Page 17 - YunnanTourismCultureTimes (111)

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CITY LIFE | 城事

Bamboo slips document the past

简牍诉说历史

If bronze artifacts are the magnificent bear written characters. Their content covers four-tiered local administrative divisions and or-
symbol of the ancient Dian civilization, then administrative documents, judicial records, ganizational hierarchy of commandery, county,
the bamboo slips and sealing clays unearthed household registers, and more, meticulously township, and li (a basic administrative unit) in
at the Hebosuo Site are direct witnesses to detailing the tax and labor service system, the Han Dynasty’s southwestern region. They
the implementation of Central Plains systems judicial procedures, and ethnic group manage- provide archaeological evidence for in-depth
in the frontier regions. According to Jiang ment of Yizhou Commandery. research into the local administrative system and
Zhilong, over 50,000 bamboo slips have been The precious bamboo slips unearthed at grassroots organizations during the Qin and Han
discovered at the site so far, of which 14,000 the Hebosuo Site also fully reconstructs the periods (221 BCE-220 CE).

Sealing clays bridge historical gaps

封泥填补空白

Sealing clays, known as fengni, were of the “Seal of the Dian Kingdom Prime Min- frontier and inner regions.
utilized in ancient China as lumps of clay ister” sealing clay, which filled a historical Jiang Zhilong noted that the Hebosuo Site
applied to the string knots securing bamboo gap. Emperor Wu of Han, while bestowing a is currently unparalleled in the quantity of un-
and wooden slip documents or other valua- golden seal upon the King of Dian, also estab- earthed textual materials among Han Dynasty
bles. Imprinted with the owner’s seal, they lished the position of “Dian Kingdom Prime frontier commandery administrative centers.
functioned both as a means of identification Minister,” thereby both preserving the tradi- The collective archaeological discoveries
and a deterrent against unauthorized access. tional authority of the King of Dian to “con- strongly suggest that the Western Han central
Although official documents were common- tinue to rule his people” and integrating the government adopted a flexible dual political
ly centrally destroyed—often by burning or frontier region into the national administrative structure and a sophisticated governance strat-
burying—the sealing clays themselves were system. egy for Yunnan. These measures, in addition
preserved specifically through the burning Official sealing clays, such as that of the to consolidating central authority, effectively
process, which caused them to undergo cer- “Inspector of Yizhou Commandery,” not only promoted stability and development in the
amization. linked the administrative network of Yizhou frontier regions. The findings thus hold ex-
At the Hebosuo Site, the discovery of over Commandery with surrounding command- ceptional value for understanding the admin-
2,000 sealing clays served as mutual corrobo- eries and counties but also shed light on the istration of the Southwest frontier during the
ration with the unearthed bamboo and wooden exchange of documents between the central pivotal Qin-Han transition and the compre-
slips. Particularly precious is the excavation government and local authorities, and between hensive process of state integration.