A Study On Muquan From The Eastern Han Dynasty To The Northern And Southern Dynasties

Muquan, as main component of mourning and burial rites, the content of the text varies, which generally could be divided into 3 categories:"maidi", "maidizhenmu"zhenmujiezhe". Maidilei Muquan, as the written document for the title of the graveyard in the nether world, is placed with the fallen; "zhenmujiezhe", which stress the division of the living and the dead and the eternal farewell, is used to forgive and atone for the deceased’s sins and offence, to remove disaster and bless for the living; maidizhenmu, as the combination of the function for Maidi and Zhenmujiezhe, reflects its dual nature of this categories.Holders of Muquan from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties did not realize the nature of mortality for human beings. Instead, they seek an everlasting life and deliberately keep the deceased at a distance. When their wishes for a long life become extinct, they chose to ship off the fallen to Other World like Taishan, Huangquan, or Haoli with the desire that the Ghost will live in the grave perpetually, and have a new start of life cycle under the bureaucracy system and perception of family in the nether world. During this period, the Muquan-Holders’ perception on death indicates that they do not have a clear concept on life and death. The ambiguity of this concept is affected by the times or social environment. To be more specific, the Muquan-Holders conduct the funeral of the fallen under the atmosphere of worship of Qingwuzi, Laojun (Lord Lao Zi of the Great Monad) and abolishment of taboo, in order to help the fallen succeed the life that is terminated in Life in the nether world.The Muquan-Holders considers that ghost will bring the living ruthless pains and miseries. Thus they applies all kinds of exorcism to dispel these evil spirits from disturbing the living. However, these ghosts are family members before one’s death. The living may care about them for the sake of bloodshed, affection and love, so they tend to positively prey for these ghosts and wish they could create a comfortable surroundings for their deceased families in the nether world, and in turn to reach the effect that the dead bless the their living families.Most of the Muquan-Holders do not strictly follow the so-called "minxianjueli" pattern with avoiding inscription of the title and feme on the Muquan or inscribing the "li’, "xiang", "xiang-li as substitute, which shows that system of "xiangli" under the level of "jun-xian" as the basic unit of administration remain steady in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Some Muquan excavated in the territory of State of Wu in the period of three Kingdoms could not embody the administrative system at social basic level due to insufficient records. Nevertheless, to some extent, it may reflect that although ruling class tries to resume it, it is a fruitless and frustrating fact that the system of "xiangli" is not commonly re-established at social basic level after its destruction at the turn of East Han Dynasty and State of Wei. The fact that No records on the name of Xiang-Li is shown in most of Muquan in West Jin Dynasty seems to reveal sense of alienation between the common people and organization of Xiang-Li. Yet A few which covers the records of Xiang-Li may suggest that the system is resumed at basic social level by the effort of the ruling class of West Jin Dynasty who have overcome the obstruction, and is succeeded by the following regime. The Muquan excavated in Liangzhou during the sixteen nations reveals that not only the System of Xiang-Li, but the naming culture as well is inherited from Han-Jin Dynasty in this region. After the northern part of China is unified by the Tuoba Wei, the Xiang-Li System does not disappear at the basic level. On the contrary, it remains the basic body for household management in rural areas. The information recorded by the Muquan from East Jin to the Southern Dynasties demonstrates the existence, continuity and stability of hierarchical structure of Cun-Li-Xiang under the administration of prefectures and counties.In the cases of land purchases recorded in the Muquan from East Han to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, we can find that people from all social strata could do land transactions for different purposes, including house-building, tomb-constructing, cashing. It is the reason that the nature of value of land is realized by people, fair and lawful land purchase and unfair and illegal ones which include selling hustling of public and private lands constantly co-exist. To keep the market of land purchase in order, not only the government has promulgated laws and made policy toward it, but contract-signing and practice of dealing is used as well, both of which guarantees that transaction of land sale should be conducted fairly and lawfully. The land sale occurs based on money. Without the fact that a fertile farmland is worth of 10,000 Qian taken into consideration, the price of land per mu usually ranges from 500 to 2,750 Qian in East Han Dynasty, which equals to the half price of the money in the nether world. The land price in the Six Dynasties is surely higher than that of East Han Dynasty, while we could not learn the exact figure on land price of the Six Dynasties. Obviously, the price of Muquan in the Northern Wei Dynasty is lower than that of East Han Dynasty, even lower than that recorded in the Juyanhanjian-a. bamboo writing slip and land rental in Gaochang areas in the late 6th Century. Presumably, the land price during the Northern Wei Dynasty is relatively low.A high degree of awareness on property right is among people’s mind from East Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, who are closely concerned about the tenure, jus fruendi aut fructus, and rights of use and disposal related to the land title. People along with the local authorities recognized the value of bill of land sales on disputes or litigations. In rural societies, both of the disputing parties, no matter they are living in the same territory or different, are reluctant to initiate legal proceedings. Instead, the convention is that they rely on the binding force of the contract and witness, compulsory force of law and reverence toward divinities to the effect of credit and avoidance of lawsuit. People unconsciously convey the notion of "private contract is equal to the law" as a mean of metaphor and the knowledge concerned to others around them. Thus, to a various degree, the spirit of the law and value of private contract is publicized among the whole society.