A Research On The Pass System In Qin-Han Dynasties

Passes are the artificial buildings which are set up by utilizing the natural terrain.In theancient time,they were the important institutions used to orderly rule by the rulers,so they wereof the strong practical functions,and one of the most important functions was the military defense.In addition,they also had the following functions as to maintain the political and economic order,keep the social stability,increase the state revenue,implement the foreign affairs of the centralgovernment,etc.According to the literature,the set-up of passes can be dated back to the early period of theWestern Zhou dynasty.There existed a number of principalities during the Eastern Zhou dynastyperiod,and they fought and conquered to each other,which provided an opportunity for thedukes to concerned about the military defense for their own territories.However,due to thelimited population and the lack of military power among the dukedoms,it was difficult to build acomprehensive pass defense system.The Pre-Qin dynasty period was the forming stage of theregional pass system,and the period of Qin and Han dynasties was the improved stage of thenational pass system.With time bringing a great change to the land,most of the passes of the Qin and Handynasties do no longer exist today,but the archaeological findings and the literature of the bambooslips excavated have provided huge proofs for our understanding of the pass building system.They show that in Qin and Han dynasties passes had a set of complete and complex architecturalsystem,with its main building including the gateway,gate-tower,ramparts and the living facilitiesfor the officers and soldiers.The construction of passes depended on the local conditions,eitherby ramming earth and supporting the planks to build the ramparts,or laying the stone slabs toform the wall,or leaning against the mountains and canyons,or fencing,or railing,or combiningthe various parts of fortifications so as to provide a solid material foundation for passes to play thesynergistic effect.In Qin and Han dynasties there were many passes.For the sake of research,we should dividethe passes within the empires of Qing and Han into different regions on the basis of the distribution of the density and sparseness of the passes as well as the then political situation,administrative divisions,and the position of mountains and rivers and other factors.Based on theconception,six big regional political plates can be partitioned:Guanzhong region,Guandongregion,region along the Great Wall,northwest region,south region and southwest region.Ofcourse,due to the uniqueness of the socio-political and military situation of chronicles,not everypolitical plate had an equally significant influence in its age.A large number of ordinary passes within the territories of Qin and Han empires,owing totheir short-term application,less influence,especially their vague literature,it is hard for us to findtheir traces.With the current information in hand,and based on the previous research and theofficial history records as the main clue,we can systematize the hand-down literature,the ancientlocal chronicles,the materials of bamboo slips and the archaeological findings to explore thehistory of those typically important passes respectively.The pass management system in Qin and Han dynasties includes the attached department,thepersonnel,the treatment of those stationed at the passes and their duties,the customs-passingletters management system,the regulations and the pass property management system,and so on.The personnel composition of the passes in Qin and Han dynasties includes the centralgovernment officials involved in the pass management,the local officials in charge of the passesand the supervisors,and the officers and soldiers.In Qin and Han dynasties those who were accessto the passes should be subject to the provisions of proof of identity.According to the records ofthe documents of literature,the certificates were Zhuan,Fu,Qi,Qixin,Ru,etc.The materials ofbamboo slips provide the certificates of Zhi and Ji.To combine the two kinds of materials togetheris necessary to discriminate the shape,use and issue as well as the check-up institutions and theapplications of the passes.The regulation system was mainly targeted at persons and possessions.It had the strict restrictions for the personnel access.Depending on the accessible personnel with alegal certificate and its identity or not,the personnel could be divided into three kinds----thosewho were allowed to access,those who were not allowed to access and those who were rarelyallowed to access.The access restrictions on the materials were severe,including gold,jewelryand other valuables,and the iron,metal utensils,horses and other strategic commodities alike were also restrictive.The pass system of the Qin and Han dynasties had a set of very strict rulesfor funding sources,use and monitoring.The logistic materials stored in the passes wereindispensable articles whose keeping,using and regularly examining also had the strictprocedures.Accordingly,the pass system with a effective management in Qin and Han dynastiesprovided a strong system protection for the orderly operation of the passes.The passes in Qin and Han Dynasties,in accordance with their different geographicaldistributions and the main functions,can be divided into inland ones and frontier ones.The inlandpasses almost have the some similarities to the frontier passes in the management structure andfunctions,but the differences between them are also very obvious.The differences lie not only inthe different locations,but also in the related facilities,the defense objects,concrete work and thecountry's political situation.If the frontier passes are to protect the country's"body skin",then theinland passes are to safeguard its"heart".From the point of view of promoting the process ofhistorical development and maintenance of the regime,the role played by the inland passes shouldnot be overlooked.There existed the customs stations in Qin and Han dynasties.Unlike the passes on the landwhich laid emphasis on the military functions,the customs stations emphasized the functions ofeconomy and diplomacy,and shouldered the responsibilities of the country's foreign affairs,tariffsand other duties.Although the lack of direct materials at present proving the institution of thecustoms stations in Qin and Han dynasties,the literature and the archaeological results can explainthat the rulers of that period had adequate cognitive concepts and took appropriate managementmeasures about the sea,the coastal areas and territorial seas and the harbors.The set-up of the pass system in Qin and Han dynasties was reasonable,comprehensive,andstrict as well management,the orderly functioning,so it played an important role in social life.The most important functions of passes were reflected in the aspects of politics,military andfinance,economy.The passes were both the territory's defensive building facilities and themanagement system of maintaining the state stability.The political,military functions the passesmainly cover four areas:safeguarding the capital and protecting the important strategic places,controlling the expansion of local forces and preventing the peasant uprising,controlling the mobility of population in order to maintain the social order,and defending the territory.Thefunctions of the passes were also reflected in the financial and economic respects.Throughlevying the pass taxes the state revenue was increased and the material flows were regulated.Also,through opening the border trade markets,the exchanges between the ethnic groups and thepolitical powers were promoted,which helped to attain the established strategic objectives in thestates military and diplomatic fields.Therefore,the passes in Qin and Han dynasties made greatcontributions to maintaining the stability of the country.The geographical conditions and socio-historical background of the passes in Qin and Handynasties were the deep causes of the changes of passes.The pass system under the unifiedcentralism in Qin and Han dynasties was of distinct characteristics of the times:The pass construction of the Qin and Han dynasties whose shapes were inherited from theones of pre-Qin period had a significant reference for the later pass-building.The national passsystem in this period had been established,but the regional differences existed objectively.Andthe differences were the direct embodiment of the national control over the strong-weak changesin the strength.The pass system and management policies in Qin and Han dynasties reflected thecentral government's guiding ideology of"resistance and pacification","strong trunk and weakbranches"and"emphasis on agriculture and restraint on commerce".Overall,the pass system inQin and Han dynasties was complete in institution,clear in structure,strict in regulations,legiblein responsibilities,with a good feasibility and convenience of interoperability.The founding ofQin and Han empires contributed to the change of the passes of the states in pre-Qin period fromthe frontier ones into the inland ones within the unified and centralized country.To study thisperiod's pass functions,we can see that the inland and frontier passes focused on different aspectsin politics and military.When the situation was tense,the two kinds of passes focused on themilitary.But,in the peaceful time they paid more attention to the internal stability.As for theirfinancial and economic functions,the two had the responsibilities of levying the taxes andmanaging the goods circulation of different regions.In the diplomatic aspect,the functions of thecustoms stations were to highlight the independence of the foreign relations of the unifiedsovereign state. In summary,the passes in Qin and Han dynasties effectively achieved the control of thecentral government over the local authorities in many aspects of politics,military and economyand the intention of emphasizing both the extra-territorial exchanges and the national defense,which has played an important role in history.