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漢 書 卷 二 十 四 : 食 貨 志

平 帝 崩 , 王 莽 居 攝 , 遂 篡 位 。 王 莽 因 漢 承 平 之 業, 匈 奴 稱 藩 , 百 蠻 賓 服 , 舟 車 所 通 , 盡 為 臣 妾 , 府 庫 百 官 之 富 , 天 下 晏 然 。 莽 一 朝 有 之 , 其 心 意 未 滿 ,  小 漢 家 制 度 , 以 為 疏 闊 。

宣 帝 始 賜 單 于 印 璽 ,與 天 子 同 , 而 西 南 夷 鉤 町 稱 王 。 莽 乃 遣 使 易 單 于 印 , 貶 鉤 町 王 為 侯 。 二 方 始 怨 , 侵 犯 邊 境 。 莽 遂 興 師 ,發 三 十 萬 眾 , 欲 同 時 十 道 並 出 , 一 舉 滅 匈 奴 ; 募 發 天 下囚 徒 丁 男、 甲 卒 轉 委 輸 兵 器 , 自 負 海 江 淮 而 至 北 邊 , 使 者 馳 傳 督 趣 , 海 內 擾 矣 。

又 動 欲 慕 古 , 不 度 時 宜 , 分 裂 州 郡 , 改 職 作 官 , 下 令 曰 :

「 漢 氏 減 輕 田 租 , 三 十 而 稅 一 , 常 有 更 賦 , 罷 癃 咸 出 , 而 豪 民 侵 陵 , 分 田 劫 假 , 厥 名 三 十 , 實 什 稅 五 也 。富 者 驕 而 為 邪 , 貧 者 窮 而 為 姦 , 俱 陷 於 辜 , 刑 用 不 錯 。

今 更 名 天 下 田 曰 王 田 , 奴 婢 曰 私 屬 , 皆 不 得 賣 買。 其 男 口 不 滿 八 , 而 田 過 一 井 者 , 分 餘 田 與 九 族 鄉 黨 。」 犯 令 , 法 至 死 。

制 度 又 不 定 , 吏 緣 為 姦 , 天 下 謷 謷 然, 陷 刑 者 眾 。    

後 三 年 , 莽 知 民 愁 , 下 詔 諸 食 王 田 及 私 屬 皆 得 賣 買 , 勿 拘 以 法 。 然 刑 罰 深 刻 , 它 政 誖 亂 。

邊 兵 二十 餘 萬 人 仰 縣 官 衣 食 ,用 度 不 足 , 數 橫 賦 歛 , 民 俞 貧 困 。 常 苦 枯 旱 , 亡 有 平 歲 , 穀 賈 翔 貴 。     末 年 , 盜 賊 群 起 , 發 軍 擊 之 , 將 吏 放 縱 於 外 。 北 邊 及 青 徐 地 人 相 食 , 雒 陽 以 東 米 石 二 千 。 莽 遣 三 公 將 軍 開 東 方 諸 倉 振 貸 窮 乏 , 又 分 遣 大 夫 謁 者 教 民 煮 木 為 酪 ; 酪 不 可 食 , 重 為 煩 擾 。流 民 入 關 者 數 十 萬人 , 置 養 澹 官 以 稟 之 , 吏 盜 其 稟 , 飢 死 者 什 七 八。

莽 恥 為 政 所 致 , 乃 下 詔 曰 : 「 予 遭 陽 九 之 阨 , 百 六 之 會 , 枯 旱 霜 蝗 , 饑 饉 荐 臻 , 蠻 夷 猾 夏 , 寇 賊 姦 軌, 百 姓 流 離 。 予 甚 悼 之 , 害 氣 將 究 矣 。 」 歲 為 此 言 , 以 至 於 亡 。

王 莽 居 攝 , 變 漢 制 , 以 周 錢 有 子 母 相 權 , 於 是 更 造 大 錢 , 徑 寸 二 分 , 重 十 二 銖 , 文 曰 「 大 錢 五 十 」 。 又 造 契 刀 、 錯 刀 。 契 刀 , 其 環 如 大 錢 , 身 形 如 刀 , 長 二 寸, 文 曰 「 契 刀 五 百 」 。 錯 刀 , 以 黃 金 錯 其 文 , 曰 「 一 刀 直 五 千 」 。 與 五 銖 錢 凡 四 品 , 並 行 。    

莽 即 真 , 以 為 書 「 劉 」 字 有「 金 」|、「 刀」 , 乃 罷 錯 刀 、 契刀 及 五 銖 錢 , 而 更 作 金 、 銀 、 龜 、 貝 、 錢 、 布 之 品 , 名 曰 「 寶 貨 」 。     小 錢 徑 六 分 , 重 一 銖 , 文 曰 「 小 錢 直 一 」 。 次 七 分 , 三 銖 , 曰「 幺錢 一 十 」 。 次 八 分 , 五 銖 , 曰 「 幼 錢 二 十 」 。次 九 分 , 七 銖 , 曰 「 中 錢 三 十 」 。 次 一 寸 , 九 銖 , 曰 「壯 錢 四 十 」 。 因 前 「 大 錢 五 十 」 , 是 為 錢 貨 六 品 , 直 各 如 其 文 。    

黃 金 重 一 斤 , 直 錢 萬 。

朱 提 銀 重 八 兩 為 一 流 , 直一 千 五 百 八 十 。 它 銀 一 流 直 千 。 是 為 銀 貨 二 品 。    

元 龜 岠 冉 長 尺 二 寸 , 直 二 千 一 百 六 十 , 為 大 貝 十 朋 。公 龜 九 寸 , 直 五 百 , 為 壯 貝 十 朋 。 侯 龜 七 寸 以 上 , 直 三 百 , 為  貝 十 朋 。 子 龜 五 寸 以 上 , 直 百 , 為 小 貝 十 朋 。 是 為 龜 寶 四 品 。    

大 貝 四 寸 八 分 以 上 , 二 枚 為 一 朋 , 直 二 百 一 十 六。 壯 貝 三 寸 六 分 以 上 , 二 枚 為 一 朋 , 直 五 十 。  貝 二 寸 四 分 以 上 , 二 枚 為 一 朋 , 直 三 十 。 小 貝 寸 二 分 以 上 , 二 枚 為 一 朋 , 直 十 。 不 盈 寸 二 分 , 漏 度 不 得 為 朋 , 率 枚 直 錢 三 。 是 為 貝 貨 五 品 。    

大 布 、 次 布 、 弟 布 、 壯 布 、 中 布 、 差 布 、 厚 布 、幼 布 、 幺 布 、 小 布 。 小 布 長 寸 五 分 , 重 十 五 銖 , 文 曰 「小 布 一 百 」 。 自 小 布 以 上 , 各 相 長 一 分 , 相 重 一 銖 , 文各 為 其 布 名 , 直 各 加 一 百 。 上 至 大 布 , 長 二 寸 四 分 , 重一 兩 , 而 直 千 錢 矣 。 是 為 布 貨 十 品 。     凡 寶 貨 五 物 , 六 名 , 二 十 八 品 。    

鑄 作 錢 布 皆 用 銅 , 殽 以 連 錫 ,文 質 周 郭 放 漢 五 銖 錢 云。 其 金 銀 與 它 物 雜 , 色 不 純 好 , 龜 不 盈 五 寸 , 貝 不 盈 六 分 , 皆 不 得 為 寶 貨 。 元 龜 為 蔡 , 非 四民 所 得 居 , 有 者 , 入 大 卜 受 直 。    

百 姓 憒 亂 , 其 貨 不 行 。 民 私 以 五 銖 錢 市 買 。 莽 患 之 , 下 詔 : 「 敢 非 井 田 挾 五 銖 錢 者 為 惑 眾 , 投 諸 四 裔 以 御 魑 魅 。 」 於 是 農 商 失 業 , 食 貨 俱 廢 , 民 涕 泣 於 市 道 。坐 賣 買 田、 宅 、奴 婢 、鑄 錢 抵 罪 者 , 自 公 卿 大 夫 至 庶 人 , 不 可 稱 數 。

莽 知 民 愁 , 乃 但 行 小 錢 直 一 , 與 大 錢 五 十 , 二 品 並 行 , 龜、 貝、 布 屬 且 寢 。    

莽 性 躁 擾 , 不 能 無 為 , 每 有 所 興 造 , 必 欲 依 古 得經 文 。 國 師 公 劉 歆 言 周 有 泉 府 之 官 , 收 不 讎 , 與 欲 得 , 即 《易》 所 謂 「 理 財 正 辭 , 禁 民 為 非 」 者 也 。莽 乃 下 詔 曰 : 「 夫 《周 禮》 有 賒 貸 , 《樂 語》 有 五 均 , 傳 記 各 有 斡 焉 。 今 開 賒 貸 , 張 五 均 , 設 諸 斡 者 , 所以 齊 眾 庶 , 抑 并 兼 也 。 」

遂 於 長 安 及 五 都 立 五 均 官 , 更 名 長 安 東 西 市 令 及 洛 陽 、 邯 鄲 、 臨 甾 、 宛 、 成 都 市 長 皆 為 五 均 司 市 師 。 東 市 稱 京 , 西 市 稱 畿 , 洛 陽 稱 中, 餘 四 都 各 用 東 西 南 北 為 稱 , 皆 置 交 易 丞 五 人 , 錢 府 丞 一 人 。 工 商 能 采 金 銀 銅 連 錫 登 龜 取 貝 者 , 皆 自 占司 市 錢 府 , 順 時 氣 而 取 之 。    

又 以 《周 官》 稅 民 : 凡 田 不 耕 為 不 殖 , 出 三 夫 之 稅 ;城 郭 中 宅 不 樹 藝 者 為 不 毛 , 出 三 夫 之 布 ; 民 浮 游 無 事 , 出 夫 布 一 匹 。 其 不 能 出 布 者 ,  作 , 縣 官 衣 食 之。

諸 取 眾 物、 鳥、 獸、 魚、 鱉、 百 蟲 於 山 林、 水 澤 及 畜 牧 者 ,嬪 婦 桑 蠶、 織 紝、 紡 績、 補 縫 , 工 匠、 醫、 巫、 卜、 祝 及 它 方 技 、商 販、 賈 人 坐 肆、 列 里 區、 謁 舍 , 皆 各 自 占 所 為 於 其 在 所 之 縣 官 , 除 其 本 , 計 其 利 , 十 一 分 之 , 而 以 其 一 為 貢。 敢 不 自 占 , 自 占 不 以 實 者 , 盡 沒 入 所 采 取 , 而 作 縣 官一 歲 。    

諸 司 市 常 以 四 時 中 月 實 定 所 掌 , 為 物 上、 中、 下 之 賈 , 各 自 用 為 其 市 平 , 毋 拘 它 所 。 眾 民 賣 買 五 穀 布 帛 絲 綿 之 物 , 周 於 民 用 而 不 讎 者 , 均 官 有以 考 檢 厥 實 , 用 其 本 賈 取 之 , 毋 令 折 錢 。 萬 物 卬貴 , 過 平 一 錢 , 則 以 平 賈 賣 與 民 。 其 賈 氐 賤 減 平 者 , 聽 民 自 相 與 市 , 以 防 貴 庾 者 。

民 欲 祭 祀 喪 紀 而 無 用 者 , 錢 府 以 所 入 工 商 之 貢 但 賒 之 ,祭 祀 無 過 旬 日 , 喪 紀 毋 過 三 月 。 民 或 乏 絕 , 欲 貸 以 治 產 業 者 , 均 授 之 , 除 其 費 , 計 所 得 受 息 , 毋 過 歲 什 一 。    

羲 和 魯 匡 言 : 「 名 山、 大 澤 , 鹽、 鐵、 錢、 布、 帛 , 五 均 賒 貸 , 斡 在 縣 官 , 唯 酒 酤 獨 未 斡 。 酒 者 , 天 之 美 祿, 帝 王 所 以 頤 養 天 下 , 享 祀 祈 福 , 扶 衰 養 疾 。 百 禮 之 會, 非 酒 不 行 。

故 《詩》 曰

『 無 酒 酤 我 』 , 而 《論 語》 曰 『酤 酒 不 食 』 , 二 者 非 相 反 也 。

夫 《詩》 據 承 平 之 世 ,酒 酤 在 官 , 和 旨 便 人 , 可 以 相 御 也 。《論 語》 孔 子 當 周 衰 亂 , 酒 酤 在 民 , 薄 惡 不 誠 , 是 以 疑 而 弗 食 。

今 絕 天 下 之 酒 , 則 無 以 行 禮 相 養 ; 放 而 亡 限 , 則 費 財 傷 民 。 請 法 古 , 令 官 作 酒 , 以 二 千 五 百 石 為 一 均 , 率 開 一 盧 以 賣, 讎 五 十 釀 為 準 。 一 釀 用 麤 米 二 斛 , 麴 一 斛 , 得成 酒 六 斛 六 斗 。 各 以 其 市 月 朔 米 麴 三 斛 , 并 計 其 賈 而 參 分 之 , 以 其 一 為 酒 一 斛 之 平 。 除 米 麴 本 賈 , 酨 灰 炭 給 工 器 薪 樵 之 費 。 」    

羲 和 置 命 士 督 五 均、 六 斡 , 郡 有 數 人 , 皆 用 富 賈 。洛 陽 薛 子 仲 、 張 長 叔 、 臨 菑 姓 偉 等 , 乘 傳 求 利 ,交 錯 天 下 。因 與 郡 縣 通 姦 , 多 張 空 簿 , 府 臧 不 實 , 百 姓 俞 病 。

莽 知 民 苦 之 , 復 下 詔 曰 : 「 夫 鹽 ,食 肴 之 將 ; 酒 , 百 藥 之 長 , 嘉 會 之 好 ; 鐵 , 田 農 之 本 ; 名 山、 大 澤 , 饒 衍 之 臧 ; 五 均、 賒 貸 , 百 姓 所 取 平 , 卬 以 給 澹 ; 鐵 布、 銅 冶 , 通 行 有 無 , 備 民 用 也 。 此 六 者 , 非 編 戶 齊 民 所 能 家 作 , 必 卬 於市 , 雖 貴 數 倍 , 不 得 不 買 。 豪 民 富 賈 , 即 要 貧 弱 , 先 聖 知 其 然 也 , 故 斡 之 。

每 一 斡 為 設 科 條 防 禁 , 犯 者 罪 至 死。 」 姦 吏 猾 民 並 侵 , 眾 庶 各 不 安 生 。    

後 五 歲 , 天 鳳 元 年 , 復 申 下 金 銀 龜 貝 之 貨 , 頗 增減 其 賈 直 。 而 罷 大 小 錢 , 改 作 貨 布 , 長 二 寸 五 分 , 廣 一寸 , 首 長 八 分 有 奇 , 廣 八 分 , 其 圜 好 徑 二 分 半 , 足 枝 長 八 分 , 間 廣 二 分 , 其 文 右 曰「 貨 」 , 左 曰 「 布 」 , 重 二 十 五 銖 , 直 貨 泉 二 十 五 。 貨 泉 徑 一 寸 , 重 五 銖 , 文 右 曰 「 貨 」 , 左 曰 「 泉 」 , 枚 直一 , 與 貨 布 二 品 並 行 。

又 以 大 錢 行 久 , 罷 之 , 恐 民 挾 不 止 , 乃 令 民 且 獨 行 大 錢 , 與 新 貨 泉 俱 枚 直 一 , 並 行 盡 六 年 , 毋 得 復 挾 大 錢 矣 。

每 壹 易 錢 , 民 用 破 業 , 而 大 陷 刑。 莽 以 私 鑄 錢 死 , 及 非 沮 寶 貨 投 四 裔 , 犯 法 者 多 , 不 可 勝 行 , 乃 更 輕 其 法 : 私 鑄 作 泉 布 者 , 與 妻 子 沒 入 為 官 奴 婢 ; 吏 及 比 伍 , 知 而 不 舉 告 , 與 同 罪 ; 非 沮 寶 貨, 民 罰 作 一 歲 , 吏 免 官 。 犯 者 俞 眾 , 及 五 人 相 坐 皆 沒 入, 郡 國 檻 車 鐵 鎖 , 傳 送 長 安 鍾 官 , 愁 苦 死 者 什 六 七 。    

作 貨 布 六 年 後 , 匈 奴 侵 寇 甚 , 莽 大 募 天 下 囚 徒 人奴 , 名 曰 豬 突 豨 勇 , 壹 切 稅 吏 民 , 訾 三 十 而 取 一。

又 令 公 卿 以 下 至 郡 縣 黃 綬 吏 , 皆 保 養 軍 馬 , 吏 盡 復 以 與 民 。民 搖 手 觸 禁 , 不 得 耕 桑 , 繇 役 煩 劇 , 而 枯 旱 蝗 蟲 相 因 。 又 用 制 作 未 定 , 上 自 公 侯 , 下 至 小吏 , 皆 不 得 奉 祿 , 而 私 賦 斂 , 貨 賂 上 流 , 獄 訟 不 決 。 吏 用 苛 暴 立 威 , 旁 緣 莽 禁 , 侵 刻 小 民 。

富 者 不 得 自 保 , 貧 者 無 以 自 存 , 起 為 盜 賊 , 依 阻 山 澤 , 吏 不 能 禽 而 覆 蔽 之 , 浸 淫 日 廣 , 於 是 青 、 徐 、 荊 楚 之 地 往 往 萬 數 。 戰 鬥 死 亡 , 緣 邊 四 夷 所 係 虜 , 陷 罪 , 飢 疫 , 人 相食 , 及 莽 未 誅 , 而 天 下 戶 口 減 半 矣 。    

自 發 豬 突 豨 勇 後 四 年 , 而 漢 兵 誅 莽 。 後 二 年 , 世祖 受 命 , 盪 滌 煩 苛 , 復 五 銖 錢 , 與 天 下 更 始 。    

Appendix I. The Passages in "The Treatise on Food and Goods" Deaing with Wang Mang

The following two passages are the most important accounts of Wang Mang in the HS outside of his "Memoir" and are necessary in order to understand his period, hence they are translated here in full. They occur at the end of the first and second parts of this "Treatise."

There are a few additional passages dealing with this period: the section in the "Memoir on the Huns" (HS ch. 94) is translated in de Groot, Die Hunnen der vorchristlichen Zeit, ch. XX-XXII. The few scattered matters in the "Memoir on the Western Frontier Regions" (HS ch. 96) are to be found in his companion volume, Chinesischen Urkunden zur Geschichte Asiens (cf. his index sub Wang Mang). The passage (about a page) in the "Memoir on the Southwestern Barbarians" (HS ch. 95) is translated by A. Wylie in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 9 (1879/1880), p. 64, 65. There is also a brief section at the end of the "Treatise on the Suburban Sacrifices and State Offerings to the Spirits" (HS ch. 25, which is not translated; it deals with Wang Mang's alterations in the state sacrifices and his attempts to secure immortality). Other passages dealing with this period, found in the various biographies of the HS and HHS, are abstracted in the Glossary. With these accounts, the reader should be able to secure a well-rounded view of Wang Mang and his period.

After this translation had been prepared and sent to press, there appeared a translation of these two passages in Food and Money in Ancient China, Han Shu 24, by Nancy Lee Swann (Princeton University Press, 1950). The difficulty of altering a proof which was already in page form has however prevented me from referring to this translation.

CHAPTER XXIV: THE TREATISE ON FOOD AND GOODS

PART A

After Emperor P'ing died, 1 Wang Mang occupied [the post of] Regent and thereupon usurped the throne. Wang Mang profited from the Han [dynasty's] estate, inheriting its peacefulness: the Huns had pronounced themselves its tributaries and the many barbarians had submitted respectfully, so that wherever boats or carriages could go, all [people] were its male or female subjects, 2 and its yamens and treasuries [exhibited] "the richness of its host of officers," 3 with the result that the empire was at rest. In one morning, [Wang] Mang possessed them [all, but] his mind and intentions were not yet satisfied. He despised the institutions of the Han dynasty, considering them to be lax.

Emperor Hsüan had first granted the [Hun] Shan-Yü an imperial seal like that of the Son of Heaven, and [the Marquis of] Kou-t'ing, [Wu Po], a southwestern barbarian, had been entitled a king. [Wang] Mang however sent a commissioner to change the seal 4 of the Shan-Yü [to be an ordinary official seal] and degraded the King of Kou-t'ing to be a marquis. Not until then did these two quarters become resentful and trespass the borders. [Wang] Mang thereupon 5 raised an army, mobilizing a multitude of three hundred thousand [men], intending to go out [of the country] simultaneously by ten routes and at one stroke to annihilate the Huns. He solicited and mobilized the empire's convicts, freemen, and armed soldiers, to transport supplies and bring military implements. From the seacoast, the Yangtze and the Huai Rivers, to the northern borders, commissioners, [riding in] galloping quadrigae, supervised and urged them, [so that all] within [the four] seas were disturbed. 6

Moreover, whenever [Wang Mang] acted, he desired to imitate ancient [practises], and did not consider what was appropriate to the times, 7 so he divided up the provinces and commanderies, altered the duties [of officials], and created [new] offices. He issued an ordinance, 8 which said, 9

"The Han dynasty reduced and lightened the land tax, taking [only] one-thirtieth, [but in addition] there were regularly [required] conscript service and capitation taxes, which [even] the sick and aged were all required to pay, 10 while powerful common people beset and encroached upon 11 [the poor, letting their own] fields [out on] shares, robbing them by the rentals [required for their land, so that while], in name, the [poor] were taxed [only one]-thirtieth, in reality, they were taxed or paid in rent five-tenths of their produce. The rich were proud 12 and did evil, and the poor became destitute and acted wickedly. Both [of them] fell into crime, so that the punishments [had to be] employed and could not be set aside.

"Now I am changing the names of the cultivated fields in the empire to be `the King's fields,' and of male and female slaves to be `private adherents.' All are not to be permitted to be bought or sold. Let it be that those [rich families with] eight males or less, who have more cultivated fields than those in one ching [900 mou], shall divide the cultivated fields that are in excess [of those in one ching] and give them to their nine [classes of] relatives or to [people in] their neighborhood." The punishment of those who violated this ordinance was as great as death.

The institutions and regulations were moreover not fixed, and the officials utilized [that fact] to do evil, so that the empire kept murmuring, 13 and those who fell into punishment were multitudes.

The third year 14 afterwards, [because Wang] Mang knew that the common people hated [his arrangements], he issued an imperial edict, [saying], "Those who enjoy the income from the King's fields together with [those who have] private adherents, are all to be permitted to sell or buy them, and are not to be restricted by the law." His punishments were however very severe, and in other 15 [respects] his government was contrary to reason and disorderly.

The troops at the border, [numbering] more than two hundred thousand men, relied upon the imperial government for food and clothing; [since Wang Mang's] means were insufficient, he repeatedly [exacted] unreasonable poll-taxes and imposts, so that the common people became all the more poor and impoverished. They constantly suffered from withering droughts, and there were no abundant harvests, so that the prices of the grains soared and were high. In his last years, robbers and bandits arose in great numbers, and when he mobilized armies to attack them, the generals and officials acted with free license outside [the capital], so that at the northern borders and in the regions of Ch'ing and Hsü [Provinces], people ate each other. At Lo-yang and east of it, grain was two thousand [cash per] picul, 16 [so Wang] Mang sent [one of] the highest ministers and a general to open the various granaries in the eastern quarter, and to give and lend to those who were in extremity or indigent. 17 He also sent out by divisions grandees and internuncios to teach the common people to boil [parts of] trees and make a vegetable juice, [but] the vegetable juice could not be eaten, [and the sending merely] made much trouble and disturbance. 18 The vagrant common people who entered the passes [of Kuan-chung numbered] several hundred thousand persons, [so Wang Mang] established an Office for Maintenance and Relief, 19 in order to distribute [grain] to them, [but] the officials robbed them of their grain allowances, so that seven or eight-tenths of them died of hunger. 20

[Wang] Mang was ashamed [to recognize that these events] had arrived because of his [mis]government, so he issued imperial edicts which said, "I have met with the distresses of the nine dry years and [the untoward] occurrences in the 106 [years], of withering droughts, frosts, locusts, famines, repeated arrivals of `barbarians who have troubled the Chinese,' robbers and bandits [who follow] a wicked course, and people who become vagrants and fall into [crime]. I am greatly saddened by it. This injurious emanation will [soon] end." Year by year he produced this explanation, until he came to ruin. 21

PART B

When Wang Mang acted as Regent, he changed the Han institutions. Because in the Chou [dynasty] 22 its cash were larger and smaller coins 23 which acted as standards for each other, 24 [Wang Mang] thereupon changed [the currency] and [additionally] coined large cash, with a diameter of an inch and two fen, a weight of 12 shu, and a legend which reads, "Large cash (ta-ch'ien) [worth] fifty [cash]." 25 He also coined graving-knife (ch'i-tao) [coins] and [gold] inlaid knife (ts'o-tao) [coins]. The circular [heads] of the graving-knife [coins] are like the large cash; their bodies are shaped like knives and are two inches long. Their legend reads, "a graving-knife [coin], worth five hundred [cash]." 26 The inlaid knife [coins] are inlaid with actual gold. Their legend reads, "One knife [coin], worth five thousand [cash]." 27 Together with the five-shu cash, altogether four denominations [of money] were to circulate at the same time.

28 When Wang Mang became actual [Emperor], he considered that in the writing for the word Liu [there are the words] metal and knife, so he abolished the 29 inlaid knife and the graving-knife [coins], together with the five-shu cash. [Later] he changed and made [six] kinds [of money]: gold, silver, tortoise[shells], cowries, cash, and spade-money, [giving them] the name, "Valuable currency (pao-huo)." 30 The diminutive cash (hsiao-ch'ien) are six fen in diameter, one shu in weight, and their legend is, "Diminutive cash worth one [cash]." 31 The next are seven fen [in diameter] and three shu [in weight, with the legend], "Young cash (yao-ch'ien) [worth] ten [cash]." 32 The next are eight fen [in diameter and weigh] five shu, [with the legend], "Small cash (yu-ch'ien) [worth] twenty [cash]." 33 The next are nine fen [in diameter and weigh] seven shu, [with the legend], "Medium cash (chung-ch'ien) [worth] thirty [cash]." 34 The next are one inch [in diameter and weigh] nine shu, [with the legend], "Adult cash (chuang-ch'ien) [worth] forty [cash]." 35 [The use of] the previous large cash [worth] fifty [cash] was [also] continued. 36 These were the six denominations of cash currency, each of which are valued according to its legend.

Actual gold weighing one catty was [declared to be] worth ten thousand cash.

Shu-shih silver weighing eight taels made [one unit], (a liu), and was [declared to be] worth 1580 [cash]. 37 One liu of other silver was [declared to be] worth one thousand cash. These were the two denominations of silver currency.

Sovereign's tortoise-[shells], the edges of whose carapaces reached a foot and two inches were [declared to be] worth 2160 [cash] and were [made the equivalent of] ten pairs of large cowries. 38 Duke's tortoise-[shells, the edges of which reached] nine inches [or more], 39 were [declared to be] worth five hundred [cash] and were [made the equivalent of] ten pairs of big cowries. Marquises' tortoise-[shells, the edges of which reached] seven inches or more were [declared to be] worth three hundred [cash] and were [made the equivalent of] ten pairs of small cowries. Viscount's tortoise-[shells, the edges of which reached] five inches or more were [declared to be] worth a hundred [cash] and were [made the equivalent of] ten pairs of little cowries. The [foregoing] were the four denominations of tortoise-[shell] currency.

Of large cowries (ta-pei), four inches eight fen or more [in length], two made one pair (p'eng), and were [declared to be] worth 216 [cash]. Of adult cowries (chuang-pei), three inches six fen [in length] or more, two made one pair, and were [declared to be] worth fifty [cash]. Of little cowries (yao-pei), two inches four fen [in length] or more, two made one pair and were [declared to be] worth thirty [cash]. Of diminutive cowries (hsiao-pei), an inch two fen [in length] or more, two made one pair and were [declared to be] worth ten [cash]. Those which were not fully an inch two fen and so were outside of these regulations were not permitted to make pairs and were [declared to be] generally worth three [cash] apiece. The [foregoing] were the five denominations of cowry currency.

"Large spade-money (ta-pu)," the "next-[largest] spade-money (tz'u-pu)," the "third [largest] spade-money (ti-pu)," "adult spade-money (chuang-pu)," "medium spade-money (chung-pu)," "smaller [than medium] spade-money (ch'a-pu)," "[still] smaller [than medium] spade-money (hsü-pu)," 40 "young spade-money (yu-pu)," "little spade-money (yao-pu)," and "diminutive spade-money (hsiao-pu)" [were also coined]. The diminutive spade-money was one inch five fen long, weighed fifteen shu, and its legend was "Diminutive spade-money [worth] a hundred [cash]." 41 From the diminutive spade-money on upwards, each [denomination] was one fen longer and one shu heavier, and the legend of each [gave] the name of [that denomination of] spade-money, and each [denomination] was worth a hundred [cash] more [than the preceding denomination], up to the large spade-money, which was two 42 inches four fen long, weighed one tael, and was worth a thousand cash. 43 The [foregoing] were the ten denominations of spade-money currency. Altogether the "valuable currency" was made of five substances with six names, and [included] twenty-eight denominations.

In casting and making cash and spade-money, all [denominations] used copper and mixed it with lead ore and tin. 44 In their obverse and reverse and in their raised rim all around, they imitated the Han [dynasty's] five-shu cash. In this [currency], the gold and silver were mixed with other substances, and the alloy was not pure and good. Tortoise[shells] not fully five inches [in size], and cowries not fully six fen [in length] were all not permitted to be considered as valuable currency. Large tortoise-[shells were named] Ts'ai [shells], 45 and were not what the four [orders of] common people 46 were allowed to store up. Those who had them took them to the Grand Augur and received their value.

The people were confused and troubled [by this coinage, so that Wang Mang's] currency did not circulate. The common people privately used five-shu cash in the markets and in purchases. [Wang] Mang was troubled by it and so issued an imperial edict that those who presumed to oppose the ching [system of] cultivated fields or hoard five-shu cash were misleading the multitude and `should be thrown out to the four frontiers [and be made] to resist the elves and goblins." 47 Thereupon farmers and merchants lost their business, food and goods were both rendered useless, and the common people wept and cried in the market-places and highways. Those who were sentenced for selling or buying fields, residences, slaves or slave-women, or for casting cash, and [thus] fell into crime, from the ministers and grandees down to ordinary people, could not be estimated or counted.

[Wang] Mang knew that the common people hated [his arrangements], so he only had the two denominations of diminutive cash worth one [cash] and the large cash worth fifty [cash] circulate together; the tortoise-[shells], cowries, spade-money, and the like were temporarily abandoned.

[Wang] Mang by nature was irascible and irritable, and could not [bring himself to a state of] nonactivity. Every time there was something that he initiated or invented, he always wanted it to be in accordance with ancient [practises and tried to] secure the words of [some] classic [as a model]. The State Master and Highest Minister, Liu Hsin(1a), 48 said that the Chou [dynasty] had a government Office for Money, 49 which collected what was not sold and gave to those who needed to obtain [such things], which was precisely what the Book of Changes means by "the right administration of wealth, correct instructions [to the people], and prohibitions to the common people against wrong-[doing." 50 Wang] Mang accordingly issued an imperial edict, saying, "Verily, the Chou Offices contains [regulations for] selling on credit and lending on interest, 51 the Yo-Yü contains [an account of] the five equalizations, 52 and all the books and records speak of controls. Now that I open [offices for] selling on credit and lending on interest, set up the five equalizations, and establish the various monopolies (controls), it is in order that the crowd of people may be made equal and those who take concurrently [the advantages of other classes] may be repressed." 53

Thereupon at Ch'ang-an and at five [commandery] capitals there were established Offices for the Five Equalizations. The name of the Prefects of the Eastern and Western Markets at Ch'ang-an, together with the Chiefs of the Markets at Lo-yang, Han-tan, Lin-tzu, Yüan, and Ch'eng-tu(a) were all changed to be the Masters in Charge of the Five Equalizations at the Markets. 54 At the Eastern Market, in the title [of this official, the word] Capital [was used]; at the Western Market, in his title [the word] Court [was used]; at Lo-yang, in his title, [the word] Central [was used]; at the remaining four capitals one of [the words] Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern, [respectively, was used] in his title. At each [place] there were established five Assistants for Exchange, and one Assistant for the Office for Money. Artisans and merchants who had been able to collect gold, silver, copper, lead ore, tin, to whom tortoises had presented themselves, 55 or who had gathered cowries, all themselves testified [their value to the Assistant for] the Office for Money of [the Master] in Charge of the Market, and he took them in accordance with the emanations of the seasons.

[Wang Mang] also [ordered], "In accordance with the [system of] taxing the common people in the Chou Offices, 56 all fields that are not plowed are `unproductive [fields,' hence] shall pay taxes for three heads of households; residences inside the inner or outer city walls that are not planted [with fruit-trees] or cultivated [for garden produce] are `denuded of vegetation,' and shall pay the hemp-cloth [tax] for three heads of households; common people who wander about and have no occupation must pay [the tax of] one roll of hemp-cloth for a head of a household. Those who are not able to pay the hemp-cloth [tax] shall work at incidental occupations for the imperial government and shall be clothed and fed by it.

"Those who collect articles of any kind, birds, beasts, fish, turtles, or the various insects from the mountains, forests, streams, or marshes, together with those who rear or care for domestic animals, women who collect mulberry leaves, rear silkworms, weave, spin, or sew, laborers, artisans, physicians, shamans, diviners, invokers, together with [people who have] other recipes or skills, peddlers, traders, merchants who sit down and spread out [their wares] or who arrange them at stopping-places, or who visit houses, shall all and each themselves, at the places where they are, testify to the imperial government what they do, exclude their principal, calculate their [net] profit, divide off from it one-tenth, and use this one-[tenth] as their tribute. Those who presume not to testify themselves, or who themselves in testifying do not accord with the facts shall have all that they have collected or taken confiscated and paid [to the government] and shall work for the imperial government for one year.

"The [Masters] in Charge of Markets shall regularly, in the second month of [each of] the four seasons, determine the true [prices] of the articles that they take care of and make high, middle, and low prices [for the respective grades of these goods]. Each [Master] shall himself use [these prices] at his own market to equalize [prices there] and shall not restrict himself [by the prices] at other places. When the mass of common people have sold and bought the five [kinds of] grains or articles of hempen-cloth, silk cloth, silk thread, or silk wadding, which are used everywhere among the common people, whenever any has not been sold, and the office for equalization has examined and inspected the reality of that [fact, the office] shall take those [articles] at their cost price, so as not to cause [the people] to lose a cash. When [any of] the myriad things rise [in price and become] expensive, so that they surpass by one cash [the prices at which they have been] equalized, then [the accumulated stock] shall be sold to the common people in accordance with the price at which they have been equalized. If the price goes down and becomes cheap, below [the price at which it is to be] equalized, the common people shall be permitted to sell [goods] amongst each other at the market-place, in order to prevent any from storing [goods] up [for the purpose of keeping them until they become] expensive. 57

"If any of the common people wish to sacrifice or perform funeral and mourning ceremonies, and have not the means, the Office for Money shall give to them on credit, without requiring interest, whatever laborers or merchants have paid in as tribute, 58 [in the case of] sacrifices, for not more than ten days, [and in the case of] mourning ceremonies, for not more than three months. If any of the common people are lacking and have no [means] or wish to borrow on interest in order to establish a productive occupation, [the money] shall be impartially given to them, and, after their expenses have been deducted, they shall calculate what [profit] they have made, and shall pay interest [to the amount of] not more than one-tenth [of his income] per year." 59

The Hsi-and-Ho, Lu K'uang, said, "The controls of [5] the famous mountains and great marshes, [2] salt and [3] iron, [4] cash and spade-money currency, [6] the five equalizations, selling on credit and lending on interest, are in [the hands of] the imperial government. Only [1] the selling of fermented drinks alone is not yet monopolized. Fermented drink is the most beautiful happiness from Heaven, whereby the lords and kings have nourished the country. Meetings for offering sacrifices, for praying for blessings, for succoring the decrepit, for caring for the sick, and all the rites, cannot be carried on without fermented drink.

"Hence the Book of Odes says,

`If I have no fermented drink, I buy it, do I,' 60 but the Analects says, `[Confucius] would not drink purchased fermented drink.' 61 These two are not contradictory.

"Verily, the ode refers to [a time when] peaceful reigns succeeded [each other, when] the fermented drink purchased at a [government] office was harmonious, agreeable, and suited to people, so that it could be offered [to others]. [In the time of] the Analects, Confucius [lived] in [the period when] the Chou [dynasty] was decaying and in disorder, so that the sale of fermented drink was in [the hands of] the common people, [and hence] was of poor quality, bad, and not free from adulteration. For this reason [Confucius] suspected it and would not drink it.

"If now the empire's fermented drink is cut off, then there will be no means of performing the rites or of cherishing others. If permission is given [to anyone to make it] and no limit is set [to its manufacture], then it will consume wealth and injure the common people. [Hence] I beg that you will imitate ancient [practises] and order the [government] offices to make fermented drink, taking 2500 piculs as one standard [unit] and accordingly open one shop 62 to sell [this quantity]. If the selling of fifty fermentations is taken as one standard [unit]; one fermentation requires two hu of coarse grain and one hu of yeast, [from which] is obtained six hu six tou of finished fermented drink. If for each [fermentation] one counts up together the price of the three hu of grain and yeast, according to [the price at] the market-place on the first day of the month, divide it by three, and take one part as the average for one hu of [material for] fermented drink, if one deducts the original price of the grain and yeast and counts up the profit, then seven parts in ten will be paid to the government. The three [other parts], together with the lees, vinegar, ashes, and charcoal may be given to the workmen for the expense of the utensils and firewood."

The Hsi-and-Ho, [Lu K'uang], established [officials, ranking as] Mandated Officers, to supervise the five equalizations and the six monopolies. [In each] commandery there were several [such] men. Everywhere he employed rich merchants, [such as] Nieh Tzu-chung and Chang Ch'ang-shu from Lo-yang, Hsin Wei from Lin-tzu, and others. [Traveling] in riding quadrigae, they sought for profit and made numerous contacts [all over] the empire, and, availing [themselves of their opportunities], they communicated their wickedness to the commanderies and prefectures, and made many false accountings. The yamens and storehouses were not filled, and the people suffered all the more.

[Wang] Mang knew that the common people suffered from these [measures, so he] again issued an imperial edict, which said, "Verily, [2] salt is the greatest of foods; [1] fermented drink is the chief of all medicines and the best feature of auspicious assemblies; [3] iron is the fundamental [thing] in [the cultivation of] fields 63 and in agriculture; [5] the famous mountains and the great marshes are storehouses of abundance; [6] the five equalizations and and [the system of] selling on credit and lending on interest [are means by which] the people may receive the equalization of high [prices], in order to give assistance [to the people against profiteers]; [4] cash 64 and spade-money, and the casting of copper make wealth circulate and furnish [what is needed] for the common people's use. These six [matters] are not [things that] the enrolled households of equal common people 65 are able to make in their homes, so that, if [the prices of these goods] are high in the market-place, although [these things] may be several times as expensive [as usual, the people] inevitably have no alternative but to purchase them, [hence] eminent common people and wealthy merchants can thereupon coerce the poor and weak. The ancient sages knew that it would be so, hence they made controls (monopolies) of these [matters]."

For each control (monopoly) he established rules and precepts to interdict and prohibit [violations of the monopoly]; the penalties for violation extended to capital [punishment]. 66 Wicked officials and cunning common people both at the same time encroached upon the mass of people, so that every [person] was disquieted with life.

The fifth year after, in [the period] T'ien-feng, the first year, 67 [Wang Mang] again sent down [a message], increasing and decreasing considerably the price and value of gold, silver, tortoise-[shell], and cowry currency, and abolishing the large and small cash. Instead he made "currency spade-money (huo-pu," two inches five fen in length and one inch in width, with their heads eight fen and a fraction long and eight fen wide, their circular holes two fen and a half in diameter, their feet eight fen long, their opening [between the feet] two fen wide, their legend, on the right reading, "Currency (huo)" and on the left reading, "Spade-money (pu)." 68 Their weight was twenty-five shu, and they were worth twenty-five of the currency cash. The currency cash (huo-ch'üan) were one inch in diameter, and weighed five shu. Their legend on the right reads "Currency (huo)" and on the left reads "Cash (ch'üan)." 69 One [such] was worth one [cash]; it and the currency spade-money [formed] two denominations, which circulated concurrently.

Moreover, because the large cash had circulated for a long time, [Wang Mang] abolished them, fearing that the common people would keep them and not stop [using them]. 70 So he ordered that the common people should only temporarily circulate the large cash, and that one [such large cash] should be worth one of the new currency cash, that their concurrent circulation should be ended in the sixth year, and that [people] should not [then] be any more allowed to possess the large cash. 71

Each time that the money was changed, the common people were thereby ruined financially and fell into serious punishment. Because so many were those who violated the laws and [whoever] privately cast cash had to die and [whoever] criticized or put obstacles [in the circulation of] the valuable currency should be thrown out to the four borders, with the result that [their sentences] could not be entirely carried out, [Wang] Mang therefore changed and lightened these laws: those who privately cast or made cash or spade-money were confiscated with their wives and children and became government slaves or slave-women. Officials and the group of five [families, of which the culprit was a member], who knew of [the crime] and did not bring it forward or denounce it, [were tried] with [the culprit as having committed] a like crime. As to those who criticized or put obstacles [in the circulation of] the valuable currency: common people were to be punished [by being made] to work for one year and officials were to be dismissed from their offices. When violations became the more numerous and [the people in the group of] five [families who were held responsible] were sentenced together with them and all were confiscated to [the government penal service], the commanderies and kingdoms, with accompanying [guards], sent them in carts with cages, with iron locks [about their necks], to the Office for Coinage at Ch'ang-an. Six or seven out of [every] ten [of these people] died from the hardships and suffering.

The sixth year after the currency spade-money had been issued, 72 the Huns made great incursions and robberies, [hence Wang] Mang made a great solicitation of the empire's prisoners, convicts, and people's slaves, naming them, "Boar braves who are porcupines rushing out." He temporarily taxed the officials and common people, taking one-thirtieth of their property. He also ordered that the ministers and those of lower [rank, down] to the officials in the commanderies and counties who wore yellow seal-cords, 73 should all guarantee the rearing of horses for the army, and the officials all in turn gave [these horses to] the common people [to care for them]. Whenever the common people moved their hands, they ran upon a prohibition. They could not plow or cultivate silkworms, for the corvée service was troublesome and distressing, and withering droughts and [plagues of] insects and locusts 74 followed each other.

Moreover, because [Wang Mang's] establishment [of rites] and composition [of music] had not been settled, from the dukes and marquises on the one hand to the minor officials on the other, they all could not secure their salaries, so they made private taxations and collections, and goods and bribes flowed up from them. Criminal trials and litigations were not settled, officials employed tyranny and violence in order to establish their power, and utilized [Wang] Mang's prohibitions to encroach upon and oppress the unimportant common people.

When the wealthy were not able to protect themselves and the poor had no way of keeping themselves alive, they arose and became thieves and robbers. Since they relied upon the fastnesses of the mountains and marshes [for refuge], the officials were not able to capture them, hence covered and hid the [fact], and the infection spread daily. Thereupon in the regions of Ch'ing, Hsü, Ching, and Ch'u [Provinces, people] often by the ten-thousands battled and died, were taken captive at the borders by the various barbarians, fell into criminal punishment, or suffered from famine and epidemics, so that people ate each other. Before [Wang] Mang had been executed, the population of the empire had been reduced by half. 75

In the fourth year after the "Boar braves who are porcupines rushing out" had been mobilized, the Han troops executed [Wang] Mang. The second year afterwards, the Epochal Founder, [Emperor Kuang-wu], received [Heaven's] mandate, washed away these vexatious [ordinances] and tyrannous [punishments], restored the five-shu cash, and gave a new beginning to the empire. 76

Notes

1. This statement is all that the Treatise says concerning the period when Wang Mang was ruling for Emperor P'ing.

2. Cf. 99 A: n. 26.9.

3. A quotation from Analects XIX, xxiii, 3.

4. Cf. 99 B: 11b.

5. Cf. 99 B: 14a ff.

6. A sentence also found in 99 B: 14b.

7. A statement characteristic of the Legalists (Bodde, China's First Unifier, p. 214f); perhaps also of the Confucianists. Mencius says that Confucius was timely (V, ii, i, 5).

8. This ordinance is quoted in a more elaborate form in 99 B: 8a-9a, q.v.

9. This ordinance is quoted in a more elaborate form in 99 B: 8a-9a, q.v.

10. A T'ang manuscript of HS 24 A has been preserved in Japan in the Hōjōin of the Shimpuku Temple in Nagoya. Yang Shou-ching (1839-1915) had a tracing of it made in 1895; it was edited by Li Shu-ch'ang (1837-1897) and published as vol. 21 of the "Ku-yi Ts'ung-shu", under the title, Ying T'ang-hsieh-pen HS Shih-huo Chih. Unfortunately, this tracing is not always accurate. Dr. Takao Yamada has published a photolithographic facsimile, under the title, Han-sho Shokka-shi 漢書食貨志, under the auspices of the Koten Hozon-kai 古典保存會.This manuscript taboos the words shih-min 世民 (they usually lack a stroke; occasionally, as on folio leaf 7, reverse [b], column 7 of the facsimile, and 8a(1,5), the word 萌 is written for min [this latter form of taboo is not in Ch'en Yüan's list]). Shih-min was the personal name of Emperor Wen 文, the Grand Exemplar (the T'ai-tsung) of the T'ang dynasty. This manuscript also taboos the word chih 治, which was the personal name of Emperor Ta 大, the Eminent Exemplar (the Kao-tsung). The words tan 旦 (6a4) and yu 豫 (5a3, 10a3), which were the personal names of the Penetrating Exemplar (the Jui-tsung) and the Dynastic Exemplar (the Tai-tsung), respectively, are however written correctly. The word yung 用 (16a9, 18b8, 19a2, 19b2, 20a7), which formed part of the personal name of Li K'o-yung, the founder of the Later T'ang dynasty, is also written correctly. At its inception, the T'ang rulers were quite lenient concerning taboos of imperial names. But as Confucianism became more and more influential, the observance of these taboos became more and more stressed, until, in the period of the Five Dynasties, which followed upon the fall of the T'ang dynasty, imperial taboos were observed strictly. (Cf. Ch'en Yüan, Shih-hui Chü-li, p. 95b.) In the T'ang period, there were tabooed the personal names of the seven immediately preceding generations of emperors, and also those of the dynastic founders, as well as that of the reigning emperor, i.e., those of the Eminent Founder (the Kao-tsu), the Grand Exemplar, the Eminent Exemplar, the seven emperors immediately preceding, and the reigning sovereign. (Cf ibid., p. 49b.) From the above noted phenomena, this manuscript was written in either of two periods: (1) between 650 (when the Eminent Exemplar began his reign) and the reign of the Penetrating Exemplar, i.e., 684 (when he was first enthroned) or 710 (when he began his independent reign), or else (2) after the seventh reign after that of the Dynastic Exemplar, down to the end of the T'ang period, i.e., in 847-904.On the back of this scroll there has been transcribed the Buddhist Amida Sutra, with a colophon stating that it was written in the second year of the period Kaho 嘉保, a Japanese date corresponding to 1095. The scroll is doubly boxed. On the outer box is written the words, " 橘逸勢真跡 Handwriting of Tachibana no Hayanari." The inner box also has this attribution inscribed on it; on the cover of this box is the signature of Kohitsu Ryôhan 古筆了伴 (1827-1853), who came of a family for generations acknowledged to be authorities on matters of ancient handwriting, so that this attribution is very likely from him.Hayanari went to China in the closing years of the Enriki period (782-805) and after his return served in the court, being noted for his calligraphy. At the end of the scroll is a vermillion seal, that of the Office of Civil Affairs, used on official documents from 770 to some date before 864. It is then quite possible that this manuscript was written in the middle of the ix century by Hayanari, after his return from China. In that case it represents an exemplar then preserved in Japan. Hayanari was made Governor of Tajima Province in 840; the date of his death is unknown. Dr. Yamada however seems to place little reliance upon the attribution of this scroll to Hayanari. He and his colleagues believe that this scroll comes from the early Nara period (646-710). (I thank Dr. Shio Sakanishi, formerly of the Library of Congress, for the above information.)There is the further possibility that this manuscript is a copy by Hayanari or some other Japanese scribe of a Chinese exemplar then preserved in Japan. Dr. Sakanishi states that no Japanese would have taken any liberties in copying an old Chinese manuscript, not even altering the writing to conform to Chinese taboos that had arisen after the exemplar had been written. If so, this exemplar was written between 650 and 684 or 710 and the present manuscript was written between 650 and the first part of the ninth century, to possibly about 820, when that seal ceased to be used.At this point, this T'ang manuscript omits the word 出 after the 咸.

11. The T'ang manuscript reads 淩 for 陵, and omits the word 假, although space is left for it.

12. The Official ed. has emended 驕 to 質, but the T'ang mss. and other texts read the former word.

13. The T'ang mss. reads only one 謷, but in quoting Yen Shih-ku's note, it reads two.

14. The T'ang mss., the Ching-yu ed., and the Official ed. read 嵗; the Chi-ku-ko ed, and Wang Hsien-ch'ien read 年.This edict is also found in 99 B: 20a.

15. For 它 the T'ang mss. writes 他, a graphic variant not found in the HS.

16. Taken from T'ien K'uang's memorial in 99 C: 16a.

17. Repeated from the edict quoted in 99 C: 17a.

18. Repeated in 99 C: 17b.

19. Where this sentence is repeated in 99 C: 18a, 贍 is used for the 澹 here.

20. For the 飢 of the other texts, the T'ang mss. writes 餓.I have compared this T'ang manuscript with the Ching-yu ed. of 1035, with what seems to be a copy of the 1131 Szechuan large character ed., also a Yüan reprint of a Sung Academy ed., the Te-fan-tsui-lo-hsien ed. (betw. 1457 and 1573), the Wang Wen-sheng ed. of 1546, the Chi-ku-ko ed. of 1642, and the Wang Hsien-ch'ien ed. of 1900. In the part translated here, there are ten differences between the T'ang manuscript and these other texts. Except for the difference noted in n. 21.10, in every case these other editions agree against the readings of the Japanese T'ang manuscript. Its variants are then textually unimportant. No significent variations occur and some are sheer blunders. Cf. also Pelliot, BEFEO, 2 (1902), 335.

21. This passage does not seem to be a quotation from any single edict, but merely a summary; cf. 99 B: 21a, 28a; C: 8b, 17a for such utterances. "Barbarians who have troubled the Chinese" is a phrase from Book of History II, i, 20, Legge, p. 44.

22. Cf. HS 99 A: 30a for the complementary account.

23. Cf. HS 99 A: 30a for the complementary account.

24. Cf. HS 24 B: 2b, 3a. The reference is to Kuo-Yü (iv or iii cent. B.C.) 3: 13b-15b, sect. 5, (de Harlez, Jour. Asiat., ser. 9, vol. 3 [Jan.-Feb. 1894], pp. 58-61) which says, "In the twenty-first year of King Ching [524 B.C.], when [the King] was about to have large cash cast, [seemingly for the purpose of securing more revenue], Duke Mu of Shan said, `It should not be done. Anciently, when Heaven's visitations descended, thereupon [the ruler] evaluated [the state's] merchandise and currency, and standardized the weight [of the currency] in order to assist the common people. When the common people suffered [because the currency was too] light, then he made heavier currency in order to make [the lighter ones] circulate, whereupon the larger ones (mu) acted as a standard (ch'üan) for the smaller ones (tzu) and [the smaller ones] circulated, so that the common people secured [the benefits of] both [denominations of coins]. However, when [business conditions] would not support the heavier [coins], then [the ruler] made many lighter [coins] and circulated them, and also did not suppress the heavier ones, whereupon the smaller [coins] (tzu) acted as a standard (ch'üan) for the larger ones (mu) and [the larger ones] circulated so that [both] the smaller and larger [coins] were beneficial. If now you, King, abolish the lighter [coins] and make heavier ones, and the common people lose their property, will they be able not to default [on their taxes]?' ... But the King did not listen and eventually cast larger cash."Chi-chung Chou-shu (possibly forged from ancient materials after the Han period), 2: 7b, 8a, also refers to this incident: "When the currency for the land tax was too light, [King Wen] made larger [coins] in order to make the smaller ones circulate and altered the price of merchandise, in order to adjust it for travelers, so that [merchandise] might have no obstacles [in trade]."Ying Shao explains this economic policy as follows (in a note to HS 24 B: 2b, 3a): "The mother (mu) is the heavier one. It is a moiety larger, hence it is the mother (mu). The son (tzu) is the lighter. It is lighter and lesser by half, hence it is the son (tzu). When the common people suffered by the lightness of the currency and the expensiveness of goods, [the ruler] made heavy currency in order to equalize the [prices] and temporarily circulated these [coins] in order to do away with the light [coins]. Hence it is said, `The mothers (mu, heavier ones) act as standards for the sons (tzu, lighter ones),' which is like saying that the heavier ones are used as the weights by which to weigh the lighter ones. The common people all secured them. Whether they were farmers or merchants, had or had no [property], they all secured benefits from them."Meng K'ang adds, "The heavier ones were the mothers (mu) and the lighter ones were the sons (tzu). It is like the selling of an article for eighty cash: the mother (mu [original cost]) was fifty [cash] and the son (tzu, [profit]), thirty [cash], comes from it."This same precedent was used to justify paper money in Yüan times; cf. HJAS 2: 317 (the phrase mentioned there, tzu-mu hsiang-ch'üan erh hsing, is from the Kuo-Yü.)

25. Cf. James H. Stewart Lockhart, The Stewart Lockhart Collection of Chinese Copper Coins, "Royal Asiatic Society, North China Branch," Extra Volume no. 1 (1915), no. 144; H. Glathe, The Origin and Development of Chinese Money, p. 30, nos. 151-161, 163-167. Mr. H. F. Bowker of Oakland, Cal., an officer of the U. S. Navy, has loaned me a 50-cash coin of this issue which weighs 6.19 g. and is 27 mm. in diameter, as compared with the 7.68 g. and 27 mm. of the text.

26. Cf. E. Chavannes, Documents chinois, no. 709; Glathe, op. cit., p. 29, no. 103. The graving-knife coins in Lockhart ibid., nos. 152, 153, are both probably fakes: no. 152 because of the defective writing of the words for "five hundred" and no. 153 because of its size and the more modern form of the word ch'i. In this matter I am glad to have the concurrence of the numismatist, Mr. H. F. Bowker. Chin-shih-so, Chin, 4: 29a, b, contains diagrams of the graving-knife and inlaid-knife coins.Mr. Bowker has very kindly loaned me an excellently-preserved specimen of a graving-knife coin, obtained from Gakuyo Katsuyama 勝山岳陽 of Tokyo, a highly esteemed Japanese archeologist, who guaranteed its authenticity. It corresponds exactly with the description in the HS text and with Chavannes' illustration. The cutting edge of the knife-blade has been sharpened by filing from both sides (with almost all of the bevel on the obverse side), so that the coin would actually cut. It weighs 15.80 g. or a little less than 25 shu (16.0 g.), which latter figure may have been its original weight. The circular head of the coin is 28 mm. in diameter (exactly corresponding to the text's "1 inch 2 fen" for the diameter of large cash; cf. HFHD I, 279 for equivalents), with a hole 13 mm. square; the blade is 46 mm. long (exactly 2 of Wang Mang's inches, as the text states).Mr. Bowker has also loaned me what is plainly the circular head of a graving-knife coin, from which the blade has been broken off and the break smoothed, thus making a round cash out of the coin. It weighs 9.48 gm.; about two-thirds of the graving-knife coin's metal was in its head. Since the edges of cash were smooth and not milled, such a mutilation would be unnoticed until the inscription was read, which is "ch'i-tao (graving-knife)." Mr. Bowker has also loaned me three other coins which are similar round heads of inlaid knife-coins. Cf. Glathe ibid., p. 30, no. 162.Chang Yen (iii cent.) plainly knew only these broken-off knife-coin heads, for he glosses this passage as follows: "In my opinion, in shape and substance, the graving-knife [coins] and inlaid knife-[coins] which are extant today are like [Wang Mang's] large cash, but the raised edges to their circumferences and holes are thick---different from those of these large cash. In shape [these knife-coins] are like the rings on swords. The shape of the body of the graving-knife [coins] is round, not two inches long. The legend to the left [of the hole] reads, `ch'i (graving),' and to the right reads, `tao (knife),' and they do not have the words, `wu-po (five hundred [cash]).' "Yen Shih-ku (581-645) states that Chang Yen is mistaken and that the Wang Mang knife-coins of his day tallied with the description in the text. Chang Yen seems merely not to have known unmutilated knife-coins. (Cf. also the end of n. 21.5).

27. Cf. Glathe, op. cit., 29, no. 104. Mr. Bowker has also kindly loaned me a well-preserved Wang Mang inlaid knife-coin, also obtained from and guaranteed by the same archeologist. It corresponds with the description in the text (except for the substitution of p'ing for chih, which is discussed later). This coin weighs 23.74 g. (a little less than 38 shu [24.32 g.]), so that these coins probably originally weighed about 40 shu. The cutting edge of the blade has been filed sharp, with an even bevel on both sides. Its dimensions are exactly the same as those of the graving-knife coins, except that it is thicker and heavier. On the field of the circular part of the coin, above and below the hole, are the words, "yi-tao (one knife-[coin])," in seal characters, engraved into the body of the coin and inlaid with gold, level to the field of the coin. This gold inlay is mentioned in the HS text, without specifying what is inlaid. The blade of the coin bears the words, "p'ing wu-ch'ien (standardized at five thousand [cash])" in raised bronze characters, like the legends on other Han coins. The reverse of the coin is bare of any legend.In the account of the legend on these coins, for "worth," the text reads the word chih 直. But this coin has p'ing 平. I suspect that the chih in the HS text is an error, from attraction to the word chih in the legend on the one-cash coins in Wang Mang's coinage of A.D.9. P'ing, which meant "standardized," denoting the establishing by the government of a fixed value for an article, is much more appropriate for these coins, which were really fiat money. Liu Feng-shih (1041-1113), the Sung Ch'i ed. (xi or xii cent.), and Ch'ien Chan (1744-1806) moreover all quote the legend on these coins with the word p'ing. The latter of these writers noted that the words yi-tao are engraved and inlaid with gold, while the rest of the legend is raised.Lockhart's inlaid knife-coins ibid. nos. 146-152, seem all either to have been fakes or counterfeits or to have been copied incorrectly from Chinese numismatic books. He nowhere mentions the gold-inlaid characters, which are the most striking feature of these coins and are testified to as early as by Chang Yen in the third century. Mr. Bowker remarks that Lockhart "obviously did not have these coins or he would have mentioned the gold characters." The word p'ing in Lockhart's drawings is not correctly formed (except perhaps in no. 147); the vertical line should project below the bottom horizontal line. Mr. Bowker writes me, "I have never seen a specimen like no. 148, and am sure it is a fake. The same applies to no. 147, on account of the incused line around the blade on both sides, not to mention the smallness of the characters." No. 149 comes closest to Mr. Bowker's specimen, but the proportions are somewhat incorrect.Chang Yen knew only the circular heads of these inlaid knife-coins, from which the blades had been broken off. His gloss (trans. in n. 21.4) continues, "The inlaid knife[coins] are moreover engraved with characters, which are filled with actual gold. Their legend, above [the hole], reads, `yi (one),' and, below [the hole], reads, `tao (knife-[coin]).' " This description agrees with Mr. Bowker's specimens. The heaviest of these heads weighs 15.97 g., so that about two-thirds of the metal was in the head. The amount of gold inlaid in the two engraved characters is negligible, so that it was not worth gouging out.When Wang Mang ascended the throne and dispossessed the Han dynasty, these knife-coins became nefastus, unpropitious, since they denoted the Han surname, Liu (cf. p. 245f). After Wang Mang demonetized them, their possession probably became a mark of loyalty to the Han dynasty. Wealthy nobles, who had obediently exchanged their gold for these knife-coins, found them now not only worthless, but even dangerous to possess. Probably many nobles did not dare to melt down their knife-coins, for someone in their household would be sure to inform the ever-watchful government of the deed, and counterfeiting was a serious crime. Hence the blades were broken off these coins, making them into round cash. As such they would have been worth their weight in bronze or (perhaps more likely) they may have circulated on a par with the fifty-cash coins---the owners lost 99% of their money by turning a 5000-cash coin into a 50-cash coin, but that doubtless seemed better than losing the whole value of these coins and being punished for possessing them!In the Ch'üan-pi 泉幣, issue 1, July, 1940 (pub. at Shanghai), Mr. Ts'ai Chi-hsiang 蔡季襄 publishes a photograph of a 10,000-cash coin, shaped like a circle with a square attached to it, with the legend, "Worth ten thousand [cash from] the chests of gold in the state's treasure 國寶金匱直万." Mr. Ts'ai decides that it is a Wang Mang coin from the issue of A.D. 11.I cannot agree with him. If it was from Wang Mang's age at all (the use of the word chih, instead of p'ing, raises doubts), it must have been intended for the issue of A.D. 7. At that time, Wang Mang "nationalized" gold, paying for it probably at the rate of 10,000 cash per catty (the value he set in A.D. 11), so that a 10,000-cash coin was really needed in making this exchange. The round shape denotes heaven and the square shape denotes earth. Mr. Ts'ai argues that the word kuei 匱 (chest) in its legend was the name for 10,000 catties of gold in Wang Mang's time (cf. HS 99 C: 25a), just as Kuan-tzu (ch. 5, "Shen-ma," sect. "Shih, nung, kung, shang"; Szu-pu Ts'ung-k'an ed. 1: 12b) states, "A hundred yi 鎰 of actual gold [make] one ch'ieh 篋 (box)," and Nan-shih, 53: 25b "Memoir of the King of Wu-ling, Hsiao Yüan-cheng," states, "One catty of actual gold makes one ping 餅 (cake) and a hundred ping make a ch'ou 簉 (secondary unit)." (Gold was cast into cake-shaped ingots; Mr. Ts'ai publishes photographs of such ingots from Chou and Former Han times.)This 10,000-cash coin is not mentioned in any Chinese history. It was needed in A.D. 7, but if such coins had been issued, they would have been used plentifully in purchasing the nobles' gold and would not be so rare and unmentioned. But in the issue of A.D. 7, the coins of a higher denomination than one cash were all multiples of five: 50, 500, and 5000 cash. (Five, along with the other odd numbers, is the number of Heaven, not Earth; cf. Book of Changes, App. III, i, 49; Legge, p. 365.) Emperor P'ing was sickly; the knife-coins, with their symbolism of metal and knife [HS 24 B: 21b] denoted the Liu house; similarly the use of the number five, denoting Heaven [the Emperor was the Son of Heaven] was probably also magic to strengthen the Emperor.) It would have been unlikely that a 10,000-cash coin (denoting both Heaven and Earth) would have been added to this (purely Heavenly) series. In the issue of A.D. 11, the denominations increase by tens to 50, then by hundreds to 1000; it would have been unlikely that a 10,000-cash coin would have been added to such a series, leaving so great a gap between it and the next lower coin. The largest denomination in the issue of A.D. 14 was 25-cash, so that this 10,000-cash coin could not have belonged to that series. In my opinion, if this coin is really from Wang Mang's mint (concerning which I have no evidence), it can only have been a mint sample for the issue of A.D. 7, which coin was rejected because it spoiled the symmetry and magical effect of that issue. (Cf. also the Tung-yang Huo-pi Tsa-chih 東洋貨幣雜誌, no. 218.)

28. As a matter of fact, this coinage was not all begun at the same time. The previous coinage was abolished, except for the twelve-shu large fifty-cash coins, in the spring of A.D. 9, when there were also first coined the one-shu diminutive cash coins, so that these two denominations circulated together (99 B: 7b). Then in A.D. 10 (99 B: 15a), Wang Mang added the other 26 denominations of this coinage. When compiling this "Treatise," Pan Ku evidently forgot that this coinage was not all enacted at the same time.

29. As a matter of fact, this coinage was not all begun at the same time. The previous coinage was abolished, except for the twelve-shu large fifty-cash coins, in the spring of A.D. 9, when there were also first coined the one-shu diminutive cash coins, so that these two denominations circulated together (99 B: 7b). Then in A.D. 10 (99 B: 15a), Wang Mang added the other 26 denominations of this coinage. When compiling this "Treatise," Pan Ku evidently forgot that this coinage was not all enacted at the same time.

30. Wang Mang took this name from that said to have been given by King Ching of the Chou dynasty to his large cash; cf. HS 24 B: 3a.

31. Cf. Lockhart ibid., no. 145; Terrien de Lacouperie, Catalogue of Chinese Coins in the British Museum, p. 367, nos. 341-343; Chin-shih-so, Chin, 4: 28b.

32. Cf. de Lacouperie ibid., p. 368, nos. 1711, 1712.

33. Cf. Ku-chin Ch'ien-lüeh, by Ni Mo (1750-1825), 16: 6b; Glathe, op. cit., p. 30, no. 171.

34. Cf. de Lacouperie ibid., p. 369, nos. 1713, 1714; Glathe, op. cit., no. 170.

35. Cf. de Lacouperie ibid., nos. 344, 1715, 1716; Glathe, op. cit., no. 169.

36. Cf. de Lacouperie ibid., p. 370; Lockhart, nos. 136-143.

37. Shu-shih was a prefecture in Chien-wei Commandery, which mined fine silver. For location, cf. Glossary, sub voce.

38. Meng K'ang glosses, "Jang 冉 [means] the border of tortoise shells.... They measured the edge of the two sides of their backs as a foot and two inches." Li Tz'u-ming, in his HSCha-chi 2: 6a, adds that jang should be (此字為“井“旁“龜“), which is defined in the Shuo-wen 13 B: 2b as, "The edge of a tortoise carapace.... [The edge of] great tortoise shells used for] the Son of Heaven is a foot and two inches; for the nobles, it is a foot; for grandees, it is eight inches; and for gentlemen, it is six inches." Meng K'ang seems to have had this latter word in mind. The Shuo-wen is quoting the ancient text of the Lost Book of Rites (now lost), which is quoted by name in Ch'u-hsüeh-chi 30: 30a.Li-chi XVII, ii, 26 (Legge, II, 114; Couvreur, II, 82) says, "[The standard] bordered with blue and black was that [on which were represented] the Son of Heaven's precious tortoise-[shells]." The "precious" tortoise-shells were those used for divination. Kung-yang Commentary, 26: 3b, Dk. Ting. VIII, says "The treasures of Chin were...tortoise[shells] with blue borders," and Ho Hsiu glosses, "Tortoises [which live to] a thousand years have blue beards." (References from Shen Ch'in-han.)

39. Wang Nien-sun asserts that after 寸 there were originally the words 以上, to agree with the statements concerning the size of the next two sizes of tortoise-shells; K'ung Ying-ta, in a note to Li-chi, ch. VIII, i, 6, in his Li-chi Chu-su 23: 4a, and the Ch'u-hsüeh-chi 30: 32b quote this passage with these words; the T'ung-tien, ch. 8: 11a, (Com. Pr. ed. p. 47) quotes it without them.

40. Ts'ai Yün (d. ca. 1820), in his Pi-t'an 3: 8b, 9a, asserts that the text's hou 厚 should be hsü 序. He points out that the six denominations of cash were named "diminutive," "little," "young," "medium," "adult," and "large." There were ten denominations of spade-money, hence between "large" and "adult" there were added 次 and 第, both of which words mean "next"; and between "medium" and "young" there were added 差 and hsü, both of which also mean "next." Hou, "thick," does not fit the meaning at all; in the seal character, hou and hsü are very similar. A specimen of this "Still smaller than medium spade-money," loaned me by Mr. Bowker, bears plainly the seal-character form of the word hsü, which is practically identical with that found for hsü in the Shuo-wen, and is not the word hou.

41. Cf. de Lacouperie ibid., p. 303, no. 1580.

42. The Ching-yu ed. and the Official ed. read the obviously correct 二 for Wang Hsien-ch'ien's 一.

43. For these spade-coins, cf. de Lacouperie ibid., pp. 302-306; Ku-chin Ch'ien-lüeh 16: 7b-9a and Chin-shih So, Chin, 4: 30b-32a illustrate a complete set. The Yokohama Numismatic Society's 橫濱古泉會搨摸集, no. 9 (1912) and Glathe, op. cit., pp. 28, 29, nos. 90-99 print a photograph of these ten spade-coins.The legend on these 1000-cash pieces is "大布黃千 large spade-money valued at a thousand [cash]," for which legend there is ancient testimony. Ni Mo, in his Ku-chin Ch'ien-lüeh 16: 9b, points out that the word huang 黃 in this legend is a cursive form of heng(1) 橫, and that heng(1) is used for heng(2) 衡, with which it was anciently interchanged. heng(2), like p'ing 平, meant "to weigh," hence "to standardize at a given value." Karlgren, Grammata Serica 707a and m, lists huang and heng(1) as having had the same archaic and ancient pronunciations. The fact that Wang Mang asserted he ruled by virtue of the element earth, whose color is yellow, huang, aided in forming this cursive form of heng(1).Mr. Bowker has loaned me a complete set of these spade-coins, secured by him from Gakuyo Katsuyama. Herewith a comparison of these coins with the statements in the HS:

Denomination (in cash) Legal weight according to the HS (in grams) Actual weight (in g.) Legal length according to the HS (in mm.) Actual length (in mm.)
100 9.60 7.0 35 35
200 10.24 7.86 37 38
300 10.88 9.44 39 40
400 11.52 8.09 42 42
500 12.16 9.38 44 44
600 12.80 14.15 46 50
700 13.44 12.02 48.5 51
800 14.08 15.31 50.8 52.5
900 14.72 13.37 53.1 54
1000 15.25 8.42 55.4 53
It is to be noted that the first five and the 900-cash coin correspond very well with the sizes indicated in the HS, although their age has caused them to lose weight. The other four are, in my judgment, very likely ancient counterfeits or later fakes. Since the Han weights and measures were gradually increased to their present size, a later faker would make coins in accordance with the weights and measures of his own epoch, so that they would be larger and heavier than the Han standards required. Such seems to be the case with Mr. Bowker's 600-, 700-, and 800-cash coins. The 1000-cash coin may be an ancient light-weight counterfeit.The outstanding feature of Wang Mang's bronze coinages is that as the nominal value of the coins increased, the amount of metal per cash decreased, so that the larger coins were the more depreciated.
Table of the Bronze Coinages of Wang Mang
Coinage of A.D. 7 Coinage of A.D. 9-10 Coinage of A.D. 14
Nominal Value Total Weight Shu per cash Total Weight No. of shu per cash Total Weight No. of shu per cash
1 cash 5 shu 5 shu 1 shu 1 shu 5 shu 5 shu
10 cash (same as Han dynasty's cash: unchanged since 118 B.C.) 3 shu 0.3 shu
20 cash 5 shu 0.25 shu
25 cash 25 shu 1 shu
30 cash 7 shu 0.23 shu
40 cash 9 shu 0.225 shu
50 cash 12 shu 0.24 shu 12 shu 0.24 shu
100 cash 15 shu 0.15 shu
200 cash 16 shu 0.080 shu
300 cash 17 shu 0.057 shu
400 cash 18 shu 0.045 shu
500 cash 25 shu? 0.05 shu? 19 shu 0.038 shu
600 cash 20 shu 0.036 shu
700 cash 21 shu 0.030 shu
800 cash 22 shu 0.027 shu
900 cash 23 shu 0.0244 shu
1000 cash 24 shu 0.0240 shu
5000 cash 40 shu? 0.008 shu?
On the origin of spade-coins, cf. Richard Schlösser, "Der Ursprung der Chinesischen Pu-münzen," Artibus Asiae, 1928, no. 1, pp. 12-34. This article contains photographs of more ancient spade-coins (of which Wang Mang's coins were imitations), also of a complete set of Wang Mang's coins. Cf. also his, "Die Münzereformversuche des Wang Mang," Sinica V (1930), 25-37.

44. Meng K'ang glosses, "Lien(1) 連 is another name for tin," but Li Ch'i declares, "The name for lead and tin ore is Lien(1)." Yen Shih-ku asserts that both are mistaken, because the Shuo-wen 14 A: 1b says, "Lien(2) 鏈 is [the same] sort [of thing as] copper." Shen Ch'in-han however replies that Li Ch'i is correct; the Shuo-wen is merely speaking in general terms; the Kuang-ya and the Yü-p'ien both state that Lien(2) is lead ore. F. C. Chang asserts that zinc was called Lien; Journal of Science 8, 233-243; 9, 1116-1127 (in Chinese). Certain Sung cash are found, upon analysis, to be copper with a considerable proportion of lead, a small proportion of tin, and a minute amount of zinc, the latter arising from the impurity of the ore used.

45. Ju Shen quotes Analects V, xvii, in which a tortoise is called a t'sai, and states that the state of Ts'ai produced large tortoises. Hence large tortoises were named Ts'ai.

46. Ku-liang Commentary 13: 1b, Dk. Ch'eng, I, enumerates the four orders of common people as gentlemen, merchants, farmers, and artisans. HS 24 A: 2a however enumerates them as gentlemen, farmers, artisans, and merchants. The Han dynasty, following the Ch'in practise, degraded merchants.

47. Cf. 99 B: 8b, 9a and n. 9.1.

48. Cf. 99 B: 12b. The numbers in square brackets in the margin and text, here and on pp. 24b, 25a, b are the same as those in the enumeration of the six monopolies in 99 B: 12b. There was no fixed order, so I use that list as a reference point.

49. Chou-li 15: 3b f (Biot, I, 326-328) lists as one of the Chou offices an Office for Money, which "collected what goods are not sold in the market-place, goods [whose sale] is slow, but which are used by the common people. [The Yamen] writes their selling-price on a post, in order to be ready for those in need who would buy them."

50. A quotation from Book of Changes, App. III, ii, 10 (Legge, 381).

51. Chou-li, 15: 4a (Biot, I, 327), sub the Office for Money (Ch'üan-fu), says, "Whoever buys on credit, for [purposes of] sacrificing, shall not exceed ten days [without paying interest], and for mourning ceremonies, shall not exceed three months [without paying interest]. Whenever common people wish to borrow on interest, [the head of the Office for Money] shall discuss it with his heads of departments and then only shall pay out [the loan; the people shall pay] interest in accordance with [the taxes paid] as their service to their state," [i.e., if the tax was a tithe, the interest would be a tithe per year].

52. Cheng Chan (fl. ca. 208) glosses, "The Yo-Yü are sayings on the origin of music, which King Hsien of Ho-chien, [Liu Tê, d. 130 B.C.], transmitted [to Emperor Wu]. It speaks of the matter of the five equalizations." This book has been lost; the only quotations from it that have been preserved are three brief paragraphs in the Po-hu-t'ung (relating to other matters) and the following one:Fu Tsan glosses, "Its words are, "When the Son of Heaven takes land from his nobles and uses it to establish the five equalizations, then in the market-places there are no two [different] prices [for the same thing, so that] the four [orders of] common people are constantly equalized [in their power]. If the strong are not permitted to oppress the weak and the rich are not permitted to use force upon the poor, then the government shows additional kindness to the unimportant common people."Shen Ch'in-han declares that this statement is based on the Chi-chung Chou-shu, 4: 7a, ch. 39, (possibly this latter book, which seems to be a later forgery, took them from the Yo-Yü) which says, "When in the market-places there were the five equalizations, then morning and evening [prices] were the same. [This office] accompanied the departing, invited those who are coming, assisted the distressed, and rescued the impoverished."

53. Cf. HFHD, II, 68, n. 17.2.

54. Wang Nien-sun points out that the word ch'eng 稱 after the 市 is an interpolation by attraction for the subsequent use of this word. This title is quoted without the word ch'eng in HS 91: 11b (Master in Charge of the Capital Market) and in sundry quotations of this passage: Wen-hsüan 21: 23a, in a note to Pao Chao's "Yung-shih Shih" ibid., 36: 22a, in a note to the "Yung-ming, XI Nien, Ts'ê Hsui-ts'ai Wen" ibid., 53: 20b in a note to the "Yün-ming Lun"; T'ung-tien 11: 22a (Com. Pr. ed. p. 65); and Tzu-chih T'ung-chien 37: 8b. Wen-hsüan 1: 8b, in a note to the "Hsi-tu Fu", however quotes this passage with the word ch'eng.

55. I.e., those who had found tortoises. Ju Shun explains, "Tortoises have supernatural power 靈, hence it says that they present themselves 登."

56. Chou-li 13: 9a (Biot, I, 279 f) says, "All residences which are denuded [of vegetation] have the hempen-cloth [tax] for occupied land; all fields which were not plowed, pay grain for a house [occupied by three families]; all common people who do not have an occupation, pay the contribution of service for a head of a household." This passage enumerates the three types of taxes mentioned in Mencius VII, ii, xxvii, 1 (Legge, p. 491).

57. The procedure seems to have been that the Master fixed his prices for equalization as the fair prices for his market, and bought goods that were unsold in the market-place at their cost to the producer or at the current price, providing that this price was below his price for equalization. Then he sold those goods at the price for equalization whenever the market-price surpassed his price by one cash.

58. I.e., as income-tax (cf. p. 24a).

59. HS 99 B: 12b states however that interest was 3% per month. The usual rate of interest was 20% per year (91: 6a); so that the government was charging more than the current rate. This passage adds that borrowers were not to pay more than 10% of their income as interest to the government.

60. Book of Odes (no. 165), II, i, v, 3 (Legge, 255).

61. Analects X, viii, 5.

62. Ju Shun explains, "When a liquor-seller opens a shop and waits for guests, he puts up a wine-jar. Hence a wine-jar (lu 鑪) is used as the name for the shop." Yen Shih-ku denies this plain interpretation, but Liu Feng-shih points out that Ju Shun must be correct.HS 91: 7a states, "A large capital which communicates with [surrounding] towns sells a thousand fermentations in one year."

63. Ch'ien Ta-chao says that 曰 should be 田; the Official ed. has made this emendation, and I have followed it.

64. Ch'ien Ta-chao remarks that the Fukien ed. (1549) has emended 鐡 to 錢, which seems correct, since iron was previously mentioned.

65. In a note to HS 24 B: 17a, Ju Shun glosses, "Ch'i 齊 is `of the same rank 等也.' When there are no honorable or inferior [grades] they are called the equal common-people (ch'i-min 民), just as at present we say p'ing 平 -min." Chin Shao however declares, "They are Chinese instructed and regulated (ch'i-cheng 整) common people." Chavannes (Mh III, 588 = SC 30: 35), who did not have Ju Shun's gloss available, follows Chin Shao, but Yen Shih-ku approves of Ju Shun's interpretation.

66. This sentence is a doublet (except for verbal differences) of one in 99 C: 1b; that sentence seems however to refer to a second issuance of these rules.

67. HS 99 C: 10a mentions this enactment under the date A.D. 20, because it was not to take full effect until that time. Cf. 99 C: 10a and n. 10.4.

68. Cf. Lockhart, ibid., nos. 155, 156; de Lacouperie ibid., p. 306, nos. 112-115; Glathe, op. cit., p. 29, no. 101; Chin-shih-so, Chin, 4: 32a. Prof. P. M. L. Linebarger of Duke University has loaned me a well-preserved ho-pu coin of this issue, weighing 15.53 g. (legal weight, according to the HS, 16.0 g.); length, 57.7 mm. (legal, 58 mm.); width, 23.5 mm. (legal, 23.1 mm.); length of feet 19 mm. (legal, 18.5 mm.); width of opening, 4.8 mm. (legal, 4.6 mm.).

69. Cf. Lockhart ibid., nos. 162-182; de Lacouperie ibid., p. 384, nos. 365-400; Glathe, op. cit., p. 30, nos. 173-75; Chin-shih-so, Chin, 4: 29a.HHS, An. 1 B: 23b says, "When Wang Mang had usurped the throne, he feared evil [because] the Liu clan had used the word ch'ien 錢 [as the word for `cash'] and [the word for Liu 劉] contains [the words for] metal (chin 金) and knife (tao 刀), hence [Wang Mang] changed [the coinage and the word for `cash'] and made it `currency cash (huo-ch'üan 貨泉).' [But] someone considered that the words huo-ch'üan were `The immortal of the White River (Po-shui chen-jen)'." Ying Shao, in his Han-kuan-yi (lost; quoted in T'ai-p'ing Yü-lan 835: 6b, 7a) also remarks this circumstance, and adds, "This was an auspicious presage of the restoration under the Epochal Founder, [Emperor Kuang-wu]."The word ch'üan 泉 is composed of the words po 白 and shui 水, and huo 貨 is composed of jen 人 and chen 眞, which make-up is particularly evident in the seal form on these coins, in which the jen extends all along the left side of the character. The White River was a stream which arises 50 li northeast of the present Tsao-yang, Hupeh (Shina Rekidai Chimei Yoran, p. 531); Emperor Kuang-wu came from the city of Ts'ai-yang, which was located southwest of the present Tsao-yang (HHS, An. 1 A: 1a); hence it was not surprising that these coins issued by Wang Mang were later understood as a prophecy of Emperor Kuang-wu.

70. The "large cash" weighed 12 shu and were nominally worth 50 cash (B: 21a), i.e., 0.24 shu per cash; the spade-money of 14 A.D. weighed 1 shu per cash and the round cash weighed 5 shu per cash; Wang Mang was trying to drive out light coins, something that rulers have always found difficult or impossible, because of the facts summed up in Gresham's law.

71. Since the "large cash" had been worth 50 cash, and the new cash were worth 1 cash, such a valuation meant losing 49/50 of their nominal value. Yet the large cash weighed more than twice as much as the new cash, so that private melting down and counterfeit casting became inevitable.

72. Cf. 99 C: 4b.

73. Cf. 99 C: n. 4.10.

74. Wang Nien-sun points out that huang-ch'ung 蝗蟲 was originally ch'ung-huang. He quotes the parallel expressions ch'ung-ming 螟 in Li-chi IV, iv, ii, 18 (Legge, I, 306; Couvreur, I, 345); 草茅 in Yi-li 7: 8a (Steele, I, 50); 鳥烏 in Tso-chuan, Dk. Hsiang, XVIII, autumn (Legge, 47611); 禽犢 in the Hsün-tzu; the present expression ch'ung-蟻; ch'ung-huang in HS 27 Ca: 2b(10); the present huang-ch'ung, which he says was originally ch'ung-huang (cf. Ching-yi Shu-wen) in Li-chi IV, iii, 21 (Couvreur, I, 358); and ch'ung-huang in Shuo-wen 13 A: 8b, sub 蠥. The HS uses huang just as the Tso-chuan uses ch'ung (as indicating an insect plague), so that it does not make sense to add a ch'ung after the huang, for the phrase ch'ung-huang means that the plague consisted of other insects in addition to the huang. HS 27 Bb: 20a, b lists plagues of ming and huang from 130 to 89 B.C., hence in HS 75: 4a(4) Hsia-hou Sheng summed them up by saying that ch'ung-huang arose, i.e., both locusts and other insects appeared; the present reading of HS 75: 4a, huang-ch'ung, which means only locusts, is thus inexact. People did not understand the meaning of ch'ung-huang, so changed it to huang-ch'ung. Hence the phrase huang-ch'ung was originally ch'ung-huang in SC 106: 121 = HS 35: 7b5, HS 75: 4a4, HS 90: 17a10 (which is quoted in a note to HHS, Mem. 67: 10a11 without the ch'ung).

75. H. Bielenstein, BMFEA, no. 19, pp. 125-163, in an illuminating paper, "The Census of China during the Period 2-742 A.D.," (esp. pp. 135-145), shows that, between 2 B.C. (when the population was 56.7 million) and A.D. 140, there was a decrease of 8 or 9 million, i.e., about 15%. The population of northwestern and northeastern China had decreased nearly 18 million, whereas that of south China, especially the present Hunan, Kiangsi, Kwangtung, and Szechuan, had increased by roughly 9 million. When we make allowance for the natural population increase in the subsequent century, Pan Ku's statement, that by A.D. 25 the population fell to half its former figure, is roughly corroborated, but for north China only. He seems to have been unaware that millions had emigrated into central and southern China, so that the total loss in population was not as great as he believed.

76. HHS Tr. 13: 10b says, "In A.D. 30, boys in Shu circulated a saying,

`A yellow bull with a white belly,
The five-shu [cash] must be restored.'
At this time Kung-sun Shu had usurped the [imperial] title in Shu. At that time, people said secretly that Wang Mang had taken yellow [for his color; Kung-sun] Shu wanted to succeed him, hence he took white [for his color]. The five-shu cash were the currency of the Han dynasty, [so that this saying] made plain that the Han dynasty must be restored. [Kung-sun] Shu was thereupon executed and destroyed." Thus even a reference to a particular coinage had political implications. (Reference from Chou Shou-ch'ang.)

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