The Identity Of. Scribe Chenqie "and Then Study

The identity of li chen qie (隶臣妾) has been a topic of general interestsince the Qin slips unearthed at Shui-hu-di(睡虎地) were published in 1975.Although this topic has received much scholarly attention and have been arguedfor years by Chinese and foreign scholars in various fields such as history,law, subject of bamboo and wooden slips, and palaeography, it still remain inquestion.This dissertation is a comprehensive study of the identity of li chen qie(隶臣妾), a hot topic of research in the legal history even in the history ofQin and Han Dynasties, from a perspective of legal history, through the detailedexamination of both unearthed bamboo and wooden slips and historical documents.Numerous research approaches of law, history, bamboo and wooden slips,palaeography and historical linguistics are synthetically applied in thisdissertation,especially the famous'duality attesting reconstructions(二重证据法)'advocated by Wang Guowei(王国维), to distinguish the information onthe'materials on paper'according to the comparison with the'new materialsunderground'.This dissertation aims at tracing out a comprehensive pictureof appearance, development, variation and social background of li chen qie(隶臣妾) through detailed examination, discrimination, analysis and textualresearch of both unearthed documents and historical documents correlated withit, as well as finding out the academic reasons that cause opinions of thisissue vary in the past years through detailed examination of the previousachievements in researches on the concerned subject, thus trying to make aacademic breakthrough in this field.This dissertation contains more than 450,000 words, and includes eightchapters.Chapter One "Introduction" presents the object, scope, approaches, mainideas and academic values of research in this dissertation,as well as brieflyintroduces and examines the previous research achievements and theirlimitations.With that, this chapter gives a systemic introduction of relatedhistorical materials, especially Bronze inscriptions of the Qin dynasty andBamboo and Wooden documents of Qin and Han dynasties. In order to have a fullystrong and reliable base of materials , this chapter discusses the followingissues: the time of establishment of Shang province ( Shang jun, 上郡)in theQin dynasty, which still remains in question;the denomination, characteristicand years of being compiled in book form of Zou Yan Shu (The Casebooks, 奏谳书), as well as those of Er Nian Lu Ling (The Laws Of The Second Year, 二年律令).Chapter Two "Reviews of the Researches About the Identity of Li Chen Qie(隶臣妾)" traces back to the previous researches about the identity of li chenqie(隶臣妾) with making use of both historical materials and unearthed documents,especially sorts out the related researches of Chinese and foreign scholarssince 1975.Through reviewing those representative research articles, thischapter generalizes the characteristics of researches in each stage, examinesthe success and failure, analyzes the reasons that make this issue become ahot topic, thus makes sure what to do next.Chapter Three "Identification and Verification of the Term Li Chen Qie(隶臣妾)" treats textual research of the term li chen qie(隶臣妾). As a word,li chen (隶臣) and li chen qie(隶臣妾) first appeared in the book History of theWestern Han Dynasty (《汉书》), which is used as a name of penal servitude thatforce someone to do odds and ends in some official departments. As a name ofpenal servitude, the term li chen (隶臣) was first used by the Qin Kingdom. Itfirst appeared in some time after the period of Shang Yang's reform(商鞅变法),but before the reign of the King Zhao of the Qin Kingdom (秦昭王). The term lichen qie (隶臣妾) was first found in the bamboo slips of the Qin dynasty unearthedat Shui hu di (睡虎地) with diversity. This term was not used till May of thefirst year of Taichu of the Emperor Wu in the early Western Han Dynasty (汉武帝太初元年). The term 'li chen qie(隶臣妾)' is a abbreviative compound wordcomposed of 'li chen(隶臣)' and 'li qie(隶妾)'.During the Period of Springand Autumn and Warring States(春秋战国时期),a new prison system came to beingthat led to a suddenly increase of new words, so it was necessary to compoundthe words with a same or similar meaning to make the language precise and concise.From that on, the words 'li chen(隶臣)','li qie(隶妾)'and'li chen qie(隶臣妾)'were used in the Qin Law (秦律) in succession. For the etymologists, itwas the polysemy of the word 'li(隶)' that resulted in the diversiform andcomplicate meanings of the words'li chen (隶臣),'li qie'(隶妾)and even 'lichen qie'(隶臣妾). And the trend of transiting the criminals from slavery toprisoner explains this compound or mixture from jurisprudence.Both Chapter Four and Five treat "the Identity of Li Chen Qie (隶臣妾)Appeared in the Qin Bamboo Slips Unearthed at Shui Hu Di(睡虎地)". Accordingto statistics of all 37 historical data from these bamboo slips, 65 percentof 'li chen qie(隶臣妾)'means a prisoner or a name of penal servitude, 17percent government slavery, and 14 percent remains unclear, 4 percent titledas 'geng li qie(更隶妾)'remains to be verified. The term 'li chen qie(隶臣妾)'means a name of punishment in one historical material from the Qin bambooslips unearthed at Long gang(龙岗秦简). And in five historical materials fromthe Qin bamboo slips unearthed at Li ye (里耶秦简),'li chen qie(隶臣妾)'meansa prisoner of penal servitude. So it is clear that the term 'li chen qie(隶臣妾)' used as a prisoner or a government slavery alternatively turned intoa nomenclature of prisoner gradually during the periods from the Qin Kingdomto the unified Qin dynasty.Both Chapter Six and Seven treat "the Identity of Li Chen Qie (隶臣妾) inthe Han Bamboo Slips Unearthed at Zhang Jia Shan". In 19 articles of the Hanslips "Er Nian Lu Ling"(The Laws of the Second Year, 二年律令), the term 'lichen qie(隶臣妾)' means a name of prisoner of penal servitude in Han law. Inthe Zou Yan Shu (Casebook, 奏谳书), there are four cases related to 'li chenqie(隶臣妾)'. Accrding to statistics of these four cases, the term 'li chen(隶臣)'and'li chen qie(隶臣妾)' mentioned in case 14 that took place in the earlyWestern Han dynasty means a name of penal servitude in the Han law. Among thecase 19, 21 and 22 that took place in the Qin dynasty, 'li chen qie(隶臣妾)'mentioned in the former two cases means a name of penal servitude in the Qinlaw, 'pu li chen(仆隶臣)' mentioned in the last case means a prisoner of penalservitude, the identity of 'li qie(隶妾)'mentioned in this case two timesremains unclear. Thus it can be seen that the system of li chen qie in Qin lawturned into a nomenclature of name of penal servitude in Han law.Chapter Eight "Conclusions" concludes some conclusions about li chen qie(隶臣妾). As a nomenclature of Qin law, 'li chen qie(隶臣妾)'means not onlygovernment slavery but also prisoner of penal servitude. With the developmentduring the periods from the Warring States, the Qin Dynasty to the Western Han,li chen qie (隶臣妾) turned into a nomenclature of name of penal servitude inHan law. It is obvious that the model of five stages of ancient Chinese historynever can be served as a prerequisite of studying the identity of li chen qie(隶臣妾), and the model of the identity of li chen qie(隶臣妾) also never can benever served as a prerequisite of studying the terms of penalty of prisonerin Qin law.