Bai Yunxiang: An archaeological glimpse of the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness and its expression

Author: Bai Yunxiang

Source: "Jianghan Archaeology" WeChat public account

The original article was published in Jianghan Archaeology, Issue 6, 2022

"Wang Hou Hedu Thousands of Generations of Yi Descendants" Jinjie (Source: "China News Service" WeChat public account)

As we all know, the "research scope of modern archaeology is not limited to material culture, but lies in the study of all aspects of ancient human society through various relics and relics, including material culture such as production scale and technical level, as well as spiritual culture such as art concepts and religious beliefs". The connotation of spiritual culture is extremely rich, and the concept of happiness is one of them.

The so-called "concept of happiness" refers to people's understanding, cognition and pursuit of happiness. What is happiness? According to the general interpretation of modern Chinese: "happy" is also the situation and life that make people feel comfortable. It is not only a subjective feeling of people, but also an objective existence of human society, and it is born with human beings and accompanied by human society. As a result, happiness has become a pursuit of people since ancient times.

From the perspective of historical development, people in different eras have different understandings and feelings of happiness, and their pursuit of happiness is also different, so the concept of happiness and its expression with the characteristics of the times has been formed. As the first peak period of development of the imperial era in mainland history, the Han Dynasty formed a concept of happiness with the characteristics of the times and had a far-reaching impact on future generations. This is mainly a review of relevant archaeological discoveries to get a glimpse of the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness and its expression, and a brief discussion of related issues.

One

The Han Dynasty's concept of happiness is expressed and reflected in the Han Dynasty cultural relics found by archaeology, especially in the inscriptions and decorative patterns, among which the most common are copper utensils such as copper mirrors, wadang and textiles. According to this comprehensive analysis, the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness is mainly composed of the following six aspects.

(1) The concept of health and longevity

The view of health and longevity is commonly found in copper mirror inscriptions. The grass leaf pattern mirror (M1175:13) from the early Western Han Dynasty excavated from the Han tomb in Guangzhou has the inscription "Live with the heavens and live with the earth", expressing the concept of longevity as the sky. The Bo Bureau Four Divine Mirrors (M22:2) from the Xinmang period unearthed from the Han tomb in Zhuwa Village, Tengzhou, Shandong, have the inscription "It is really good to be a good mirror, there are immortals who do not know old age, thirst for jade springs and hungry dates, and life is like a golden stone for national security". In the copper mirror inscriptions from the Xinmang to the Eastern Han Dynasty, this concept is often expressed as "Shou and Jinshi Tianzhibao". Similarly, the popular cloud and thunder arc mirror in the Eastern Han Dynasty, its inscription is simplified to "Shou Ru Jinshi" or "Shou Ru Jinshi is good and good", etc.; In the deformed four-leaf phoenix mirrors popular in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, some inscriptions are "Extend life for 10,000 years, bright as the sun and the moon". Similar inscriptions are also found in the copper belt hook of the "Evergreen" inscription. Obviously, this kind of mirror inscription expresses people's yearning and prayers for health and longevity.

The Han Dynasty character Wadang also expresses people's hope for health and longevity. The site of the southwest corner tower of Han Chang'an City has been unearthed "Changsheng Wuji" Wadang (T4(4)A:11), the Han Dynasty Coinage Site in Wotou Zhai in Chang'an County, Xi'an, and other places have been unearthed "Longevity and Longevity" Wadang, and a "Shoufu Boundless" Wadang was found in the Han Tomb of Guozhuang in Xuzhou. As for the "Long live" and "Long Live Thousand Autumns" characters wadang unearthed in Han Chang'an City and the architectural sites of government offices in various places, although their meaning is very broad, they also contain people's prayers for longevity. Similarly, similar inscriptions have been found on Han dynasty bricks, such as two paved bricks from the Western Han Dynasty found in Luochuan County, Shaanxi, with the words "life" and "longevity" respectively on the upper right and lower left parts of the front.

As an image expression of the concept of health and longevity, the most common is the shape of the turtle of the Han Dynasty bronze. In the copper town unearthed from the tomb of Liu He, Marquis of the Western Han Sea in Nanchang, there is a town turtle shape, gilded and inlaid with jade chips on its back, which is precious among the various copper towns that come out of the same place. The handle and base of the late Western Han Dynasty furnace found in the Weijiazhuang Han Tomb in Jinan, the Beiguan Han Tomb in Yangyuan County, Hebei, the Han Tomb in Shuo County in Shanxi, the Geltuhan Tomb on the outskirts of Hohhot City, and the Tomb of Liu He in the Haidu Hou are copper smokers in the shape of "Standing Crane Stepping Tortoise", and a crane stands on the back of the turtle with its wings spread. Cranes have been sacred birds that symbolize longevity since ancient times, and are said to be "cranes of a thousand years"; The turtle is also a symbol of longevity, that is, "the turtle is respected by people for its long age... Form a Chinese concept of longevity, one of the three blessings, lu and longevity that the world prays for."

(2) Descendants of Fanchangguan

The inscriptions of the bronze mirrors of the Han Dynasty are full of content about the descendants of Fanchang. The Eastern Han Dynasty nine-breasted poultry and animal pattern mirror found in Henan, with the inscription "Changyi descendants" between the button seat persimmon patterns; There is an inscription in the main pattern area for one week: "Cultivate Yixi, report good yin deeds, remember □ swamp, Xiao □ Tianduan, Chao Guangxi, Yi descendants, Changbao Yongfuxi, live for ten thousand years". The four-breasted and four-beast-patterned copper mirror found in Zibo, Shandong Province, surrounds the inscription outside the main grain area: "I make a mirror, the three merchants of Youmei, the Tongde Yidao, with the elephant of Wanjiang, Zeng (Zeng) □ [Nian] Yishou, descendant Fan (Fan) Changyi Wang". In fact, many mirrors in the Xinmang and Eastern Han copper mirrors are cast with inscriptions such as "Yi Zi Sun" and "Descendant Fa Chang", such as Yunlei Lian arc mirror, common mirror inscriptions such as "Changyi descendants" and "Changsheng Yizi"; Even arc with mirror, the most common mirror inscription is "Changyi descendants", and some are "Changyi children".

In the Han Dynasty text tiles, there is also content that expresses the concept of prosperity for descendants. For example, the ruins of Qin and Han in Fengxiang Cave in Shaanxi and the ruins of Chang'an City in Xi'an Han have been unearthed.

On the textiles of the Han Dynasty, there are also texts that express the concept of prosperity for future generations. For example, in tomb No. 8 of the 95MNI cemetery in the late Eastern Han Dynasty excavated at the Nia site in Xinjiang, there are text tapestries such as "Long live the descendants of Yi in the autumn", "Prolong life and long life and preserve the descendants" and "Yi descendants".

In Han Dynasty copper vessels, there are also common words such as "Yi descendants". Such as copper irons with inscriptions such as "Yi descendants", "Changyi descendants", "Great auspiciousness, Changyi descendants" and so on; The inner bottom of the Eastern Han Dynasty copper wash was unearthed in Dongpingling City, Zhangqiu, Shandong, and there is a four-character inscription "Changyi descendants" between the two fish patterns. Tomb No. 1 in Huangnigang, Hepu, Guangxi, unearthed the six-character "Yizi Sun Riyichang" from the Xinmang period; The Eastern Han Tomb of Ganquan Laohudun in Hanjiang, Jiangsu Province and the Eastern Han Tomb of Majiazunzi in Qingzhou, Shandong Province have been unearthed with open-cut carvings of the three characters "Yizi Sun". "Yi descendants" was "already a common idiom in society at that time, and it was also a public aspiration", and it was a popular expression of the concept of descendants.

(3) Peace and optimism

In Han dynasty copper mirror inscriptions, peace and joy are one of the common contents, and both often appear at the same time. On the leaf pattern mirror of the four milkgrass that was popular in the early Western Han Dynasty, inscriptions such as "Le no Incident" and "Le Weiyang" were common to express joy and peace without incident. For example, the inscription of the grass leaf pattern mirror (M21:3) excavated from the ethylene cemetery in Linzi, Shandong Province is "See the light of the sun, Changle Weiyang", and the inscription of another grass leaf pattern mirror (M3:1) in the same cemetery is "Sauvignon Blanc, do not forget each other, always noble and rich, happy Weiyang"; The inscription of the grass leaf pattern mirror (M1:5224) excavated from Tomb No. 1 of Mancheng reads: "Long noble and rich, happy without trouble, bright in the day, always happy, suitable for wine and food". There are similar inscriptions on the mirrors of the popular arc inscriptions in the late Western Han Dynasty, such as the inscription of the M222:6 mirror excavated from the Western Han tomb in Shuo County, Shanxi Province: "The day has Xi, the moon is blessed, happy and has nothing to do, it is suitable for wine and food, the residence must be safe, there is no trouble, the servant is servant, the heart is loyal, the joy is old, and the constant is constant".

Similar writing is common on other artifacts of the Han Dynasty. Tomb No. 8 of Cemetery No. 95MNI in the late Eastern Han Dynasty was unearthed at the site of Nia, Xinjiang, with text brocade such as "Anle Ruyi and Long Life Wuji". "Changle Weiyang" is a common character wadang in the Western Han Dynasty, found in Shaanxi, Henan and Shanxi. A piece of "Rile Fuchang" character Wadang was found in Xinshi Township, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province. The ancient city site of Husutai in Jianping, Liaoning Province, found that there is the character "Anle Weiyang" Wadang. The ruins of Hancheng in Wuyishancheng Village, Fujian Province, have unearthed characters such as "Changle", "Le Weiyang" and "Long Live Changle". Both historical and archaeological sources prove that "Weiyang was the Ji language used in the Han Dynasty".

(4) The concept of wine and food abundance

The term "wine and food" appeared in pre-Qin literature as early as the pre-Qin dynasty, referring to wine and food. In the bronze mirror inscriptions of the Han Dynasty, it is common to express the content of wine and food. There are 5 inscriptions with "Yi Wine and Food" in the grass leaf pattern mirror excavated from the Shanxi Han Tomb in Pingdujie, Qingdao, of which the M1:13 mirror has a 16-character inscription "Day has Xi, get Changxi, Changyi wine and food, long and rich, happy without trouble". The inscription of the grass leaf pattern mirror (M3:25) excavated from the Western Han Tomb in Gaozhai, Hexi, Guangxi County, reads: "The sun has Xi, it is suitable for wine and food, long and rich, and happy without trouble". Mirrors with similar inscriptions have been found all over the country.

As a figurative expression of the concept of wine and food abundance, it is the popularity of images of fish. As a kind of model ware, many of the pottery stoves have fish patterns molded on the surface of their stoves; In the Han portrait stone, patterns such as "four-leaf four-fish diagram", "four-leaf eight-fish diagram" and "double-fish five-bi diagram" can often be seen; During the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was popular to wash copper with two fish patterns on the inner bottom (some coin-patterned coins or auspicious words such as "Changyi descendants" and "Fuguichang, Yihou Wang" between the two fish). The images of fish in such scenes "became symbols and embodiments of affluence, and the Han Dynasty used the image of fish to express the beautiful hope of abundance, prosperity and surplus every year."

(5) The concept of homely wealth and wealth

"Guifu" means "rich", which means rich and noble, and the two are closely related. Among Han Dynasty artifacts, the most straightforward expression of this concept is the inscription on the copper mirror. On the popular grass leaf pattern copper mirror in the early Western Han Dynasty, "The sun has Xi, it is suitable for wine and food, it is long and rich, and there is no trouble", which is one of the common inscriptions. Among the popular copper mirrors in the late Western Han Dynasty, there is a kind of "homely noble and rich" mirror, and the four characters "homely noble and rich" are cast between the four nipples in the main pattern area as its main decoration to highlight its meaning.

Similar expressions are found in other artifacts of the Han Dynasty. The ruins of Machi Ancient City in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia, and the ruins of Lancheng in Wuqing County in Tianjin have been unearthed in words such as "Anle Fugui" and "Da Le Fugui". Among the bronze ware of the Han Dynasty are copper pots and copper bells with inscriptions such as "Great Wealth", "Wealthy", "Happy Weiyang, Suitable for Wine and Food, Long Wealth", and copper gongs with inscriptions such as "Daily income of 8,000" and "Daily income of Dawan". A double fish pattern copper wash was found in Mian County, Shaanxi, with the inscription "Daily income million" cast between the double fish pattern on the inner bottom; A bronze silk (M1:9) from the late Western Han Dynasty unearthed from Tomb No. 1 of Hejiayuan in Wuhu, Anhui, is covered with the inscription "Sauvignon Blanc, Don't Forget, Always Rich, Happy Weiyang". The simplified text of EPT59·340A in Juyan's new Han Jian is "Fugui Chang Yihou Wang Fugui Chang Yihou Wang".

(6) High-ranking officials and Houlu view

The concept of high-ranking official Houlu was first reflected in the bronze mirror inscription. In the grass leaf pattern mirror of the early Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Linzi, Shandong, the inscription of the M33:2 mirror of the cement factory cemetery and the M46:1 mirror of the ethylene cemetery are both "See the light of the sun, serve Junqing", and the inscription of the M15:1 mirror of the ethylene cemetery is "Immortal mirror wanming, serve Junqing". The inscription of the Four Gods Bo Bureau Mirror in the second year of the founding of the Tianfeng (15 AD) in the collection of the Shanghai Museum reads: "Make a good mirror in the second year of the founding of the Tianfeng, Changle Guifu Zhuang Junshang, Changbao second parent and wife, for the official Gao to move to the throne of the public secretary, the world is passed down to the world". "Junqing" and "public secretary" are also high-ranking officials. In the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the double-headed dragon pattern mirror (that is, the "straight inscription 夔龙mirror") became popular in the northern region, and its most common inscription is the four-character inscription "Junyi High Official" and "Position to the Third Duke", or "Junyi High Official, Rank to the Third Duke" and "Junyi High Official, Changyi Descendants". On the deformed four-leaf phoenix mirror that became popular in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the inscription "Position to the Three Dukes" is common, and occasionally the inscription "Jun Changyi Guan" and "Junyi Gaoguan" are inscribed. The inscription of the deformed four-leaf mirror (SM:6) excavated from the tomb of the late Eastern Han Dynasty in Quwosu Village, Shanxi Province reads "Reign to the Duke". On the popular continuous arc strip mirror in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the inscription "Junyi High Official" is common, and the inscription "Reign to the Third Duke" can also be seen. The "three dukes" of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial lieutenant, Situ, and Sikong Zhi, ranked first among the hundred officials.

In other artifacts of the Han Dynasty, words and images that express this concept are also common. "Reign to the Third Duke" "Junyi High Official" inscribed copper belt hook has been found. A copper-washed inner bottom unearthed in the Eastern Han Copper Cellar in the southern suburbs of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province is cast with a double fish pattern, and the six characters "Fugui Changyi Marquis Wang" are cast between the two fishes. The pattern of the inner bottom of the Eastern Han Dynasty copper washing unearthed at the site of Zhangcheng in Cangshan, Shandong is a left deer and a right crane, and between the two is the seven-character inscription "Shu County Dong Shizuo, Yihou". A ceramic sculpture of a monkey riding on horseback has been found in Nanyang, Henan, and the ruins of Miaojiazhai in the southern suburbs of Xi'an, Shaanxi, and there are similar images on Han portrait bricks and portrait stones, and "there is a monkey on horseback, which is a metaphor for those who ride horses as officials, and can expect to enter the marquis".

It should be pointed out that in addition to the above six common concepts, some artifact inscriptions also express other good wishes. For example, in the late Western Han Dynasty, the M1:24 mirror of the Han Tomb in Zhangjiazhong Gu Village of Wulian and the M632:260 mirror of the Han Tomb of Luoyang Burnou are inscribed with the inscription "Day has Xi, the moon has wealth, happiness is nothing, always proud, beauty meeting, Zhu Se attendant, Jia Shicheng Wan□", among which "often proud, beauty will, Zhu Se servant" is rare in mirror inscriptions, and is also rare in other artifact inscriptions, indicating that these concepts do not seem to be universal, so they can not be regarded as part of the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness with universal significance. The same is true of the bronze mirror inscription "Changbao second parent and wife".

Two

The Han Dynasty's expression of the concept of happiness can be described as diverse and omnipresent. From the perspective of expression, there are mainly two kinds of language expression and image expression.

Written language expression is the most common, but also the most direct and clear, widely appeared in bronze inscriptions such as mirror inscriptions, Wadang characters, jade characters and fabric characters, etc., from the view of health and longevity to the view of high-ranking officials Houlu. The language and writing that expressed these ideas were all popular idioms, auspicious words and blessings in the society at that time, and such language and writing expressed the common aspirations and universal pursuits of the people at that time, reflecting the common and general ideological concepts of the public, and was undoubtedly a direct expression of the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness.

The concept of happiness is composed of a variety of specific concepts, and various concepts complement each other and are related to each other, so while the Han Dynasty people expressed various specific ideas separately, they often expressed multiple specific concepts at the same time in many scenes, especially the copper mirror inscription. For example, the above-mentioned Western Han grass leaf pattern mirror inscription "Long noble and rich, happy without trouble, day has Xi, often happy, suitable for wine and food", Henan unearthed Eastern Han nine-milk poultry animal pattern mirror inscription "Yi descendants, long protection forever blessed, life 10,000 years", Shandong unearthed Eastern Han four breasts and four animal pattern mirror inscription "Zeng (Zeng) □ [year] Yishou, descendants Fan (蕃) Changyi Wang", Xinjiang Nya 95MNI Cemetery No. 8 "Long live the descendants" and "prolong life and long life and long maintenance descendants" brocade, etc., are all healthy and longevity, descendants and grandchildren, peace and joy, Various concepts such as wine and food abundance, home wealth and wealth are expressed at the same time. For example, on the deformed four-lobed mirror of the late Eastern Han Dynasty unearthed by the Henan Yanshi, there is a four-character inscription "Position to Three Dukes" around the button seat, and the inscription in the main tattoo area reads "Changyi descendants protect their parents, five males, seven women, eight or nine sons, the position to the □□ has a □, the Yi high-ranking official world is rare, and the great □ is not in the world", and at the same time expresses the concepts of health and longevity, descendants and grandchildren, and high-ranking officials and houlu. Another example is that a wrong gold iron calligraphy knife was unearthed from the Han tomb of Tianhui Mountain in Chengdu, and the 24 characters of the wrong gold inscription on it read: "Seven years of Guanghe, Guanghan Gongguan □□□ obeys the honorable, Changbao descendants, Yihou Wang□ Yi □", which simultaneously expresses the two concepts of descendants and grandchildren and high-ranking official Houlu; The square bricks of the inscription "Fule Weiyang, descendants and descendants of Yichang" unearthed from the Han tomb No. 91 in Zhaowan, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia, and the inscription square bricks of "Yi descendants, rich Fa Chang, Le Weiying" found in Xuchang, Henan, etc., all express various concepts such as wealth, joy and descendants of Finchang. There are many more examples of this. It is precisely because of this that the above six concepts together constitute the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness.

There are two main ways to express the image of the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness, that is, image pattern expression and object shape expression, that is, expression through the meaning of auspicious images and auspicious shapes. As far as the expression of image patterns is concerned, the most common is the image of fish represented by double fish pattern copper washing to express abundance, wealth and more than every year; The above-mentioned left deer and right crane pattern of the inner bottom of the copper wash excavated from the site of Cangshan Qicheng in Shandong Province means "Houlu thousand years". As far as the expression of utensils is concerned, the aforementioned turtle-shaped town and the copper smoking furnace in the shape of turtle cranes to express health and longevity are typical examples; The pottery sculpture shaped like a monkey riding on horseback uses the homonym of the name of the artifact to symbolize "marquis on horseback", "undoubtedly expressing the desire to be an official marquis".

It is worth noting that while the Han Dynasty people used a variety of ways to express the concept of happiness in real daily life, there were also various expressions in the tombs where the deceased were buried, and the concepts expressed were consistent with real life. To name a few.

On the hollow brick on the lintel of the back room of the Xinmang mural tomb in Yanshi Xin Village, Henan, the front is molded with a dragon and tiger pattern and the five characters "descendants of Fuguiyi"; The Eastern Han Tomb No. 4 in Pingba, Guizhou, excavated tomb bricks with moldings of "Yi descendants". All these practices of "asking dead relatives to serve the living descendants" are actually another expression of the concept of descendants and grandchildren.

The various images of banquets and drinks commonly found in Han portrait stones and portrait bricks are generally believed to be "extensions and continuations of the real life of the tomb owner during his lifetime". Under the funeral concept of "death is like life", this image is actually a manifestation of people's pursuit of alcohol and food in real life.

In the tombs of the Han Dynasty, in addition to some utensils used by the burial of the deceased, model pottery warehouses and stoves began to appear from the early Western Han Dynasty, and since then the types have gradually increased, from wells, house buildings, pigsties, chickens, paddy fields to horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, dogs, pigs and other livestock and poultry, and some pottery warehouses also have ink books such as "Su Wanshi", "Wheat Wanshi", "Barley Wanshi", "Soybean Wanshi" and other texts, and from the common people to the officials and nobles, this is not the case. Even the Wei king Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han Dynasty was buried in his tombs with various model Ming utensils such as pottery stoves, wells, mills, enclosure toilets, moxibustion stoves, kettles, kon, and daily utensils. Such a model apparatus is, of course, intended for the use of the deceased in the underworld, but under the funeral concept of "death is like life, death is like survival", these practices, whether understood as "treating the world after death as a copy or mirror representation of life while on earth" or "viewing life after death as a natural continuation of life in life", are the wealth that the deceased "hopes to have after death... symbolizes large estates and wealth". As a deformed refraction of real life, it actually reflects the concept of people pursuing wealth at that time. The "Fugui" brick inscription on the bricks of the Eastern Han Tomb No. 7 in Wuling Town, Wanzhou, Chongqing, and the "Fugui Changle Weiyang" inscription brick unearthed from the Eastern Han Tomb No. 27 Maituo in Wushan, Chongqing, have the same intention.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Sichuan Basin was the popular cash cow in the southwest region, and its multiple connotations of "pursuing wealth, immortality, praying for abundant production and praying for reproduction" were actually an expression of the concepts of wealth, longevity, wealth and many descendants in real life in funeral activities. On the Eastern Han cash cow unearthed in Mianyang, Sichuan, the common round carvings or relief patterns of sheep, deer and monkeys are all used to express the beautiful meanings of auspicious, lu and hou using the homophony of these animal names, which is consistent with the pursuit of beauty expressed with similar images on daily life utensils.

The text of Zhu Shu on the clay pot excavated from the Eastern Han Tomb No. 5 Zhangwan, Lingbao, Henan, "Let the descendants of future generations become princes, and wealth and nobility will be endless", reflecting that at that time, while burying the deceased, they also had to pray for future generations to be prosperous and prosperous, and the wealth would continue forever, which was an expression of the concept of high-ranking officials at that time.

In short, the expression of the concepts of health and longevity, prosperity of descendants, peace and joy, abundant wine and food, noble wealth and high-ranking officials and houlu through various ways and scenes, whether it is language expression or image expression, whether it is straightforward expression or metaphorical expression, all directly reflect people's yearning, prayer and pursuit of a better life and a better life at that time, and express the ideological concepts of universal significance at that time, which is undoubtedly an objective and true expression of the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness.

Three

As a concentrated expression of outlook on life and values, the concept of happiness is spiritual, but it is based on material life and is the product of social history, because "values are the crystallization of social practice and social life, and are the subjective results gradually formed by people in the process of pursuing life goals". Historically, the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness had both the general characteristics of human happiness and the distinctive characteristics of the times.

First of all, the concepts of health and longevity, peace and joy, and abundant wine and food have been shared by human beings since ancient times. Among them, health, longevity, peace and joy are an instinctive pursuit of human beings; The concept of wine and food abundance is essentially an expression of the concept of food and clothing with abundant diet as the core, and food and clothing is the most basic material life needs of human survival, as the ancients said, "Eating men and women, people's great desire to survive"; Or "longevity, happiness, many men, many desires of people".

Secondly, the concept of prosperity of descendants is also a concept born to human beings, and it is an expression of human beings' pursuit and desire for their own reproduction and perpetuation for generations. Because reproduction is an instinct of human beings, but at the same time it is an objective requirement for the existence and development of human society. As Engels once pointed out: "According to the materialist view, the decisive factor in history is, in the final analysis, the production and reproduction of direct life." However, there are two kinds of production itself ... On the other hand, there is the production of human beings themselves, that is, the reproduction of seeds. The "reproduction of species" mentioned here, that is, the reproduction of future generations, is not only directly related to family harmony and the rise and fall of families, but also related to the rise and fall of nations and countries, and is one of the most basic needs of human society. Therefore, the concept of prosperity of descendants is not only an instinctive concept formed in the process of human reproduction, but also a social concept formed by the objective needs of the existence and development of human society, but this concept was further strengthened under the social and historical conditions of the Han Dynasty and became a strong spiritual desire and practical pursuit of people at that time.

Third, the concept of homely wealth is a product of class society and has been deeply branded as class society. "Guifu" includes the two meanings of "rich" and "expensive", and the two are mutually represented, and the issue of wealth is mainly discussed here. Under the conditions of primitive communism in prehistoric times, the means of production were shared, people worked together, consumed together, and had equal status, and there was no distinction between rich and poor in society. However, at the end of the prehistoric era, private ownership gradually emerged in the context of the development of social productive forces and the emergence of surplus social wealth; With the development of patriarchy and the rise of patriarchy, the phenomenon of hierarchical status and unequal wealth possession within the family gradually occurred, the unequal possession of property and the gap between the rich and the poor intensified, and the society moved towards class differentiation and confrontation, which eventually led to the birth of the state and ushered in the era of civilization in human history. Since then, the amount of wealth has become an important indicator of people's status, identity and living conditions, so that occupying more wealth has become a common pursuit of people. As Engels said: "Vile greed is the driving force of the age of civilization from the first day of its existence to the present day; Wealth, wealth, and thirdly, wealth—not the wealth of society, but the wealth of this insignificant individual individual, which is the only and decisive purpose of the age of civilization. "Zhou Yi" said that "the sublime is greater than wealth", and Confucius said that "wealth and nobility are what people want... Poverty and destitution are the evil of man," is a high-level summary of this concept.

Of course, in the Kingdom era of the Xia Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties, the social economy was in the hands of the nobles at all levels, and it was almost impossible for the common people to truly obtain a lot of wealth by their own efforts, let alone slaves. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, with the emergence of feudal production relations and the rapid development of private industry and commerce, the landlord class and the "rich merchants" gradually entered the historical stage, and the gap between the rich and the poor intensified, so that "the rich of the common people accumulated tens of thousands, while the poor ate the chaff of waste." In the Two Han Dynasty, under the feudal production relations with private ownership of land as the core, the landlord economy and private industry and commerce developed rapidly, and there were no institutional obstacles for all social strata to obtain wealth. Under such a social background, wealth with wealth as the main connotation has become a common pursuit of people. "At that time, the society had a relatively consistent value orientation for wealth", "the desire for wealth was recognized by society as a healthy ideal and a positive ambition at that time", "the pursuit of wealth was completely a positive life goal at that time, and people openly and unabashedly declared this aspiration". "A gentleman is shameful and poor but happy to be rich" is the true portrayal of the Han Dynasty's advocating wealth. In fact, this concept of wealth later became the core of the entire traditional social value.

As for how to achieve wealth, what is wealth, and how to display wealth, Qin and Han historians have done special research. From the archaeological findings, different social classes have different understandings and pursuits for wealth. Characters such as "Five Grain Warehouses", "Million Stone Warehouses" and "Six Animal Lords" reflect that the peasants actually have the wealth view of the landlord class. The bronze pot of Emperor Yuan of Hanzhang (87 AD) excavated from the site of Zhangcheng in Cangshan, Shandong, has a 40-character inscription on its lap foot "Yuan and Four Years, Jiangling Huangyang Junzuo, Yi descendants and wine and food." The rulers received it, and gave it two thousand stones; □ (Jia) people received it, to 20 million; Tian Jia Zhi, Thousands of Kitchens", from one side reflects the concept of wealth and its standards of different social strata, such as officials, merchants, landlords, and peasants.

It should be pointed out that the pursuit of wealth was the common aspiration of the Han Dynasty, but the social reality of the Han Dynasty was that, on the one hand, with the development of the large landlord economy, the small-scale peasant economy was destroyed, and after all, it was a very small number of people who could really obtain huge wealth, such as Nanyang Xinye Yin Zifang during the Han Xuan Emperor "stormed to great wealth, more than 700 hectares of land, and the public horse servant, compared to Bangjun", Nanyang Fan Zhong, the maternal grandfather of Liu Xiu, the Guangwu Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "to open more than 300 hectares of land in Guangtian... Piqu irrigation, pond fish and animal husbandry", and even "the room of the rich man, hundreds of buildings, anointed fields full of fields, thousands of slaves, thousands of flocks, vain possessed by ten thousand"; On the other hand, the broad masses of ordinary people are still mainly struggling for survival, "the poor people are tired of food, their clothes are empty, and father and son cannot protect each other", especially in the year of disaster and famine, there is a tragic scene of "years of hunger, the people are destitute, or cannibalism".

Fourth, the concept of high-ranking officials is a concept with distinctive characteristics of the times. In a class society, high-ranking officials represent not only political power and social status, but also wealth. The original origin of this concept can be traced back to the late prehistoric era, but under the social and historical conditions of aristocratic politics during the Kingdom era of the Xia Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties, this concept has been very weak. Because "before the Spring and Autumn Period, the appointment of officials was the 'Shiqing Shilu' system, which was closely linked to the sub-sealing system and the patriarchal system... This official rank is fixed from generation to generation after the death of the father and the son", and even the occupations of all social classes are often inherited by father and son, and it is impossible for commoners and slaves to change their status and become officials.

However, after the transformation of social history from the kingdom era to the imperial era during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, centralized rule replaced kingdom rule in the Qin and Han dynasties, and bureaucracy replaced aristocratic politics. In line with this, a complete set of bureaucratic systems was established "on the basis of breaking the ancient patriarchal system", and a complete set of systems for selecting and appointing officials was also established and gradually improved. In the early Han Dynasty, officials were selected mainly through the military merit system and the lang selection system, and many people were awarded official positions for military merit. After Emperor Wen of Han, the system of inspection and requisition was gradually implemented--through the selection system of filial piety and honesty in the county state and direct recruitment of talents from the grassroots level as officials, people from all walks of life could become officials through various channels such as inspection, requisition, examination, resignation, and even accepting money and selling officials. For example, Wei Wei "took the opera car as the lang, Emperor Shiwen", Emperor Jing was named the Marquis of Jianling, worshiped as the crown prince and Fu, and later served as the prime minister; The main father "learned the art of longevity and shortness", and directly went to Emperor Wudi of Han, first worshipping Langzhong, and then moving to Zhongdafu, and the official worshiped Qi Xiang; When Emperor Wudi of Han was a prisoner, he was a jailer when he was young, and if he was guilty, he was spared." Gongsun Hong, whose family was poor and pastored the sea", was initially recruited as a doctor, and finally paid tribute to the prime minister and was made Marquis of Pingjin; When Emperor Wudi of Han implemented the salt and iron monopoly, the consul Salt and Iron's big farmer Chengdong Guo Xianyang was a big salt merchant in Qidi, and Kong was only the owner of Nanyang Daye Iron, both were big industrial and commercial owners who "produced thousands of gold". In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, bureaucratic families of Gongqing also appeared among the scholars, such as the Yang clan of Hongnong County from Emperor An of Han to Emperor Xian of Han, "Zizhen to Biao, the fourth imperial lieutenant".

Under the Han Dynasty bureaucracy, high officials were not only about power and status, but also directly related to wealth. For there must be good fortune for any official, and a thick for a high-ranking official. At that time, under the "three dukes" of rank 1000 stones, there were equal differences from the high-ranking officials of the central government with a rank of 2,000 stones (including middle 2,000 stones, 2,000 stones, and bi 2,000 stones), as well as the county guards and county captains of the local government, to the small officials such as Doushi and Saoshi, who were less than 100 stones. At the same time, many bureaucrats chased land houses and amassed wealth. Zhang Yu, the prime minister at the time of Emperor Cheng of Han, not only "the number of Son of Heaven plus rewards, tens of millions before and after", but also "internal goods,...... Buy more land to 400 hectares, and irrigate them all and irrigate them, and they will be extremely anointed." Emperor Han's favored courtier Dong Xian, when he was favored, "he rewarded Dong Xian", and after his death, "the county official rebuked the Dong family's wealth of 430,000 yuan", which shows the huge wealth of his family. This social reality that high-ranking officials had both thick fortune and huge wealth made high-ranking officials Houlu a common yearning and pursuit of people at that time, and was openly promoted as a positive outlook on life and values.

In short, the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness is a product of the social history of the Han Dynasty, which contains both universal human values and values with unique characteristics of the times.

Four

As a concentrated embodiment of the universal outlook on life and values of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness was an organic part of the spiritual culture of the Han Dynasty. Just as the political system, economic system, ideology and culture of the Qin and Han dynasties had an extremely profound historical impact on later China, the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness and its expression also had a profound impact on the Chinese concept of happiness and its expression in the past two thousand years. To this day, it seems that we can often see the "shadow" of the Han Dynasty's concept of happiness and its expression in our daily lives. Of course, with the development of history, the specific connotation of the concept of happiness changes from era to era, and the expression of happiness is often different from era to era, but happiness is the eternal pursuit of human beings.

Therefore, the object of archaeology is material remains, but it contains rich and profound spiritual and cultural connotations. Because of this, Mr. Yu Weichao once advocated that archaeologists "spend more energy on studying the problems of ancient spiritual activities contained in archaeological data". This is actually one of the important aspects of archaeology to "see through things". Since a considerable part of the archaeological data comes from tombs and religious remains, archaeology has achieved fruitful results in the spiritual culture of the ancients such as life and death, funeral views, religious beliefs and artistic aesthetics, which is undoubtedly necessary and important. However, the scope of spiritual culture is quite broad and extremely rich, which deserves our broader and deeper archaeological research. Such research can not only directly reveal the spiritual world of the ancients, but also help to deepen the understanding and understanding of ancient society and its changes as a whole.

Author's affiliation: School of History and Culture, Shandong University

Notes omitted, please refer to the original text for the full version.