Study On The Time Recording System Of The JUYAN Bamboo Slips(居延汉简)

The Time Recording System is an important part of Chinese ancient culture. The Time Recording System is not only the way to express time, but also includes language and culture custom of human being. Chinese ancient astronomy and calendar developed rapidly in Han Dynasty. Except partly the same as before, both the ways to record time and the sense of time was quite different from before. The study of the Time Recording System was appertained to the study of ancient astronomy in a long time in ancient China. (《中国天文学史》阵遵媯) is the representative work of Chinese ancient astronomy and calendar, which was studied on the traditional productions. It tells us the change and development of the Time Recording System. However, since there are not enough language materials about the system in the traditional productions of Han Dynasty, the study on the system was relatively simple. The experts usually put attention to the important events in history, such as the beginning of recording years by the emperor's age in Han Dynasty. But they have not raised the questions such as how persons recorded time in their daily life in Han Dynasty. Since the Juyan Bamboo Slips of the Han Dynasty(居延漢簡) were unearthed, we have got much more valuable materials of Han Dynasty, which can help us to know the truth of the ways people recording time in Han Dynasty.The Juyan Bamboo Slips of the Han Dynasty(居延漢簡) were unearthed in Juyan beacon site. The time of the Bamboo Slips recorded from Middle Western Han Dynasty to Early Eastern Han Dynasty. These Bamboo Slips include garrison documents of Han's frontier fortress and private letters of the soldiers. These are useful for us to study the Time Recording System in Han Dynasty. The ways to record time are quite diversified. Different kinds of Bamboo Slips contain different characters. We can find the way, which recorded days with ordinal in the Bamboo Slips of Middle Western Han Dynasty. The Time Recording System also tended to accurate. The ways to record time in the garrison documents were stricter than the others, which showed the demands of the government. However the ways to record time in private documents were much changeable. In all, the Time Recording System was partly the same as that in the past dynasty, but it was also much more practical.