Study Of Status And Order Of Sun Wu Grassroots Society Centered Around Wu Slips Which Were Unearthed In Zoumalou

Research on Sun Wu’history is restricted because of the limited Historical material. The Wu Slips unearthed at Zoumalou with abundant and reliable material makes it possible to do a comprehensive and deep research on Sun Wu’history. On the basis of Wu Slips,with the relationship between Status and order as the clue, a comprehensive and systematic study of the order in Sun Wu Grassroots Society by Paleographic Method, Statistical Method, Method of Dual Evidence, Stochastic Decomposition and Class Analysis,and so on.The order relation between family member is detailedly discussed in the article according to the records of lian ji jian(two or more members was recorded in one slip),and we can sum up five construction principles of the family structure which include: the principle of the pecking order of identity,the principle of the degrees of the blood kinship,the principle of the seniority order between the family members with the same identity,the principle of total registration of the combined household,and the principle of the attachment order of the non—relative members. The factors affecting the family structure are various,mainly as follows: the family structure was based on the link of householder,grandfather, father, mother and wife,and it was constructed naturally by the relationships such as blood relatives and relatives by marriage. The economic situation in the family asked the small families to unite to solve the livelihood pression,and which also restricted the expansion of the family scale. The common weakness of the family members’ body health promoted the construction of the family structure. Sun Wu government adopted the strategy that respected the social custom to admit the existence of the family structure in order to gain the support of the common people.The status of Shiwu(士伍)could be comparatively special.Those who had been deprived of his peerage and those who had been in Fuji(傅籍)were the two main sources of Shiwu.Shiwu could be a vital point in the identity transition under the system of peerage,ordinary people and criminals.It is the starting point of the peerage system and the end point of the transition of the criminals’identities,play a role of hub in the whole system.In Wei—Jin and the Southern and Northern Dynasties,Shi Wu’s status would gradually tended to be demoted.Shi Wu were almost juveniles;all of them were family members and man,and the physical disability rate was low.Most Gong Cheng(公乘)were adults and in service;many were Hu Ren(户人)but some were family members;many man and quite a few women.The rate of physical disability in Gong Cheng was high.Gong Cheng spread unevenly in geography and had the tendency to live some LI(里)together.In Sun Wu,peerage did’t affect the construction of family structure,but may put much social value on owning the amount of land and house,rewarding merits,constructing social identity order,mitigating crime and service,and so on.Sun Wu’s peerage system inherited the peerage system in Qin and Han Dynasty especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty,and also would affect the peerage system in Wei—Jin and the Southern and Northern Dynasties.In the Wu slips,the use of surname reflected two characteristics.The record on surname of li min(吏民)had differed from“without”and“with”,which can been an important basis for judging someone was householder(户主)or member.“Without surname”was related to the custom that someone changed his surname after merged into other household registration.“with surname”reflected in keeping his surname also allowed by society after merged into.This was a phenomenon that used“Bu Hou”(步侯),“Lv Hou”(吕侯)to replace their name.Using the feoffee’s surname as the peerage appellation was rarely in the period of Qin and Han dynasties,but it was popularized gradually when it came to Wei—Jin and the Southern and Northern Dynasties.The phenomenon of using the feoffee’s surname as the peerage appellation occurred among king,duke,marquis and even baronage,and it was carried out by both of the southern and northern governments.This phenomenon reflected the strength of powerful clans and the significance of family surname at that time,and it was helpful to promote the influence of surname on the difference of social classes.There were two phenomena on the use of surname:despised surname in underclass but emphasized surname in upper—class.How to use the surname was an important symbol to judging one’s level of social identity.In the Wu slips,“huan min”(还民)was the resident who came back to the hometown and registered in the household registration.Fu Min(复民)was a title given to the person who went back the civilian identity after his military service by the Wu State government.Civilians and Officials had many categories and ranks.Identity could be various in the term of category and grade.Through research on the numerical mistakes in Jia He Li Min Tian Jia Bie(嘉禾吏民田家莂),these categry differences and grade differences not only reflected in the diversity of national tax standard but also more or less in pay taxes in real life.Which was the basis of the status hierarchy system of Sun Wu.The numerical mistake in Jia He Li Min Tian Jia Bie was accompanied by the corruption.The main methods of the corruption were such as to increase or decrease the account data,to pay less tax by confusing the nature of the field,to fake the account by the reduction of the tax payment,and to levy more or less tax by the exchange rate of the money,cloth and rice.The phenomenon about official documents mistooks universally existed in each government section during the early period of Wu State.And it shown that the official system of Wu State was out of control and the grass roots official management was full of malpractices.The system of Zhong shu dian jiao which was thrown into practice by Wu State could oppress the power of local clans and had the purpose to rectify the grass roots official management meanwhile.However,the local officials chose to well treat the local lower—level officials.After the failure of the system of Zhong shu dian jiao,Sun Quan carried out the du jiang zhi and ling bing zhi further more in order to disperse and balance the power of local clans.The local lower—level officials,with the protection of the local officials,became a big power of the society gradually,and they shared the same interests finally.Consequently,the political pattern of Wu State was established.Sun Wu had many categories of Levying Taxes of Farmland which was reflected by the Wu Slips,and the difference of levying tax of farmland related to the type of farmland.The type of farmland in Sun Wu was various, and the classification standards were not uniformed. The region of Chang sha’s agricultural production level in Sun Wu had been greatly improved, and the yield per Mu of Chang sha had achieved the level from 6.67 Hu(斛)(or 8Hu) to 10 Hu of rice. The farmland tax rate of Sun Wu’s wasteland by peasant was lower than that of Cao Wei’s,and the farmland tax rate of Sun Wu’s wasteland by soldier was below or equal to that of Cao Wei’s. The differences of levying tax of farmland implied the strong or weak attachment relationship between the tenants and Sun wu government. The yield per Mu showed an overall increasing trend,but had apparent regional difference in Qin—Han, Wei—Jin and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In this period,the tax system was changed from ratio tax to quota tax. From the period of the Three Kingdoms,quota tax had became the country’s major tax system.There was an internal link between improving the yield per mu and changing in the tax system,quota tax can promote peasant to take action to improve the yield per mu. Stressing on Agriculture and Restraining Commerce was the basic national policy in China ancient agricultural society,but peasant left farming for trade was also very common. The government used the household registration system to control the people,but people often have to break away from the household registration,and to become refugees,attached people,even the rebels. There was an interactive relationship between national economic policies and living choices of people.The status hierarchy system of Sun wu is quite grand,which was differed by catalogue and rank,and was afflicted by a variety of rights and obligations. Ranks and the types of various identities shaped the status order of Sunwu society. The status order incorporated all social members in Sun Wu ’s region,and became an important pillar of maintain the Sun Wu regime.