions of the frontier followers indicate that their status was much higher than a simple servant.
Page 44-45: Another group of people were slaves and convicts who had no freedom. The convicts on the frontier either served two-year terms, four-year terms, or five-year terms, judging by their convict titles. They were charged with doing hard labor for the government on the frontiers. Some convicts, however had their punishments relaxed and were treated as commoners instead of criminals, granted that they finished their labor duties and terms of service for the state.
Page 45: Slave workers, both male and female, included those owned by the government as well as those owned by individuals.
Page 45-46: There were also a number of temporary visitors which came to the frontier regions from nearby commanderies or from as far away as Chang'an. Traveling merchants often came to the frontier outposts to sell their wares and necessities, even slaves. There were also criminal fugitives on the run who traveled around the frontier, as garrison authorities were charged with arresting these desperadoes and announcements of rewards for their capture were often posted. Their kind included counterfeiters, murderers, and escaped slaves.
Page 70-71: The age of military servicemen ranged from twenty to fifty years of age, although one unknown category could be as old as sixty-one. Most Han servicemen were under the age of 30. At the beginning of the dynasty, the minimum draft age for servicemen was set at 23, but in 155 BC the draft age was lowered to 20. There is some evidence that the draft age was raised to 23 again during Emperor Zhao of Han's reign, but all available evidence shows that after his reign the minimum draft age was once again 20.
Page 76-77: Han cavalrymen were given special treatment over regular garrison soldiers. For example, the highest officials in the commanderies were not allowed to dispatch cavalry forces for any reason without explicit consent given by the central government. Cavalry forces also received their orders directly from the central government. In regards to this special treatment, QUOTE: "It was really related to the major national concerns and priorities of the Han empire during the period in question [Emperor Wu's reign]. As was discussed earlier, the greatest threat to the national security of the Former Han empire from Kao-tzu to Wu-ti was the Hsiung-nu challenge on the northern and northwestern borders. As the sense of national humiliation resulting from Kao-tzu's defeat at P'ing-ch'eng and the danger to national security inflicted by continual Hsiung-nu border invasions and their successful march to the imperial capital at Ch'ang-an became the preoccupation of the Han Court, the Hsiung-nu problem and the search for its successful solution emerged to become the top national priority for the Han empire. The Han Court was determined to channel all of its resources and manpower into meeting the Hsiung-nu challenge, but it first had to build a large mobile cavalry force to match the military superiority of the Hsiung-nu nomadic horsemen. And here the ch'i-shih of the border prefectures in the north and northwest came to play a special role in Han dynastic history and probably in Chinese history as well. By virtue of their geographic and climatic conditions, the northern and northwestern border regions of the Han empire were arid steppe pastureland, and only there were skilled horse-breeding and mounted archery a natural way of life. Therefore, it was in this territory, which mainly consisted of those prefectures [i.e. commanderies] extending roughly from modern Kansu in the west to An-tung in Manchuria, that the Han Court established government pastures to undertake the mass breeding of horses and the training of hundreds of thousands of mounted archers, the key to the grand military campaigns against the Hsiung-nu and their allies in the Western Regions. In carrying this out, the Han Court must have been dependent on the expertise of the native ch'i-shih of these regions."
Page 77-78: It should also be said that the manpower, resources, and leadership mustered for offensive campaigns against the Xiongnu were all gathered from the developing frontier zones. The northern and northwestern frontier zone was the pristine area to draft and train cavalry forces, just as lakes, rivers, and extended seacoast south of the Huai River provided a pristine location to train mariners for the temporary navy, or North China Plain or the mountaineous region around the Sichuan Basin provided good training grounds for infantry and foot soldiers.

Interesting Facts About Social Class

Page 62: An interesting little fact here about monetary prerequisites to become a government official, QUOTE: "There was a property qualification for official appointment, the philosophical rationale for which was that wealthy officials were less vulnerable to corruption. At the beginning of the dynasty, the Han Court made total assessed taxable wealth of one hundred thousand coins (the average wealth of a "middle class" family) the minimum property qualification for official appointment, but in 142 B.C. it lowered the requirement to forty thousand coins. Beginning with Wu-ti's reign, this rule was no longer strictly enforced. But the Chü-yan document confirms its practice on the frontier, though probably in a modified fashion."
Page 68: QUOTE: "In ancient China, as in modern times, old age was a source of great respect because the Chinese, then as now, regarded old age as a source of wisdom, on one hand, and were guided by the moral imperative of filial piety on the other. This ethical and social ideology was ingrained in the Chinese political culture. In Han times, not only was respect for the elderly mandated through legal instruments, but emperors frequently decreed that the elderly of the empire be given special treatment by government officials and be granted special privileges. Exemption from severe punishment was one such privilege. In 195 B.C., Emperor Hui issued an edict, ordering that commoners aged seventy and over be declared exempt from mutilating punishment. Several other emperors decreed that people age eighty and over were to be exempt even from severe interrogation and adjudication for crimes other than false accusation and murder. But for all such special privileges granted to the elderly the lower age limited was always seventy." However, a person who was demoted from aristocratic rank was not treated as a commoner who was only exempt at age 70, since a former aristocrat (now a commoner) had the privilege of being exempt from mutilating punishment at age 60.
Page 69: QUOTE: "As we discussed in an earlier chapter, the rank holders corresponded in many respects to the gentry class of the later period, except that those holding a high rank were more privileged and influential. The social stratification sketched in table 13 represents a transitional class structure between the Chou feudal system, which was based on birth and kinship, and the rising new system mainly based on landownership and education. In the Chou feudal system, the class structure was the society itself; in the later system, the class structure was first the creation of and then the basis for the political culture, particularly the bureaucratic system, which was baded on the idea of meritocracy. The Former Han social stratification lies between the two in time and structure. In recruitment, mobility, institutional means of perpetuation, and political awareness and function, the Former Han ruling class represented a transition from the Chou feudal nobility to a landed class of literati-gentry."

Construction and Structure of Han Settlements

Page 91-92: The walled district or city was the largest type of settlement in the frontier region, and there were really only two of them in the region of Juyan. These was Juyan City located in what is now Khara-Khoto. The other was Jianshui City located at modern Taralingin-durbeljin. Juyan city had a rectangular grid design, covering an area of 171,000 square meters (1,840,628 square feet), or 380 meters (1,246 feet) by 450 meters (1,476 feet). Qianshui occupied a lesser area of 87,500 square meters (941,842 square feet), or 350 meters (1,148 feet) by 250 meters (820 feet). Both cities were constructed of stamped clay bricks, not rammed earth like in most other cities of the interior.
Page 92: Fortresses were more irregularly shaped, considerably smaller, and also built of stamped clay bricks. The surface area of the fortresses ranged from 500 square meters (5,381 square feet) to a meager 23 square meters (247 square feet). Fortresses served as the headquarters for commandants (ranked just below a chief commandant), who oversaw commandant areas.
Page 92: The smallest fortified unit was the watch station, with a watchtower as its central building and a surrounding wall. The areas of some watch stations were about 60 square meters (645 square feet). The watchtower at the center had a base that measured 6.5 m (21 ft) on each side and had a height of 12 m (39 ft). The watch station was built of stamped clay, while wood, hay, and other materials were used. Watchtowers could be headed by a commander or a subcommandant, and in some cases both.
Page 94: Residential buildings were often built alongside the walls of these settlements.
Page 94: A li was a ward, and was both an administrative unit and residential division in Han times. It was administered by the county government, and each ward had about fifty families. It often had low-lying walls and two entryways or gates, one gate located along the southern wall and one along the northern wall. Furthermore, a walled ward was partitioned into two sections (northern and southern) with a wall running east to west that had a passage gate called a yan.

Conclusion

Page 122: Juyan County became Juyan Dependent State (Shuguo) during the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Page 173: Conclusion section, QUOTE: "The long process of Han western expansion was completed with the full consolidation of the Western Regions in 29 B.C. With it, the larger Han expansion movement that began with Emperor Wu's massive Hsiung-nu campaigns in 129 B.C. came to its full fruition. The Han Dynasty had by now acquired over 1.5-1.7 million square miles of new land and reshaped the territorial boundaries of the Chinese empire. It was the largest expansion movement in Chinese history and virtually gave birth to a new China. Since the geographical contour and basic spacial extension of China have since experienced little fundamental change, the Han expansion may be said to have defined the ecology and hence the direction of Chinese society, culture, and history."
Page 173-174: QUOTE: "Almost all of the Han expansion was carried out during Wu-ti's reign, mainly from 129 to 90 B.C. Later military expeditions were mostly for the defense and further consolidation of territories acquired in his time. Wu-ti's major campaigns of conquest took place in four regions beyond the Han borders of his day." The first region expanded into comprised the north and northwestern areas inhabited by the Xiongnu and Qiang peoples in what is today's Outer Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Siberia, Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, eastern Central Asia, and northern South Asia. The second region which the Han expanded into during Wu's reign comprised the south and southeastern areas controlled by Nanyue, including modern southern Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan Island, Guangxi, and northern Vietnam. The third region was to the southwest, inhabited by various tribal peoples, which is now located in modern western Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and southern Gansu. The fourth region was to the northeast, with the expansion into what is now North Korea.
Page 174: The Hexi Corridor, conquered by Emperor Wu's troops during his war with the Xiongnu, was the region where the Han Dynasty first put its new frontier theory and system into practice. It was a newly conquered territory of 265,000 square miles (647,497 square kilometers). It was the first time that a Chinese power conquered a region far to the west of the Yellow River. It provided the Han with new resources in agriculture, mining, textiles, lumber, and dairy products. Furthermore, Hexi was the launching pad for Emperor Wu's armies marching (and riding) into Central Asia. From 108 to 101 BC, the Han Dynasty under Emperor Wu conquered or subjugated Loulan, Bügür, Dayuan (Fergana), and Kangju (Sogdiana). As a result, these states of the Western Regions sent tribute to the Han court, as well as their native hostages to be kept at the capital. This was the first time that China became an international imperial power on the Asian continent. The Hexi Corridor thus became China's gateway to the west and linked it to the outside world via the Silk Road.
Page 174-175: The Han colonization of Hexi made the region a permament area of the Chinese empire. It was transformed from nomadic pasturelands into sedentary and cultivated fields of an agricultural domain. It represents the conflict between the expansion of the sedentary world with that of the nomadic. Han colonists came from every part of the empire to populate the new region, and were given an enormous amount of aid by the government to do so. With the consolidation of Hexi within five decades, the new northwestern frontier of China became what is now Xinjiang.
Page 175-176: Both Sima Qian and Ban Gu confirmed that the expansion into the Hexi Corridor cost the Han treasury an enormous sum of cash, which Chang estimates to be 100 billion coin cash, or nearly 8.4 times the annual revenue of the government (about 12 billion) prior to Emperor Wu's campaigns and colonial programs.
Page 176: In order to fill the losses in the coffers of the treasury and increase revenues, the Modernist statesmen implemented reforms of tax increases and new taxes, a new monopoly on liquor (which was soon abolished), price and market controls, currency reform, reorganization of the salt and iron industries, the sale of offices and sale of aristocratic ranks. To enforce these new measures, stiff penalties were introduced for anyone who broke the law. Xiahou Sheng, writing in 74 BC during the first year of Emperor Xuan of Han's reign, the Han Dynasty emperors following Wu were all concerned with recovering from the economic deterioration which was a result of his military campaigns and colonization efforts.

Di Cosmo's Book

Di Cosmo, Nicola. (2002). Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521770645.

Miscellaneous

Page 105: QUOTE: "When conducting relations with non-Chou peoples, the Chou states never followed a single overriding doctrine, but were instead fluid, adaptive, and eminently pragmatic. Their foreign policy strategies evolved over time; "militaristic" or "pacifist" stances derived from differences in the process of growth of each state, being the reflection of its relative strengths and weaknesses. A clear association between foreign policies and philosophical doctrines, in particular the linkage of "Confucianism" and pacifism on the one hand and "legalism" and interventionism on the other, cannot be established before the Ch'in-Han period, and perhaps only at the time of the Discourses on Salt and Iron, a text attributed to Huan K'uan (first century B.C.) and written down during the reign of Emperor Hsüan-ti (74–49 B.C.). Before the long period of military confrontation with the Hsiung-nu, which served as a fertile ground for the formulation of clearer doctrines of foreign relations, the lines are blurred. Indeed, for the Spring and Autumn period it is virtually impossible to identify any philosophical orientation that could be defined as either pro-war or pro-peace."
Page 140-141: The Xiongnu Empire was established in 209 BC. In Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, the relationship between the northern nomads and Chinese are depicted in rather anachronistic fashion, as he attempted to show that the northern nomads and Chinese QUOTE: "constituted antithetic poles at odds since the dawn of Chinese history. The polarity between a unified north and a unified south was then projected back into the past." Di Cosmo then gives a rebuttal to his own point, saying QUOTE: "Yet Ssu-ma Ch'ien's account of the late Warring States cannot be regarded as pure ideology. He recorded names and events whose multiplicity and unfolding are evidence of the political and ethnic complexity of both north, where different groups appear to have been living, and the south, where, of course, Chinese states were still vying for power. Hence, although it is vital to remember that Ssu-ma Chi'en's narrative of the northern frontier is not itself neutral, one cannot use this argument to dismiss tout court his narrative of Warring States history, which was based, we presume, on an extensive knowledge of sources available at the time."

Modun's Rise to Power

Page 174-175: The Qin general Meng Tian (d. 210) conquered the Ordos Desert region in 215 BC and forced out the Xiongnu, who were then a significant tribe but not as powerful as they were to become.
Page 175-176: The rise of Modu Shanyu is quite romanticized in the Records of the Grand Historian. As the legend goes, Modu was the son of the ruling shanyu of the Xiongnu, named Toumen (d. 209 BC). His father wanted a son of another wife to succeed him, so he sent Modu as a hostage to the Wusun. To indirectly have Modun eliminated, he assaulted the Wusun in order to encourage them to execute his son. However, Modu was able to escape and return to the Xiongnu camp, which impressed his father. While at camp, Modu devised a way to have his father killed. He would test the loyalty of his personal bodyguard of warriors. First, he had them shoot at his favorite horse, and anyone who failed to do so was executed. Then he had his men shoot at his favorite wife, those who hesitated were executed. The ones who were left he ordered to shoot at his father, and no one disobeyed him. Modu thus became shanyu in 209 BC. Afterwards he gradually conquered surrounding steppe tribes, until his empire extended from Manchuria to Mongolia to the Altai Mountains to Tian Shan.
Page 186-187: The heavy centralized structure of Xiongnu society created after 209 BC was a direct response to the threat of Chinese invasion (initated by Meng Tian during Qin) as well as neighboring rival tribes. With their powerful new military structure with the shanyu at the top and subordinate tuqi (i.e. "wise kings"), the Xiongnu were able to suppress all other tribes inhabiting Inner Asia and consolidate them under a single rule.
Page 188-189: The first great conquest by the Xiongnu took place to the east. They subjugated the Eastern Hu (Dong Hu) people, who were forced to pay tribute and fed the military machine that the Xiongnu were quickly assembling. Until the campaign against the Yuezhi in the 170s BC, the Xiongnu domain did not extend farther west than the Yellow River bend. The Xiongnu were able to retake the Ordos region during the Chinese civil war. To the north, Modu subjugated several large nomadic tribes inhabiting northern Mongolia and western Siberia. In his general push south, Modu conquered the regions of what is today's Ningxia, northern Shanxi, northern Shaanxi, northern Hebei, and the whole of Liaoning.

Conflict during Liu Bang's reign

Page 190-192: In 200 BC, the Xiongnu attacked Taiyuan, then under the control of King Xin of Hán; note that this "Hán" was just a kingdom, not the main ruling dynasty "Hàn". The Han Kingdom's character is 韩 while the Han Dynasty's character is 漢, the latter named after Hanzhong. Anyways, King Xin made a pact with the Xiongnu to rebel against the Han Dynasty. The Xiongnu then invaded Taiyuan Commandery. Liu Bang personally led Han Dynasty forces against the Xiongnu and the rebellious Kingdom of Han. Despite the frigid cold weather, Liu's troops pushed on to Pingcheng (located northeast of modern Datong, Shanxi).
Page 192: Modu allegedly moved with 400,000 cavalrymen (this number is almost certainly bloated beyond realistic logistics) to surround Liu Bang's troops at Pingcheng by blocking them at Baideng Mountain; what ensued was the Battle of Baideng. After seven days of fighting, Han troops were allowed to withdraw. Later, a treaty was made between both sides where the Xiongnu extracted tribute from Han as part of the conditions.
Page 192: Meanwhile, King Xin became a Xiongnu general. He disobeyed the terms of the treaty and raided Tai and Yunzhong commanderies. Other Han generals and nobles then began to revolt against Liu Bang, who was forced to suppress them in a campaign led by Fan Kuai (not to be confused with this Fan Kuai, who died earlier in 204 BC).
Page 192: It was all apparent to Liu Bang that Han's charioteers and infantry were no match for Xiongnu cavalry, so diplomatic means had to be employed. By paying a large amount of tribute to the Xiongnu and acknowleding an inferior position, Liu Bang initiated the heqin (harmonious kinship) system in 198 BC.
Page 193: The councillor Liu Jing (劉敬) had, from the onset, advised Liu Bang not to attack the Xiongnu. It was this minister who was the architect of the heqin policy. This included sending Gaozu's oldest daughter to the Xiongnu as a princess bride for Modu Shanyu. The scheme was to have Modu become the Liu Bang's son-in-law. Modu's son and heir to the Xiongnu throne would thus be a grandson of Liu Bang, thus this half-Chinese and half-Xiongnu grandson would be in a subordinate position to the Emperor of Han. The other strategy was to corrupt the Xiongnu values by sending them lavish luxury items as tribute, which the Han already had in exorbitant amounts. Yet the third strategy involved indoctrination; Han rhetoricians would be sent to the Xiongnu where they would teach them Chinese Confucian values of how youths should respect and bow to the demands of their elders, especially a grandson to his grandfather, thus ensuring that Liu Bang's grandson-to-be would be under his control. This policy was accepted by Liu Bang in 199 BC, and was implemented in 198 BC.
Page 193-194: Although the Chinese accepted an inferior position, the terms of the treaty actually made both sides equal in status. An official marriage alliance bound both houses of Xiongnu and Han, while the Han agreed to send annual tribute of silk, cloth, wine, grains, and other foodstuffs. The diplomatic status of shanyu became equal to that of huangdi, as evidenced by the rulers defining their relationship as "brotherly". In 162 BC, Emperor Wen of Han even made the analogy that the shanyu of Xiongnu and emperor of China were like the father and mother of the people, and that Heaven does not cover just one side, and "Earth is not partial to anyone."
Page 194-195: However, the relationship was unequal in that the Han continued to pay tribute to a powerful military state. The Chinese were deeply insulted by Modu's marriage proposal to the Empress Dowager Lü Hou (or Empress Lü Zhi, wife of Liu Bang), yet even this affront did not stop the heqin relationship.
Page 195: A Court Conference debate was held in 135 BC during Emperor Wu of Han's reign (see chapter 6), where the initial consensus was to retain the heqin system, yet it was soon after abandoned for an aggressive military policy.
Page 195: The Xiongnu were effective because they had absorbed tons of different tribes which were placed under a heavily centralized command. On the other hand, Han soldiers did not have experience fighting nomads and there was a general lack of discipline among commanders who were drawn from the aristocratic order and QUOTE: "whose loyalty to the emperor could not be taken for granted."
Page 195: Even though sending the Xiongnu "brides and bribes" appeased the Xiongnu to the piont where open warfare was not an issue, there were still many times when the Xiongnu asked the tribute amount to be increased and where Xiongnu raided Han borders.

Relations during Wen and Jing's reigns

Page 196: During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, the shanyu notified him that the Xiongnu had defeated the Yuezhi, and in turn had brought Loulan, the Wusun, Hujie, and twenty-six states contiguous to them under Xiongnu dominion. A few years later in 162 BC, Emperor Wen created a new treaty with the shanyu, a mutual agreement that the people of the steppe living north of China's Great Wall would be ruled by the Xiongnu, while everyone south of the Great Wall would be ruled by Han China.
Page 197: The implementation of this concept of a dual world order can be seen even in the capture of Zhang Qian by the Xiongnu in 138 BC. Zhang had been sent north to seek an anti-Xiongnu alliance with the Yuezhi. The displeased shanyu of the Xiongnu explained to Zhang, QUOTE: "The Yüe-chih lie to the north of us, how can the Han send their envoys there? If I wished to send envoys to Yüeh [a state to the south of China] would the Han allow me to do so?" With this statement, it becomes clear that Zhang had violated the terms of the 162 BC treaty; don't fuck with things outside your sphere of influence.
Page 197: The Xiongnu came to dominate the Western Regions (i.e. Tarim Basin) when their offensive against the Yuezhi displaced the later from their original base which was near Dunhuang. They fled and escaped west to conquer Daxia (Bactria), and afterwards the Yuezhi king established his official court north of the Gui River in Guangxi.
Page 197-198: The tiny states east of Samarkand, such as Loulan, paid tribute to the Xiongnu and acted as their eyes and ears when Han envoys visited. Any state found to submit to Han was punished by ruthless military action, hence envoys sent by the shanyu were treated cordially and provided escorts, while Han envoys couldn't even acquire horses and food from their hosts. The Xiongnu obviously regarded the Western Regions as their domain, and their domination of it feuled their economic strength.
Page 198: However, the Han continued to compete with the Xiongnu over the Western Regions. For example, the oasis state of Loulan sent prominent hostages to both the Xiongnu and Han courts (this was a common practice of an overlord state's demand of its lesser state, as the lesser state was less likely to rebel if, let's say, one of its princes were in the hands of the overlord state). The Xiongnu beat the Han to the punch by installing a Loulan king who was friendly to their side, but the Han counteracted this by sending in a secret agent to assassinate the king.
Page 198-199: To undermine the paramountcy of the Xiongnu in the north, Zhang Qian suggested to Emperor Wu of Han that a brotherly alliance be made with the Wusun, which would be like cutting off a right arm of the Xiongnu, and states as far away as Bactria could be induced to become a Han vassal. Indeed, Emperor Wu then sent a bride to wed the leader of the Wusun.
Page 199-200: Long before this, though Emperor Wen of Han set forth a reform to put Han on equal footing with the Xiongnu, that is, converting a significant proportion of his infantry into cavalry forces. However, much of these forces were stationed in the capital for defending the heart of the empire, and were not meant to garrison the far frontier or even lead offensive expeditions into Xiongnu soil. For now, Wen resorted to the heqin system of tribute and intermarriage. In essence, the Han built a permanent standing army at the capital, while Emperor Wen did beef up border garrisons a bit due to constant Xiongnu raids, some of which involved tens of thousands of Xiongnu invading a commandery for a given time then retreating some months later after sufficient plunder. In 166 BC and 158 BC, the word "invasion" would be better than "raid" to describe the Xiongnu movements of tens of thousands and the Chinese armies drawn up to repel these movements.
Page 201: The level of plunder propagated by the Xiongnu during Emperor Wen's reign was significantly reduced during the subsequent reign of Emperor Jing of Han. This is because Emperor Jing decided to establish border markets and loosen restrictions on contraband trade at the border. The result was a reduction in raids and the size of the raids became mere skirmishes instead of invasions of tens of thousands of cavalry.
Page 201-202: The statesman Jia Yi (200–168 BC) represented the court faction during Emperor Wen's time which was in favor of a vertical relationship with the Xiongnu and attacking them instead of paying tribute. Jia Yi believed that Chinese civilization, with its refined rituals, was inarguably superior to the Xiongnu, and any Han Chinese statesman who aided and abeted the Xiongnu cause was a traitor to the Han Dynasty. Furthermore, he urged the emperor to make the Xiongnu submit, yet did not come up with a formal proposal on how to achieve this. His ideas were dismissed and the heqin policy prevailed under Emperor Wen. However, Jia Yi's attitude about vertical diplomacy could surely be paralleled with how Wang Mang addressed the Xiongnu leader (i.e. "Submitted Caitiff of the Surrendered Slaves").
Page 202-203: The advisor Chao Cuo (晁錯, d. 154 BC) advised the court of Emperor Wen of Han and the early court of Emperor Jing of Han. Chao distinguished himself as a minister in favor of greater centralization and suppressing the will of rowdy subordinate kingdoms. He opposed heqin not because of Jia Yi's ideology that Chinese culture was unequivocally superior, but because it failed to produce the results that it set out to achieve, which was peace, stability, and equal relationship with the Xiongnu. Chao was a master military strategist, and he studied Sino-Xiongnu relations and ways to improve the outdated Chinese military, border defenses, and socio-economic frontier management.
Page 203: Displaying his extensive knowledge of the Han and Xiongnu military weaknesses and advantages, Chao Cuo wrote in a memorial presented to Emperor Wen's throne in 169 BC, QUOTE: "The configuration of terrain and fighting ability fo the Hsiung-nu differ from those of China. Going up and down mountain slopes, and crossing torrents and streams, the Hsiung-nu horses are better than the Chinese. On dangerous roads and sloping narrow passages they can both ride and shoot arrows; Chinese mounted soldiers cannot match that. They can withstand the wind and rain, fatigue, hunger and thirst; Chinese soldiers are not as good. These are the qualities of the Hsiung-nu. However, on a level terrain in the plains, using light chariots and swift cavalry, the Hsiung-nu rabble would easily be utterly defeated. Even with strong crossbows that shoot far, and long halberds that hit at a distance, the Hsiung-nu would not be able to ward them off. If the armors are sturdy and the weapons sharp, if the repetition crossbows shot far, and the platoons advance together, then the leather outfit and wooden shields of the Hsiung-nu will not be able to protect them. If they dismount and fight on foot when swords and halberds clash as [the soldiers] come into close quarters, the Hsiung-nu, who lack infantry training, will not be able to cope. These are the advantages of China. If we look at this situation, the Hsiung-nu have three advantages, while China has five." This entire memorial was quoted in the Records of the Grand Historian.
Page 203-204: Moreover, Chao Cuo suggested in the same memorial that light infantry should be used against the Xiongnu, not infantry or charioteers. He also proposed that surrendered nomadic peoples, whether they be Xiongnu or Yuezhi, should be incorporated into the defensive military units of Han border garrisons, led by Chinese generals who understood their langauge and customs. This was the strategy of "using 'barbarians' to control the 'barbarians'" in Western Han, otherwise known as "using foreigners to attack foreigners".
Page 204-205: To make matters worse for the Western Han central government, the continual Xiongnu raids at the border not only necessitated moving tens of thousands of Han Chinese cavalry to repel them, but each time they did more Han nobles from the semi-autonomous kingdoms difected to the Xiongnu or used the chaos as an opportunity to rebel.

The Case for War

Page 206: Discarding decades of heqin policy, Emperor Wu of Han kicked off the Sino-Xiongnu War in 133 BC. His expansion-driven policies broke apart the Xiongnu Empire until Huhanye Shanyu was forced to submit to Emperor Xuan of Han in 51 BC as a foreign leader of inferior status (the Xiongnu split apart, as Huhanye's rival was Zhizhi Chanyu, who fought against the Han Dynasty until he was killed at the Battle of Zhizhi in 36 BC). Moreover, the duality of two great powers in East Asia was no more, as China became the greatest power of the East.
Page 210: Statesmen such as Jia Yi and Chao Cuo provided some of the earliest arguments for scrapping the heqin policy and installing an aggressive military policy, but the latter wasn't seriously considered by the court until the scholarly debates of 135–134 BC during Emperor Wu of Han's reign. This Court Conference is used as a prologue in the Book of Han before discussing the misguided venture of the Battle of Mayi (133 BC), where Han troops failed to capture the shanyu of the Xiongnu.
Page 210-211: The Xiongnu shanyu sent word to Chang'an in 135 BC, as the heqin treaty was about to expire and needed to be renewed, an event which sparked debate in the capital. Leading the debate at the Court Conference on either factional side were ministers Wang Hui and Han Anguo. Wang Hui argued that the heqin arrangement did not stop the Xiongnu from performing massive raids into Han territory, thus military force should be used against them. Han Anguo argued that heqin should be continued since it would be futile to send Han armies far into the wilderness to pursue the Xiongnu, as northern nomads were never conquered since even antiquity and the Xiongnu were better fighters in their own territory, able to trounce Han troops as proven before. Han Anguo argued that if Han armies spent too much time in the field, they would easily become exhausted and fall prey to bandits. Wang Hui rebutted by saying heqin was no permanent solution either. In this first Court Conference of 135 BC, Han Anguo gained the support of the majority of the ministers, so consensus in favor of his proposal to retain heqin won the day.
Page 211: In the second Court Conference taken place in 134 BC, when Nie Wengyi of Mayi convinced the high minister Wang Hui present his proposal that the Xiongnu shanyu should be lured to Mayi with the promise of gifts, where Han troops waiting in ambush would slaughter him. Di Cosmo writes that this Court Conference was most likely called into session due to the Emperor's aggrieved position with the Xiongnu, who were busy raiding the Chinese border while waiting for the Han to ratify a new heqin treaty.
Page 211-212: In the debate, Wang Hui presented pretty much the same argument, only slightly different. He noted that the Dai state during the Warring States Period was able to defend itself from the nomads and keep them from pillaging, but the great Han which united a gigantic empire could do barely anything to stop their raids. In his view, there was no other alternative but to stage an offensive. Han Anguo introduced his argument by first pointing out the humiliation of Emperor Gaozu of Han at the Battle of Baideng, a futile act which led to the very heqin policy being discussed, a policy that had so far provided relative peace for five generations. Han Anguo argued that it was wise to know one's limits, and even the Han Empire had its limits; hence, potentially disastrous conquests should be avoided. He praised Emperor Wen of Han for not conquering an inch of Xiongnu territory and renewing the treaty with them.
Page 212: To these points of Han Anguo, Wang Hui made this rebuttal, QUOTE: "Not so! I have heard that the Five Emperors did not follow each other's rituals, and the Three Kings did not repeat each other's music. This is not because they antagonized each other, but because every one followed what was appropriate to the epoch. Moreover, Kao-ti personally dressed in a strong armor, and armed with sharp weapons, hiding in fogs and mists, immersed in snow and frost had fought continuously for over ten years, and therefore he could not avenge the outrage of P'ing-ch'eng. Without force there is no ability, and therefore he put the hearts of the empire at rest. Today, however, there are frequent alarms along the frontiers, the soldiers are wounded and killed, and in China funerary processions follow one after the other. This is what grieves the benevolent man. For this reason I say that it is appropriate to strike."
Page 212: Di Cosmo clarifies that one point made by Wang Hui about Liu Bang, explaining that Liu had fought a long civil war and was in no position to continue fighting with the lack of resources and instability of his realm. Therefore he could not seek revenge for Baideng.
Page 212-213: Han Anguo replied to this by saying it would be nearly impossible to try and capture the Xiongnu, as they "arrive like a sudden wind and leave like a disappearing lightning. Their occupation is raising animals, they go hunting with bow and arrow; they follow their animals according to the availibility of pasture, and their abode is not permanent; they are difficult to capture and control. As for the present, since long they have caused the border regions to abandon tilling and weaving in order to support the common activities of the nomads. Their strength cannot be matched in a balanced way. For this reason I say it is not convenient to attack." Di Cosmo comments here that Han Anguo effectively displayed knowledge of the nomads' advantages and their absorbing of China's northern frontier regions into their sphere of economic influence.
Page 213: Wang Hui retorted by saying wise men act according to circumstance; when given the chance, Emperor Mu of Zhou defeated the Rong people and expanded his territory; the Qin general Meng Tian was able to take the Ordos region, opening up thousands of miles of land and building fortresses so that the Xiongnu "did not dare water their horses in the Yellow River". Furthermore, he said that the Xiongnu could not be cultivated with benevolence extended by the Chinese court; they could only be dealt with by using force. Wang Hui also pointed out that the Xiongnu's political position was rather unstable, as northern peoples dissatisfied with their subjugation by the Xiongnu could be persuaded to turn against their overlords, and explicitly mentioned the Yuezhi as a potential ally in such a scheme.
Page 213-214: Di Cosmo says that Han Anguo began to lose ground in the debate after Wang made this point, as Han merely repeated and reinforced his point about how the Xiongnu could not be fought in their own territory. Wang rebutted this by saying that penetrating deep into Xiongnu territory was not his proposal at all. It is at this moment where he introduced Nie Wengyi's plot to have the Xiongnu shanyu ambushed at Mayi under false pretense of providing him with gifts. In this way, Wang recognized that Han Anguo made a great point that prolonged wars fought in Xiongnu territory would be disastrous, but a limited engagement along the border with the capture of their leader would bring about political chaos for the Xiongnu, who would be likely to submit if not be severely weakened.
Page 213-214: Wang's idea, unfortunately, did not work in the field, as the botched Battle of Mayi proved to be disastrous for Han, since the shanyu did not fall into the intended trap and humiliated the Han armies. However, the unintended effect of this battle was that it proved to the Han ministers debating the subject that the Xiongnu did not obey peace treaties, they remained a constant threat, and limited engagement like the approach seen at Mayi did not work, so full-scale military action was the only other solution.

Heqin and Weakness of the Shanyu

Page 217-218: Di Cosmo states QUOTE: "A close examination of the actual treaty violations by the Hsiung-nu suggests that in various instances it was not the ch'an-yü himself who violated a particular agreement, but his subordinate leaders or Chinese commanders who had defected to the Hsiung-nu. Possibly, then, the central point in this matter could be identified in the discrepancy in the power that each of the parties 'singing' the treaty had to guarantee that the letter of the treaty would be respected by the entire body politic formally under his authority."
Page 221: Unlike the near absolute authority of the Han emperor in his centralized system of government, Di Cosmo says that the Xiongnu shanyu never had parallel absolute authority over his subjects; rather, he was a QUOTE: "first among equals, whose position of primacy rested ultimately on the consent obtained from other chieftains and members of the tribal aristocracy. This consent could be coerced, but the ultimate foundation of the charismatic leader was the voluntary consensus obtained from his closest advisors, military commanders, and family members, without whom his rise to power would be impossible. These 'electors' could not be kept in a position of absolute subordination." In other words, despite the fact that he was able to mobilize all the tribes from the center during war campaigns, he could not force everyone to obey him at every moment.
Page 224: The wise king of the right was in clear violation of the treaty between the shanyu and Emperor Wen of Han when in 176 BC he crossed the Yellow River and raided Chinese territory. The shanyu was frustrated about this too, putting part of the blame on Han officials who provoked him, but the wise king failed to inform the shanyu of his intentions and instead followed the advice of other Xiongnu leaders to invade.
Page 225: During the reigns of Emperor Jing of Han and Junchen Shanyu (r. 159–126 BC), the Xiongnu invasions and raids of Han territory were most likely not instigated by Junchen Shanyu, since the heqin agreement did not break down and border markets continued to stay open.
Page 225-226: Huyenti Shanyu (r. 85–68) desired to form a new heqin agreement with Han, but his two aristocratic subordinates, the wise king on the left and wise king on the right, opposed him due to their jealousy and resentment of not becoming shanyu themselves. They first sought to create an alliance with the Han Dynasty, then figured they should side with the Wusun and attack Huyenti Shanyu, then thought best just to stay in their territories and ignore Huyenti Shanyu. Thus, the heqin system was still used to divide the Xiongnu. This is made most explicit with the reign of Huhanye (r. 58–31 BC), who split the Xiongnu to lead the Southern Xiongnu in order to retain the right to receive Chinese goods. "This was possible because of the relative ease with which members of the Hsiung-nu aristocracy could secede from the larger political union. Going back to one's own territory was an option open to the nobility that the ch'an-yü had no legal power to oppose, and one that reveals the inherent weakness of his authority."

War and Expansion

Page 227-228: From 121 to 112 BC, the armies of Emperor Wu conquered and expanded Han territory far beyond what any previous state had achieved, while the unity of the Xiongnu became forever broken by the 1st century BC.
Page 228-229: In the Discourses on Salt and Iron, the "ministerial" faction argued that interventionism and expansionism by Han was a matter of using offense as your best defense, as fighting the enemy in their territory meant keeping the realm of Han safe. At the same time, the surplus of Chinese goods could be traded in new trade routes leading west for immense profits. The "literati" faction argued against expansion, saying that the state would exploit the welfare of the people for its own ends and prolonged war campaigns that would drain the economy. They argued that the importation of foreign goods did not match the quality of domestic goods already produced in China.
Page 229: However, the limited objectives of these positions failed to address the justification of the enormous expansion under Emperor Wu and subjugation of states which were either hostile or not hostile. The reasons for subjugating states along the way can be seen as the Han Dynasty's need for a line of fortifications providing logistical support as Han armies pushed farther northwest in their offensive against the Xiongnu. In order to truly defeat the Xiongnu, the Han also had to sever the economic and political links which the Xiongnu had with various polities in the Western Regions, which feuled the power of the Xiongnu. It was the implementation of this strategy which eventually broke the Xiongnu Empire apart.
Page 230-231: Up until the reign of Emperor Wu, the powerful Xiongnu offered a viable alternative to the nobles' allegiance to Han, as many subordinate kings and generals desired autonomy, and when their revolt did not succeed, the Xiongnu could provide sanctuary. The conflict of Liu Bang with his once trusted general Han Xin and then Lu Wan (the latter the King of Yan who fled to the Xiongnu) clearly demonstrates this.
Page 231: Although the Chinese had been using cavalry since the Warring States Period, the armies of Meng Tian and Liu Bang which fought the Xiongnu were primarily composed of infantry and charioteer forces. When Chao Cuo requested in his memorial of 169 BC that cavalry forces should be used against the Xiongnu, this was a clear indication that the Han armies still had not sufficiently adopted a strong cavalry-based army. This would change under Emperor Wu.
Page 232: The problem facing early Western Han rulers was the amount and availability of horses. The Han imported horses from the Xiongnu and other northern peoples along the border, but this would become insufficient in times of war with the Xiongnu, as the Xiongnu could simply cut off the trade when it was most needed. The Han thus had to breed horses in China, preferably in frontier areas with little inhabitation or agricultural cultivation. By 140 BC, during the early reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the mass-breeding of horses had finally become established, as thirty-six breeding grounds on the frontiers maintained some 300,000 horses.
Page 232: However, when the military campaigns of 129 to 119 BC deep into Xiongnu territory depleted a large amount of the horses that the Han required, the breeding grounds were simply not enough to solve the problem. The Han government then decided to establish a simultaneous system with the breeding grounds that would involve all of China, that is, the encouragement of private breeding. Individual subjects could breed their own horses anywhere, which the state could then purchase as needed. Under Emperor Wu, QUOTE: "A new tax law stipulated that up to three men in any family could be exempted from military duties by presenting one horse each for the army. Finally, a portion of the revenues from the poll tax on children (k'ou-fu) was earmarked specifically for the purchase of horses for the military. Already in 146 B.C. the export of horses under ten years of age was forbidden, and horses remained a much sought-after commodity."
Page 233: For some time the Chinese had imported superior, tall and high-quality stallions from Central Asia, while the campaign of Li Guangli in 104–101 BC (against Dayuan) was specifically intended to gain this type of horse through tribute. Beyond trade and tribute, the Han also gained the superior Central Asian stallion by means of capturing them from the Xiongnu during battle.
Page 233-234: It was one thing to have horses, and another to train professional cavalrymen. The creation of cavalry forces intended specifically for frontier service was established as far back as 178 BC. In the campaigns of 129 to 119 BC they became essential for victory against the Xiongnu. From 130 BC to 23 AD, there were two types of Han soldiers: the bing who were salaried volunteers providing temporary or permanent service; the zu were conscripts used primarily for labor and guard duty. The bing established under Emperor Wu were essentially specially trained soldiers who could serve as infantry or cavalry, accompanied by auxiliary troops of mounted nomads (the latter often used as frontier guards).
Page 234: The great amount of horses and newly trained cavalrymen were supplemented by the Western Han defensive trends of replacing old-style copper-and-hide armor with iron-plated armor and helmets. Plus the Han Dynasty Chinese had the handheld crossbow and repeating crossbow which were far more superior than the nomadic bow. The effectiveness of the crossbow is seen one of the battles fought by Li Ling (Han Dynasty) (d. 74 BC) where he succeeded despite having only infantry who were completely outnumbered by the Xiongnu cavalry.
Page 234-235: There was one great disadvantage to offset these new advantages, and that was the continual problem of logistical support and supplies. On the frontiers, the state managed farms run by conscripts to provide food, built garrisoned forts far into the wilderness, and lit beacon fires for communication. However, the range of effectiveness of frontier defenses and supports were limited, and once an army ventured far into Xiongnu territory, they had no support. They could pillage Xiongnu livestock and other items, but this was a marginal supplement to the needs of a large army. To improve logistical support and supplies, the Han built a string of forts where garrisons protected granaries full of food and warehouses full of money and weapons. In addition, temporary storehouses could be set up for campaigns, filled with money, weapons, and food. This strategy also fit into the scheme of eventually transforming recently conquered frontiers into viable Han commanderies.

Phases of Conquest under Emperor Wu

FIRST PHASE OF CONQUEST (133–119 BC)

Page 236-237. The first phase of conquest under Emperor Wu was aimed at recovering and consolidating all the land lost south of the western bend of the Yellow River. The defeat at Mayi was a setback, but a large offensive began in 129 BC which was led by four commanders.
Page 237: The 129 BC campaign was directed by General of Chariots and Cavalry Wei Qing, the General of Light Chariots Gongsun He, the Grand Palace Grandee Gongsun Ao, and Commandant of the Guards Li Guang. It was recorded that each general commanded a force of ten thousand cavalry. Wei Qing was the only general who achieved success, in that he ventured as far as Longcheng, sacred site of the Xiongnu, where he killed and captured several hundred. However, Gongsun He did not achieve anything of merit, Gongsun Ao lost seven thousand of his cavalry, and Li Guang was taken prisoner (he later escaped). The latter two generals were demoted to commoner status.
Page 237-238: The Xiongnu went on the counteroffensive in 128 BC, invading what is today's Liaoning where they killed the governor of Liaoxi Commandery (west of Daling River) and invaded Yanmen where several thousand were killed or captured. Wei Qing was sent to repel them while Han Anguo was given command to guard Yuyang (he later quit this position after the Xiongnu fled far away). A month later, the Xiongnu assaulted Shanggu Commandery in northern Hebei. In 127 BC, the Han then made another offensive led by Wei Qing, who crossed the Yellow River heading west and reached Gaoque Pass in the Yin Mountains, where he killed and captured 2,300 Xiongnu.
Page 238: General Wei Qing then pacified the area south of the Yellow River in the Ordos Desert, crossed the Ziling Mountains, and built a bridge over the Wujia River of today's Inner Mongolia (the Wujia once flowed into the Yellow River). Near Wujia River, he defeated the local Xiongnu lord Puni at Fuli (located northwest of today's Wuyuan County of Inner Mongolia), killing his soldiers and taking 3,075 of his scouts as prisoners.
Page 238-239: In 126 BC, the Xiongnu retaliated once more by invading Tai Commandery and killing its administrator Gong Yu. The Xiongnu once again invaded Yanmen and took over a thousand hostages. In that same year, the Han Dynasty established the Shuofang Commandery just south of the far western bend of the Yellow River, an area that was recently controlled by the Xiongnu but now was dotted with new Han forts. This outraged the Xiongnu.
Page 239: In 125 BC, the Xiongnu invaded Dai, Dingxiang, and Shang commanderies, killing and capturing several thousand. These two empires now supported long-range expeditions of an enormous scale. In the Spring of 123 BC, commander Wei Qing, at the head of an army of one hundred thousand cavalry and six subordinate generals, proceeded hundreds of miles north of Dingxiang to assault the Xiongnu. In 122 BC, the Xiongnu again invaded Shanggu Commandery. In 121 BC, General Huo Qubing set off from Longxi with ten thousand cavalry rode a distance of over a thousand li (if the Han li was 415 meters, then his travel distance was 415 km, or 258 miles), crossed the Yanzhi Mountains in what is now Gansu, and assaulted the Xiongnu.
Page 239: In the summer of 121 BC, Huo Qubing once again set out, this time with Gongsun Ao, the Marquis of Heqi, to lead tens of thousands of troops north of Longxi and Beidi over a distance of two thousand li (which would be 830 km or 515 miles). After they passed through what is now southern Inner Mongolia, they reached the Qilian Mountains in what is now Gansu and fought the Xiongnu there. In that battle they killed or captured over 30,000 Xiongnu, which included some seventy tuqi and lesser chieftains.
Page 239-240: After these incredibly long-range campaigns which damaged the Xiongnu considerably, now Xiongnu chieftains and aristocrats started to defect to Han, including the Hunye King. The Longxi, Beidi, and Hexi areas suffered less from Xiongnu raids. The Han were also able to populate the area south of the Great Bend of the Yellow River with Chinese settlers from Guandong (which was east of the Hangu Pass in Shanxi).
Page 240: In 119 BC, Han General Huo Qubing led another large expedition, reaching the Tianyan Mountains (just southeast of the Khangai Mountains in Mongolia). They attacked the Wise King on the Left, who fled after the Han army killed or captured some 70,000 Xiongnu. After this disastrous defeat, the Xiongnu fled to the northern steppe of Mongolia, as their royal court was no longer safe at its previous location south of the Gobi Desert.
Page 240-241: In the aftermath of this campaign, two new commanderies were established on the frontier, Shoufang and Wuyuan, as well as a number of Dependent States (Shuguo) overseen by a Director of Independent States (Dianshuguo) inhabited by non-Chinese nomads who had switched allegiance to Han. These Dependent States would act as buffers between the Han Empire and the regions controlled by hostile Xiongnu and Qiang peoples. Furthermore, the borders were stable and the Han Dynasty no longer paid tribute to the Xiongnu.

SECOND PHASE OF CONQUEST (119–104 BC)

Page 241 & 244 (map stretched out on pages 242 and 243): In these years, the Han Dynasty rationalized and centralized its financial administrations to meet the problem of depleted state resources following these monumental campaigns. The state monopolies exacted over salt and iron were part of a large and widespread economic reform effort to build up the strength of the central government and prepare it for war. With the Xiongnu Empire defeated and forced to retreat north, the Han set out to annihilate its political power. After several campaigns, by 110 BC the Han had established a new commandery of Jiuquan (located east of the Shule River in Gansu province) that served the strategic purpose of cutting off the communication route between the Xiongnu and the Qiang tribesmen. The new frontier extended as far as Xianlei (in modern Dacheng County, Xinjiang), which was put under cultivation. The Xiongnu were forced to fully retreat from not only the areas south of the northwestern Great Bend of the Yellow River, but also the entire region south of the Gobi Desert.
Page 244: Between 112 and 108 BC, the Han established fourteen new border commanderies on their southern and northern frontiers, showing that they had consolidated the areas they recently conquered. Commercial expeditions and military expeditions were sent into Central Asia. A defensive line of self-supporting garrisons were permanently stationed along the new borders. They not only protected lines of communication, but also turned their areas into small but productive agricultural communities.

THIRD PHASE OF CONQUEST (104–87 BC)

Page 244-245: In 104 BC, the General Li Guangli was sent towards the Western Regions to attack Fergana (located in modern Uzbekistan), then under the control of the Yuezhi. Han diplomats traveled to kingdoms of the Tarim Basin. The envoy Wang Hui was insulted by the Kingdom of Loulan, so he aided General Zhao Ponu in his attack of Loulan, the latter defeated. A line of forts were built all the way to Dunhuang in Gansu and to the Lang Mountains in Inner Mongolia.
Page 245: Since Jiuquan controlled a strategic line of communication running through what is today's northern Gansu province, the Xiongnu Wise King of the Right invaded it in 102 BC, taking several thousand hostage. In retaliation, the Han sent Li Guangli from Jiuquan in 99 BC at the head of 30,000 cavalry to fight the Wise King on the Right in the Tian Shan range. Li Guangli became surrounded by the Xiongnu, and very little of his forces survived (he, however, escaped death). Li Ling (Han Dynasty) set out from Jiuquan in the same year, this time with just 5,000 special infantry. He too was surrounded and defeated, although he himself surrendered to the Xiongnu.
Page 245-246: In 97 BC, the Han General Li Guangli again set out to attack the Xiongnu, this time with 60,000 cavalry and over 100,000 infantry. As his army moved, the Xiongnu sent their families north of the Xuwu River (modern Dula River in Mongolia) as their shanyu waited for Han troops south of the river with a hundred thousand cavalry. Years after he had been dispatched, the actual battle did not take place until 90 BC. In the battle, Li Guangli was captured and later executed. Di Cosmo writes that the great era of Western Han expansionism ended after 99 BC. However, the Han consolidated all the territories they had gained and retained a presence in the Western Regions. The Xiongnu's political landscape was shattered and its leadership ineffective in the face of many chieftains' and tributaries' rebellions against the shanyu's authority. This culminated in Huhanye Shanyu's settlement with Emperor Xuan of Han in the 50s BC.
Page 246: Between 104 BC and 67 BC, four commanderies were established to administer the Western Regions, those being Jiuquan, Zhangye, Dunhuang, and Wuwei. These frontier commanderies were governed by a Grand Administrator (Taishou) who had civil and martial duties. Under the rule of Emperor Wu of Han, new official posts were created to deal with foreign peoples, such as the Colonel Protecting the Wuhuan and Colonel Protecting the Qiang. In 60 BC, long after the conquest of Central Asia, the Han established a new Protectorate of the Western Regions. In the oasis city of Turfan (Xinjiang), the Wu and Ji Colonelcy, which were supernumerary military posts, were established in 48 BC.

The Western Regions

Page 247: Zhang Qian, China's first explorer of the Western Regions, departed in 139 or 138 BC to find allies who would side with Han against the Xiongnu, but instead was captured by the Xiongnu for many years before finally meeting the Yuezhi, who rejected his offer of allegiance against the Xiongnu. Although this mission was a failure, it provided the Chinese with the first detailed information of the Western Regions, the wealth it produced and the means of the hegemonic Xiongnu to control it.
Page 248-249: The Han expansion into the Western Regions was not brought about by a desire to expand commercial trade with far-flung people; it was part of a grand Han strategy to undermine the Xiongnu. After military expansion, the Han then sought the obvious benefits of extending commercial relations with the sedentary states of Dayuan (Fergana) and Daxia (Bactria, formerly the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom) during the 1st century BC.
Page 249-250: By moving in to subjugate and extract tribute from the oasis city-states of the Hexi Corridor and Tarim Basin, the Han Dynasty cut off a vital supply of provisions to the Xiongnu, namely agricultural foodstuffs and crafts made in these urban centers. That was the impetus for Han expansion into the Western Regions, as well as southern Manchuria. After the Han discontinued its trade, shut down its border markets, and forced the Xiongnu to flee the areas south of the Gobi Desert, the Xiongnu had to rely more and more on the products made by the oasis city-states (located now in Xinjiang). As for the new settlements established by the Chinese on their new frontiers, QUOTE: "These military-agricultural settlements had multiple functions: to prevent the Hsiung-nu from gaining access to agricultural products, to serve as advanced logistic support for Chinese expeditionary armies, and to protect the trade that China was starting to organize with the west."
Page 250-251: As proven by Chinese records and archaeological excavations, the Xiongnu did have a few agricultural settlements of their own where they put nomads to work farming, but these were marginal compared to the amount of agricultural products that could be gained from the western city-states as soon as the heqin relations broke down.