Study On The Social Status Of "Lichenqie" In Qin Dynasty

Lichenqie is a proper noun that was formed in the Qin Dynasty and represents a part of the social untouchables of the Qin Dynasty.Lichenqie,from its literal interpretation,namely belong to the government of the slave or the criminals.However,in the past research on the issues of the Lichenqie,due to the neglect of the analysis of the word "Lichenqie",the mixed use of historical materials often occurs.Therefore,before studying the social status of the Lichenqie in the Qin Dynasty,we should first distinguish the words "Li chenqie" and the words with similar meanings.By tracing the source of the word "Lichenqie",we can see that the original meanings of "li","chen",and "qie" represent the inferior position in a certain sense,while the words of "Lichenqie" and "Chenqie" are also essential differences,which can not be equated with understanding.Because of the unearthed bamboo slips,all of them are copied manually,so there will be omit and leak of words.In this case,the undisputed material should be chosen carefully,that is,to study the problem of the subject Lichenqie,and only use the material with the word "Lichenqie" to avoid the appearance of misuse of materials.Through textual research,the relationship between Lichenqie and Tuli is a subordinate relationship,which is very important for the study of Lichenqie in Qin Dynasty.The social status of Lichenqie in Qin Dynasty was mainly reflected by their economic status and legal status.According to the principle of "the economic base determines the superstructure",the economic status of the Lichenqie is the basis for obtaining all other positions and rights.In the Qin Dynasty,one of the economic status of Lichenqie was that they could own property rights.The property rights,including the income earned by the Lichen,include their family property shared with their wives.The economic source of belong to Lichenqie themselves,in addition to the grain issued by the government,it can also obtain Commission,income or reward through the employment of others,business operation,and arrest of criminals.The second performance of Qin Lichenqie's economic status is the comprehensiveness of their work.The scope of the work of the Qin Lichenqie includes basically all aspects of the Qin Dynasty society.Lichenqie can not only engage in productive labor,such as agriculture,handicrafts,animal husbandry,and civil engineering construction,but also can engage in unproductive labor,such as serving as a servant,transferring documents,serving as a historian,and assisting the government in investigating cases.Because of the economic particularity of Lichenqie,the law of the Qin Dynasty gave them a series of rights to highlight their social status.The legal status of the Lichenqie in the Qin Dynasty involved the administration of the Lichenqie's census register by the Qin officials.The household registration system in the Qin Dynasty should be divided into broad sense and narrow sense.In this paper,the author discusses the roll of Lichenqie,and first analyzes the household registration system in the narrow sense,indicating that Lichenqie can't establish a household,which is not equal to the civilian's household registration.However,in a broad sense,the roll of the Lichenqie was placed under the household registration system under Qin.This situation is due to the fact that the Lichenqie do not have complete personality,so the legal rights of Lichenqie are limited.For example,the security of the Lichenqie is only guaranteed and only has a certain personal freedom;in the political power,the Lichenqie only have the right to change the identity and improve the social rank.Compared with the civilians in the Qin Dynasty,the rights of the Lichenqie in these two aspects are not complete.In terms of the right to marriage and to the right of appeal,the Lichenqie had equal rights with the common people.Lichenqie commits another crime,they will be dealt with in accordance with the principles of "absolute felony assimilation" and "restriction of aggravation".The social status of the Lichenqie of qin dynasty was a microcosm of the social system of qin dynasty.The social status of the Lichenqie in Qin Dynasty was formed under the practice of social labor in the Qin Dynasty.In the social work of the Qin Dynasty,Lichenqie acted as the main manpower,and the function was prominent.In the Qin Dynasty,social labor was based on county and county,which could be divided into two categories:central demand and local demand.The social status of the Lichenqie in Qin Dynasty also had a great influence on the management of the Lichenqie in Han Dynasty.Although the Han Dynasty followed the Qin Dynasty's Lichenqie system,the position of the Lichenqie in the Han Dynasty was higher than that of the Qin Dynasty.One of the reasons was that the Lichenqie did not have the nature of the official slaves,and developed into a pure criminal with a prison term.In the Han Dynasty,although some rights of Lichenqie had not been truly realized,they could improve their value through military service.In the Han Dynasty,the recruitment of prisoners for military service went through the development process from casual to normal and then customized.As a criminal,Lichenqie became more and more important in the national defense construction in the Han Dynasty.