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Preface
Living in the 21st century Chinese society, you will not be able to move an inch without an ID card.
Don't talk about going to school and finding a job, it's a hassle to buy a ticket and go out.
So then again, now we are Xi to living with ID cards, so was there something similar in ancient China?
The birth of the ancient Chinese identity card
How do you prove your identity?
This may seem like a rather boring question, but it's also a very necessary one.
Even in modern times, where communication technology is extremely developed, there are often "imposters" or other scammers who come out to deceive and deceive.
So, in ancient times, when communication technology was extremely backward, how did people determine that those noble lords were not impersonated?
In this regard, the plan given by the Western Zhou Dynasty was to determine identity through various cumbersome etiquette and strict division of clothing and clothing worn by different classes.
For example, the most commonly used jade accessories, under normal circumstances, in ancient times, the children of the royal family would be given a jade item after birth, which was engraved with the genealogy of the parents of the royal family, as well as the date of birth.
This is also the reason why the genealogy of the ancient royal family is also called "jade".
At first, due to the low productivity, it was generally these nobles who held the wealth of society, so this method was more applicable.
But when the time came to the Spring and Autumn Period, the popularization of iron ox farming and the further development of productivity made the landlord class, which could only be regarded as the bottom in terms of blood, rise.
Coupled with the long-term war, many children of the former nobles have been displaced to the people because of the ruin of their families, so that the previous way of distinguishing classes is no longer feasible.
As wars became more frequent, the state needed to control the population more and more, and as a result, the hukou system came to the stage of history.
During the Warring States Period, Li Kui, who changed the law in the Wei State, took the lead in establishing a relatively complete household registration system.
Later, Shang Ying established a stricter household registration system in the Qin State, and popularized the prototype of the ID card - the photo sticker.
According to archaeological finds, the photograph is made of a palm-sized wooden board or motherboard, which will be engraved with the owner's face, and the holder's home address, date of birth, and basic identity characteristics, which need to be changed every few years.
This is probably the oldest ID card in China.
What's even more amazing is that after the Shang Dynasty changed the law, the Qin people's awareness of ID cards was really advanced.
For example, when the later Shang Ying fled the Qin State, he was rejected by the innkeeper because he did not carry his ID card.
Although later generations often use this incident to ridicule Shang Ying, saying that Shang Ying committed suicide, but this also reflects the strictness and perfection of the household registration system of Qin State at this time, and it is difficult to imagine that this is a system that the country known as the land of barbarians can have for more than 2,000 years.
So, after that, what development has China's ID card ushered in?
The Establishment and Collapse of the Hukou in Ancient China
Although the Qin Dynasty collapsed soon after the unification of the Six Kingdoms, the centralized system created by the Qin Dynasty was retained, especially the household registration system, which was directly related to the rise and fall of the country, which was fully adopted by the Western Han Dynasty.
In terms of the household registration system, the Western Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty were no different, they would issue photo stickers to the people under their direct control, and require the people to go to the government to replace them on time.
It was also in this way that the Western Han Dynasty counted the population that it could directly control.
Those who hold the photo sticker will be protected by the laws of the Western Han Dynasty, please note that the Western Han Dynasty has achieved "law enforcement without avoiding relatives and nobles", at least on the surface.
For example, Zhang Liang's descendant Zhang Pijiang was deprived of his title and fief because he killed civilians.
As for Zhang Tang and Zhidu, these cool officials of the Western Han Dynasty who were regarded as negative teaching materials by Confucianism in the history books, although their reputation was not very good after their deaths, but when they were alive, they really dared to kill the royal family and kill Hai Rui, who guarded the county and was strong!
Of course, rights and obligations are inseparable, and even many times you can not enjoy rights, but you must fulfill obligations.
After having a photo sticker, as a legal citizen of the Western Han Dynasty, you can enjoy the protection of national laws, and you can achieve class leapfrogging through military merit awards, or other means, but you must also fulfill your obligations.
Duties here are broadly divided into servitude, military service, and various taxes.
Originally, this was a reciprocal benefit between the court and the people, but in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, with the rise of local tyrants and the increasing relaxation of national laws, ordinary people received fewer and fewer benefits from the court, but the obligations they needed to bear became heavier and heavier.
As a result, the system began to collapse.
Can you imagine? During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the official registered population of the Western Han Dynasty once reached more than 60 million, but when Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, the registered population of the imperial court was only 35 million!
What's even more exaggerated is the Western Jin Dynasty, the Western Jin Dynasty was only more than 30 years ago, however, in these 30 years, the population registered in the imperial court has risen from 16 million to 40 million!
Before the Western Jin Dynasty, the total population that the governments of the three countries could control together may not exceed 8 million!
It can be said that the number of people on the government's household registration directly represents the strength of the central government's control over the country, including the later Ming Dynasty.
When the Ming Dynasty was first established, Zhu Yuanzhang carried out a national population register, and the population of the early Ming Dynasty was 63 million.
And then this number turned out to be the peak of the Ming population!
After Yongle, the registered population of the Ming court increased year by year, and during the Wanli period, it once dropped to only 50 million!
Anyone with a discerning eye knows what is going on, the central government can no longer control the population of the whole country, and what awaits a government that cannot control the population?
Perdition, of course.
The reason is simple: how can an empire with a population of 180 million be able to sustain itself with a population of 50 million?
epilogue
Now when we pick up that small ID card, perhaps in our eyes, the ID card is just our passport to this society, but in fact, behind an ID card, it is not only related to our life and destiny, but also represents the rise and fall of the country.
When people recognize ID cards, it means that our country is united, and it means that the people recognize the country, and on the contrary, look at history.