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A Study of the Tang Dynasty Tax Textiles (Yongdiao Bu) from Turfan
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2013
Extract
The Tang dynasty tax system is often referred to as zuyongdiao 租庸調, with each of these three terms having a specific meaning. Zu was the annual collection of 2 piculs, roughly 120 litres of grain (su 粟) per head. Yong was the annual corvée (labour) duty of 21 days per head, which could be substituted and paid for in silk or cloth, or the cloth-paid-in-place-of-annual-corvée tax. Diao was the tax in kind, payable in textiles (substitutions of other goods were sometimes permitted). In silk-producing areas the diao tax per head was 2 decafeet of silk, payable in ling-twill, juan-silk or silk thread (si 絲) and 3 ounces of silk floss (simian 絲綿). In areas that did not produce silk, the diao tax was 2 decafeet, 5 feet of hemp cloth and 3 pounds of hemp yarn.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 23 , Issue 2: Textiles as Money on the Silk Road , April 2013 , pp. 263 - 280
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2013
References
1 This article was first published in two publications in the early 1980s, in essentially the same form but with slight variations in the wording: in hui, Zhongguo Tangshi yanjiu (ed.) 中 國唐史研究會, Tang shi yanjiu hui lunwenji 唐史研究會論文集 Vol. 9 (1983), pp. 8–22 Google Scholar (without illustrations) and in Wenwu 文物 (1981) No. 1, pp. 56–62 (with illustrations, and acknowledging the help of Zhu Lei 朱雷, Jiang Boqin 姜伯勤 and Li Zheng 李徵). The 1983 version was reprinted in Wang Binghua 王炳華, Xiyu kaogu lishi lunji 西域考古歷史論集 [as part of the series Xiyu lishi yuyan yanjiu congshu 歷史語言研究叢書], (Beijing, 2008), pp. 348–359, and was used for this translation. It has also appeared in the volume of Wang Binghua's collected essays, Xiyu kaogu wencun 西域考古文存 [Collected essays on the archaeology of the Western Regions] (Lanzhou, 2010), pp. 483–495. The translator has taken the liberty of occasionally adding basic explanatory information helpful for a non-specialist English reader. For this reason, the footnote numbering in the translation does not correspond to the original footnotes, and (WBH, fn) indicates the author's original footnotes.
2 Following Twitchett's, Denis translation, in his Financial Administration under the T'ang Dynasty (Cambridge, 1970)Google Scholar.
3 (WBH, fn 1) Museum, Xinjiang (ed.), Xinjiang chutu wenwu 新疆出土文物 [Excavated artifacts from Xinjiang] (Beijing, 1975), pl. 162 Google Scholar.
4 The identifying numbers give the date, findspot, type of site and number of each object. Hence, 73TAM192:5 means object no. 5 from TAM192 (Turfan Astana mu-tomb no. 192), found in 1973.
5 The epitaph reads 開元十二年歲次己酉甲子廿日故翊衛張大良之墓 Kaiyuan shi er nian sui ci jiyou jia zi nian ri gu yi wei Zhang Daliang zhi mu (the Wenwu 1981 version gives 張大良之靈 Zhang Daliang zhi ling)
“Tomb of yiwei-guard Zhang Daliang, 20th day of jiyou jiazi in the 12th year of the Kaiyuan reign”. There is a problem with this date; in the 60-year cycle, the year 724 was a jiazi year, not a jiyou year. Apparently, the author wrote jiyou by mistake, and someone – maybe the author? – wrote jiazi next to jiyou, so that it would indicate the jiyou month in the jiazi year. See the photo of the original epitaph in Hou Can 侯燦 and Meilin, Wu 吳美琳 (eds), Tulufan chutu zhuanzhi jizhu 吐魯番出土磚誌集注 [Annotated collection of brick inscriptions discovered in Turfan)] (Chengdu, 2003), pp. 638–639 Google Scholar.
6 Illustrated in the Wenwu 1981 version of this article, fig.1, right.
7 The documents were dated 久視二年二月700 CE (2nd month of the 2nd year of the Jiushi reign) and 長安二年五月廿二日(22nd day of the 5th month of the 2nd year of the Chang'an reign). Wu Zetian introduced the Jiushi reign in 700 but also introduced the Dazu reign in the first month of the following year, and the Chang'an reign in the 10th month of that year. Technically, there was no 2nd year of the Jiushi reign. However, there are other documents and epitaphs from Turfan dated 2nd year of the Jiushi reign, and the continued use of this reign name is due to a break in communications with central China.
8 The Wenwu 1981 version of this article says tian bu 填布.
9 (WBH, fn 2) Xinjiang bowuguan kaogu dui 新疆博物館考古隊, “Tulufan Asitana – Helahezhuo gu muqun qingli jianbao” 吐魯番阿斯塔那—— 喀拉和卓古墓群清理簡報 [Brief report on the clearing of the Astana and Karakhoja cemeteries, Turfan], Wenwu 1972, No. 1, pp. 8–29; figs 21–23.
10 (WBH, fn 3) bowuguan, Xinjiang 新疆博物館, Sichou zhi lu 絲綢之路 [The Silk Road] (Beijing, 1972), pl. 62 Google Scholar.
11 Illustrated in the Wenwu 1981 version, Fig. 1, left.
12 (WBH, fn 4) See Xinjiang bowuguan kaogudui, “Tulufan Asitana mudi fajue jianbao”, p. 17, Fig. 23.
13 (WBH, fn 5) Fig. 22 in the 1981 Wenwu issue is captioned: “Jiaobu 腳布submitted by Wu De et al. of Lanxi county, from tomb TAM96, Astana”. Fig. 23 is captioned “Hemp cloth with inscription, from tomb TAM106, Astana”. This article mentions four hemp cloths with inscriptions.
14 Illustrated in the Wenwu 1981 version of this article, Fig. 1, centre. The inscription in the Wenwu 1981 version omits the character zhu 住.
15 Xinjiang Museum collection. This piece is illustrated in the Glossary in this special issue (Glossary no. C.13[2]).
16 Xinjiang Museum collection.
17 (WBH, fn 6) Xinjiang bowuguan 新疆博物館, “Tulufan xian Asitana – Helahezhuo gu muqun fajue jianbao” 吐魯番阿斯塔那— 喀拉和卓古墓群發掘簡報 [Short report on excavations at the Astana – Karakhoja cemeteries, Turfan], Wenwu (1973) No. 10, pp.7–27, especially. p. 17, Fig. 19.
18 (WBH, fn 7) Du You 杜佑 (734–812), Wang Wenjin 王文錦, Wang Yongxing 王永興 and Junwen, Liu 劉俊文 (eds), Tongdian 通典 [Encyclopaedic history of institutions] (Beijing, 1988), 6.109 Google Scholar; Xuanzong, Tang 唐玄宗 (685–762) and Linfu, Li 李林甫 (d. 753) Da Tang liudian 大唐六典 [Compendium of administrative law of the six divisions of the Tang bureaucracy] (Taipei, 1962), 3.68 Google Scholar; Pu, Wang 王溥, Tang huiyao 唐會要 [Important documents of the Tang] (Beijing, 1955), 83.1533 Google Scholar.
19 To this list can be added the tax textile (Ast.ix.2a.07) dated 706 (8th month of Shenlong year 2) found by Stein at Astana. Its inscription reads 婺州蘭溪縣瑞山鄉從善里姚群 (?)庸調布一端 神龍二年八月 日 Wuzhou Lanxi xian Ruishan xiang Congshan li Yao Qun (?) yongdiao bu yi duan Shenlong er nian ba yue ri. 1 duan of yongdiao bu from Yao Qun (?) of Congshan ward, Ruishan xiang, Lanxi county, Wuzhou. [. . .]th day of the 8th month of the Shenlong reign. This tax textile is from a woman's coffin in the same tomb as Ast.ix.2b.011, which Wang Binghua discusses (see fn 26); Stein, A., Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran (Oxford, 1928), p. 708 Google Scholar (context of find), pp. 1044–1045 (translation), pl. CXXVII.
20 (WBH, fn 8) Xiu, Ouyang 歐陽修 (1007–1072), Xin Tangshu 新唐書 [New Tang history] (Beijing, 1975), 49.1319 Google Scholar; Tang huiyao 83.1531; Da Tang liudian, 3.68.
21 Da Tang liudian, 3.68.
22 (WBH, fn 9) Da Tang liudian 20.375.
23 (WBH, fn 10) Da Tang liudian 20.375. Translator's note: some editions of this text give mu 木 rather than ben 本; some omit the character wei 衛 and the character hei 黑.
24 (WBH, fn 11) Da Tang liudian 3.68; Tang huiyao 83.1531. (There is slight variation in the wording in these two sources.)
25 (WBH, fn 12) Ast.ix.2b.011. Stein, Innermost Asia, pp.708 and 1044, pl.CXXVII; Chinese translation of Innermost Asia by Wu Xinhua 巫新華, Xiyu kaogu tuji 西域考古圖記 (Guilin, 1999), Vol. 2, Appendix, p. 1472, and illustrated in Vol. 3, p. 127. The description, by Lionel Giles, notes that this piece of “cotton” from coffin b, belonging to Fan Yanshi (male, d. 689), was dated 684–685, and had three illegible square seal impressions in red, with each seal measuring 5 cm and having a four-character inscription. A second tax textile was found in this tomb, Ast.ix.2.a 07, also from Wuzhou; see Introduction in this special issue.
26 (WBH, fn 13) Tang huiyao 83.1533.
27 See, for example, D. C. Twitchett, Financial Administration, who translates zujiao 租腳 as “supplementary surcharge on taxes for transport costs” (p. 378) and jiaozhi 腳直 as “transportation money (surcharged on taxes)” (p. 370).
28 (WBH, fn 14) Da Tang liudian 3.73.
29 (WBH, fn 15) Da Tang liudian 3.68.
30 Twitchett, Financial Administration, 1975, pp. 104–105, explains the hierarchy of financial organisation in the first half of the Tang dynasty. The central government had direct dealings with the prefectures (州 zhou) or their equivalents, the administrations (府 fu), in centres of major importance; and the protectorates (都護府 duhufu) and area commands (都督府 dudufu) in areas of military importance on the frontiers. The provinces (道dao) were convenient divisions of the empire, and played no part as intermediaries in the dealings of the central offices with the prefectures. Below prefecture level was county (縣 xian) > locality (鄉 xiang) > ward (里 li).
31 (WBH, fn 16) Li Jifu 李吉甫, Cijun, He (ed.), 賀次君 Yuanhe junxian tuzhi 元和郡縣圖志 [Maps and gazetteer of the provinces and counties in the Yuanhe reign period, 806–814](Beijing, 1983), 28.681 Google Scholar, 684.
32 (WBH, fn 17) Xu, Liu 劉昫 (887–946), Jiu Tangshu 舊唐書 [Old Tang history] (Beijing, 1975), 39.1528 Google Scholar.
33 Yuanhe junxian tuzhi, 22.561.
34 Xin Tangshu, 40.1034.
35 Xin Tangshu, 40.1032.
36 Yuanhe junxian tuzhi, 21.543.
37 Xin Tangshu, 41.1063.
38 Xin Tangshu, 41.1058.
39 It does not appear in the Jiu Tangshu, Xin tangshu, or Yuanhe junxian tuzhi.
40 Xin Tangshu, 40.1029.
41 (WBH, fn 18) See, for example, Yue, Shen 沈約 (441–513), Songshu 宋書 [History of the Song)] (Beijing, 1974), 97.2396–98Google Scholar, Zixian, Xiao 蕭子顯 (489–537), Nan Qi shu 南齊書 [History of the Southern Qi] (Beijing, 1972), 58. 1007–1009 Google Scholar; Yanshou, Li 李延壽 [7th century, Nanshi 南史 [History of the Southern Dynasties] (Beijing, 1975), 79. 1981–1982 Google Scholar; Yanshou, Li 李延壽 [7th century, Beishi 北史 [History of the Northern Dynasties] (Beijing, 1974), 95.3150–3152 Google Scholar.
42 (WBH, fn 19) Songshu, 97.2396.
43 (WBH, fn 20). Xin Tangshu, 42.1091.
44 The other counties included Chengdu 成都, Huayang 華陽, Guangdu 廣都 and Xinfan 新繁. See Xin Tangshu, 42.1079–1080.
45 (WBH, fn 21) Jiu Tangshu, 41.1663.
46 Xin Tangshu, 40.1046–1048.
47 (WBH, fn 22) These are in the Xinjiang Museum collection of Turfan documents.
48 Jiu Tangshu, 196.5236.
49 Tongdian, 6.110–111.
50 (WBH, fn 23) Tongdian, 6.111; Jiu Tangshu, 38.1385–1389.
51 (WBH, fn 24) See document 72TAM230:46(2), which is an incomplete fragment in the Xinjiang Museum collection of Turfan documents.
52 (WBH, fn 25). Xinjiang bowuguan 新疆博物館, Xibei daxue lishi xi kaogu zhuanye 西北大學歷史系考古隊, “1973 nian Tulufan Asitana gu muqun fajue jianbao” 1973年吐魯番阿斯塔那古墓群發掘簡報 [Short report on the excavations at the Astana cemetery, Turfan, in 1973], Wenwu (1975) No. 7, pp. 8–26, especially plates 12–13. These documents were unearthed in tomb TAM509, which was one of eight tombs with an earth mound. It also contained a ‘paper bed-cover’ (紙衾 zhiqin). Arakawa Masaharu's article in this issue translates the complete document and discusses it at length.
53 (WBH, fn 26) Yinglin, Wang (ed.) 王應麟, Yuhai 玉海 [Ocean of jade] (Nanjing and Shanghai, 1987) 138.2568–69Google Scholar.
54 Da Tang liudian, 5. 116.
55 (WBH, fn 27) D.vii.2. Stein, M.A., Ancient Khotan, Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan (Oxford, 1907), pp. 526–527, pl. CXVGoogle Scholar.
56 (WBH, fn 28) Tang huiyao, 88.1618; see also Da Tang liudian, 3.74.
57 (WBH, fn 29) Tongdian, 6.107; see also Jiu Tangshu, 48.2090.
58 (WBH, fn 30) Xinjiang bowuguan, Xinjiang chutu wenwu, plate 171.