Author: Qin Zhongliang (Associate Professor, School of Humanities, Shanghai Normal University)
Buying land vouchers, also known as "tomb vouchers" and "land vouchers", is a common burial vessel in tombs since the Eastern Han Dynasty. The text content on the coupon plate is an important text used in the "grass cutting" link in the traditional funeral ceremony (Lu Xiqi: Research on Ancient Chinese Land Purchase Vouchers, Xiamen University Press, 2014 edition, p. 19), and the coupon text ensures the ownership of the grave of the deceased in the form of a sales contract, and plays an important role in relieving the tomb, comforting the soul of the deceased, and protecting the living. The content of the coupon is rich, including the time of the issuance of the bond, the owner of the money, the target, the delivery of the coupon price, the guarantor and many other important items, although most of them are fictional content in terms of religion, but it can still reflect the many aspects of the society at that time. The land purchase vouchers at the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as "Yao Xiaojing Land Purchase Vouchers in the Sixteenth Year of Yongping (73 Years)" (Li Mingxiao: "Collation and Research of Legal Literature on Stone Carvings of the Two Han Dynasty, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", People's Publishing House, 2016 edition, p. 7), contain realistic materials that reflect the land purchase and sale of the two Han Dynasty societies.
The so-called Middle Ages, that is, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang dynasties, is equivalent to the 3rd to 9th centuries AD. During this period, the land purchase vouchers were mainly made of bricks, which were not only numerous in number and rich in types, but also had a low degree of stylization and a weak religious fairy color, which reflected more of the content of the local society. Compared with epitaphs, land purchase vouchers are mostly engraved by the people at the bottom, which helps us to obtain historical information such as the economic activities and living customs of ordinary people.
The ancient brick carved land purchase voucher has the characteristics of region and era
In the Middle Ages, brick carved land purchase coupons were the mainstream, which was not only a specific product of this period, but also a specific regional product of southern society, and a technical product of the mature development of sintered brick technology, which was typical and representative in the entire Middle Ages.
Land purchase vouchers arose in the early Eastern Han Dynasty and flourished with the prosperity of Taoism in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Influenced by the prosperity of Huangbai art and lead worship at that time, lead coupons were the absolute mainstream in the Eastern Han Dynasty land purchase coupons. At the beginning of the Wei and Jin dynasties, lead coupons declined rapidly, and brick coupons gained an advantage in quantity. From the point of view of quantity, there are nearly 80 land purchase coupons in the Middle Ages, and more than half of the brick carved land purchase coupons account for more than the sum of other materials such as stone, wood, lead, tin, and paper. After five generations, the land purchase vouchers were mostly wood and stone. It can be said that "brick carving" is the most typical material feature of the entire medieval land purchase voucher.
During this period, the reason why the land purchase voucher showed the characteristics of the era dominated by brick carving was mainly due to the maturity of the sintered brick technology in the Middle Ages. Li Xu pointed out that "during the period of the Three Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the production process of sintered bricks became increasingly mature and perfect, the production cost continued to decrease, and the use of sintered bricks was popularized to all levels of society" (Li Xu: "A Review of Chinese Brick Inscriptions", Calligraphy, No. 9, 2021). The breakthrough of sintered brick technology on the basis of the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty has promoted the use of brick carving to all levels of society, and the grassroots people can also use it in their daily lives. The characteristics of brick, which is easy to engrave and can survive underground for a long time, have further promoted it to gradually become the main material for land purchase vouchers.
The prevalence of funeral culture and epitaph customs has also made brick carving land coupons a choice for more people. The funeral culture of "carving bricks for knowledge" was widely respected in the society at that time, so the family Gaomen during the Six Dynasties generally used bricks as the carrier to engrave epitaphs, such as "Xie Yan Brick Chronicles", "Xie Wen Brick Chronicles" and "Xie Qiu Brick Chronicles" (Li Xu: The Complete Works of Chinese Brick Inscriptions, Volume 9, Shanghai Painting and Calligraphy Publishing House, 2020 edition, pp. 624, 646, 647), which is a reflection of the widespread use of brick carving materials in all social strata during this period. At the same time, unlike the middle and upper classes of society who use bricks to inscribe epitaphs, the people at the bottom prefer to use bricks to make land purchase vouchers.
The land purchase voucher carved by ancient bricks has regional characteristics. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the land purchase vouchers appeared in the central area of Heluo with Luoyang as the center, and the land purchase vouchers in the Jianghuai area were not only very few, but also the coupon text was simpler, which showed a great difference from the mature writing mode in the Central Plains. At the end of the Han Dynasty, the Taiping Road was suppressed, and the population of the Central Plains was dispersed, and the custom of buying coupons and burials in the central area of Heluo spread to the Six Dynasties in the south of the Yangtze River, and achieved significant development. Throughout the Middle Ages, more than ninety percent of the land purchase vouchers appeared in the area of the Six Dynasties in the south of the Yangtze River, and the writing mode became more and more mature, and the distribution in the south of the Yangtze River became more and more extensive. It can be said that brick inscription documents are one of the materials that can best show the changes in grassroots society in the Middle Ages.
The local beliefs and customs presented by the brick carved land purchase vouchers
Among the many aspects of local society in the Middle Ages presented by the brick-carved land purchase vouchers, local religious beliefs are the most concentrated representations.
The trend of making coupons with burials arose in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, and by the end of the Han Dynasty, during the Wei and Jin dynasties, Taoists had been deeply involved in the production of land purchase coupons. The representative figures in the Taoist immortal system, such as the Emperor of Heaven, the Eastern Prince, the Western Queen Mother, Tubo, Qiu Cheng, etc., have also appeared in the text of the land purchase voucher as the owner and the guarantor. The land purchase vouchers of the Wei and Jin dynasties continued this style of writing. In the last years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Sun Enlu revolted with a strong Taoist color, which accelerated the spread of Taoism in the vast area of the south of the Yangtze River.
The relevant land purchase vouchers are represented by the Tianhe floor tile purchase vouchers in the 21st year of Yuanjia (444). The coupon begins with "The new big (too) on the old gentleman's symbol: heaven and earth...... "Twelve gods and so on" is a typical content of the edict, in the name of the supreme god of Taoism, Taishang Laojun, is a kind of Taoist spell, in order to enhance the sacredness of the coupon. The appearance in the main part of the coupon text is "following the humane law of the Taishang princes, not daring to choose the time and day, not avoiding underground taboos, acting in the right way, and not asking about the turtle and the turtle" is a reflection of "the custom of the master of Taoism to bury regardless of time", which to a certain extent shows the close relationship between the tomb owner and Taoism, or shows that "the tomb owner himself is a person who serves the Tao" (Zhang Xunliao and Bai Bin, "Archaeology of Taoism in China", 2006 edition of Thread Binding Books, p. 903). At the end of the voucher, "the date of the board...... The "Edict of the Female Youth" part of the "Edict of the Female Youth makes a detailed application to the gods and ghosts, so that they can comfort the tomb owner and protect the living. By the time of the Xiao Liang period, this new style of writing had become the mainstream of land purchase vouchers in various parts of the Southern Dynasties, indicating that the spread of Taoism in the south had been quite extensive and deep.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Buddhism flourished, and the royal family, bureaucracy, aristocracy, and civil society had a strong tendency to worship Buddhism. Correspondingly, the land purchase vouchers in the Sui and Tang dynasties, on the one hand, inherited the previous generations, reflecting a strong Taoist color, and on the other hand, they were influenced by Buddhism, which was greatly developed at that time. For example, the expression "Suo Ha World South Ganbu Continent Tang Kingdom" in Chen's floor tile purchase coupon in Zhangpu County, Zhangzhou is a typical Buddhist term, indicating that the influence of Buddhism at that time was quite deep, and it has been infiltrated into the land purchase coupon text with a "super-stable writing structure". After the Song Dynasty of the Five Dynasties, the Buddhist terms in the vouchers were more prominent and common, and the expression "Southern [赡] Buzhou Datang Kingdom" (Lu Xiqi: Research on Ancient Chinese Land Purchase Vouchers, p. 226) in the tenth year of the Southern Tang Dynasty (952) in Fan Tao's purchase of floor tiles (Lu Xiqi: "Research on Ancient Chinese Land Purchase Vouchers", p. 226) clearly reflects the influence of the Buddhist factors in the medieval land purchase vouchers on later generations, and further shows that the Buddhist factors have strengthened the penetration of the voucher production.
The presentation of religious factors in the medieval land purchase vouchers reflects obvious regional differences between the north and the south. During the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the writing mode of the Southern Dynasties was deeply influenced by Taoism, while the style of the Northern Dynasties was more primitive, close to the real sales contract, and the religious fairy color was not strong, and there was no trace of Taoism. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, under the historical background of Taoism in the north and south, the Buddhist factor was first reflected in the southern coupons, and then spread to the whole country in the five dynasties of the Song Dynasty. This unification and transformation of the land purchase voucher from the south to the north is, to a certain extent, also a manifestation of the "Southern Dynastyization" of the Tang Dynasty.
The local society presented by the brick-carved land purchase voucher
As a funeral document with the nature of the deed, the land purchase voucher contains strong local characteristics, which is closely related to the real life of people everywhere, and contains a series of basic information about the owner of the voucher, such as name, gender, longevity, place of origin, eunuch experience, economic activities, marriage network, etc., which helps us understand the many aspects of the grassroots society of the Southern Dynasties.
There are many records of the name, gender, and longevity of the owner of the coupon, such as "Dragon Peach Cane" in "Jian'an 24th Year (219) Dragon Peach Cane Buying Floor Tile Coupon", "Jiujiang Man Haozong" in "Huangwu 4th Year (225) Haozong Land Purchase Coupon", "Wang Buddha Girl in the Ninth Year of Yuanjia (432) Wang Buddha Girl Buying Land Coupon Bricks", "Luo Jian Twenty-second Year (445) Luo Jian and His Wife Buying Land Coupons" in "Luo Jiannian 80 years old, wife □ 80 years old", "Ordinary First Year (520) He Jing Buying Land Coupons" in "Female Citizen He Jing, Twenty-nine years old" (Li Mingxiao, "Collation and Research of Legal Literature on Stone Carvings of the Two Han Dynasty, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", People's Publishing House, 2016 edition, pp. 36, 82, 130, 161, 211), reflecting rich information. Judging from the information of gender and longevity, in the grassroots society in the south of the Yangtze River, the trend of making coupons with burials is relatively prosperous, affecting almost all ages of men and women. Compared with the epitaphs that reflect the middle and upper classes, the names of the owners of the land purchase vouchers have their own uniqueness: on the one hand, the surnames are more diverse (such as Long, Hao, etc.), jumping out of the category of traditional families such as Wang, Xie, Huan, and Yu, which are common in epitaphs; On the other hand, only the name is stated, and the table is not added, such as the first year of Wufeng (254) Huang Fu bought land voucher bricks, which reflects the purpose of making vouchers and burial customs that are different from the family of the grassroots society.
The experience of the eunuchs of the owners of the land purchase vouchers helps us understand the official settings and family changes in the grassroots society. For example, in "the third year of Yongming (485), Liu Qian bought land bonds", "King Wuling of the Song Dynasty participated in the military and □□□□□ participated in the military Liu Qi...... Father Yuanshan, Song Hengyang Wang Anxi Mansion Master Book, Tianmen Taishou, Song Nan [谯] Wang Che Cavalry Military, Shangshu Duguanlang; Zu Su, the general participated in the military, and gave the matter" (Lu Xiqi, "Research on Ancient Chinese Land Purchase Vouchers", p. 121), outlining the experience of local eunuchs for three generations of the families of grassroots officials in the Southern Dynasties. Compared with the heirloom documents and epitaph materials, the description of family changes and the experience of officials and eunuchs in the land purchase voucher is more different, it mainly focuses on the people at the bottom and the grassroots officials, which not only helps us to investigate the establishment of grassroots social officials in the Southern Dynasties, but also provides valuable information for us to study the changes and circulation of ordinary families in the context of the times at that time.
The abundant and detailed records of the place of origin in the land purchase voucher are helpful for us to investigate the administrative settings of the grassroots society. For example, in the "30th year of Yuanjia (453) Luo Daoxun land purchase vouchers", there are records of "Tingyili, Duxiang, Pengcheng County, Pengcheng County, Xuzhou" and "Anshangli, Pengcheng Duxiang", and the expression "He Jing, a female citizen in Yiyangli, Duxiang, Jinning County, Guiyang County" in "He Jing bought floor tile coupons in the first year of ordinary (520)" (Li Mingxiao: "Collation and Research of Legal Documents on Stone Carvings in the Two Han Dynasty, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", pp. 166 and 211), all reflect the hierarchical setting and grassroots governance network of the grassroots society in the counties, counties and townships of the Southern Dynasties. It can not only make up for the shortcomings of the geographical chronicles and Fangyu books, but also provide some specific and clear spatio-temporal standards for the study of the obsolescence and evolution of administrative divisions in the Southern Dynasties.
The phenomenon of the integration of some land purchase vouchers is helpful for us to examine the marriage network of local society. For example, in "Changqing two years (822) Luo Qing bought floor tile coupons", "Luo Qing returned to the house, □□□ the west mountain of Zhenyang Lake...... The government is secretive, and the people of Yuyao are also. Ancestor Cheng, father □...... Two sons and three sons...... The expression "Marrying the Sheng Family" not only presents the life and eunuch experiences of the three generations of Luo Qing's ancestors and grandchildren in Xinyili, Fengting Township, Yuyao County, but also describes the marriage relationship between the Luo and Sheng families in Yuyao area, which is helpful for us to study the marriage network and family situation of the middle and lower class officials in Jiangnan in the Tang Dynasty.
Some land purchase vouchers also contain valuable information that reflects local economic activity. The land purchase voucher was born out of the actual land sale contract, and in terms of writing format, it has not yet gotten rid of the traces of practicality, and to a certain extent, it also shows the economic activities of the local society. The writing format of the land purchase voucher at the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty is almost the same as the practical sales contract in the Juyan Han Dynasty, which contains the basic elements of the contract, such as the owner of the money, the price of the bond, the guarantor, the wine gift silver, and the penalty for breach of contract. Practical sales contracts in the society of the Northern Dynasties, such as "Gou Tou Chilu Purchase Voucher in the second year of Taiyan (436)", "Guo Mengzhi in the first year of Taihe (477) to buy floor tile vouchers", "Zhang Shenluo in the fourth year of Zhengshi (507) Voucher for Buying Floor Tiles", etc. (Lu Xiqi, "Research on Ancient Chinese Land Purchase Vouchers", pp. 163, 167, 171), are also often mistaken for representatives of the early period of the revival of land purchase vouchers in the Northern Dynasties. A comparative study of the land purchase vouchers in this period and the contract documents in the Juyan Han Jian and Dunhuang Turpan documents can more systematically map the micro context of the development of contracts in the Middle and Middle Ages of the Qing Dynasty.
(This article is the phased achievement of the general project of the National Social Science Foundation of China, "Research on Brick Carving Literature and Medieval Local Society")
Guangming Daily (2024-08-05 14th edition)
Source: Guangming Net-Guangming Daily