There are several natural resources that the Qin government managed with concern: trees and minerals. Trees were an important to everyday life for many reasons. They provided timber and wood for construction, firewood for cooking and warmth, and material for tools and weaponry. In addition, the Shuihudi slips mention certain type of trees that provided material to make writing tools and surfaces.
According to the Shuihudi slips, willow trees and other soft woods were used to make
writing surfaces. Districts (xian) and duguan都官 [general offices]188 were in charge of
felling certain trees and making them into square-shaped slips and had to store as many
as possible.189 Although the legal slips name only willow trees, excavated slips show that
188 I am using A. F. P. Hulsewé’s translation for duguan. An explanation of this office and function is
discussed at the end of this chapter.
189 Shuihudi, 50, slips 131-132; Hulsewé, 76, A77. 令縣及都官取柳及木楘(柔)可用書者, 方之以書; 毋( 無)方者乃用版。其縣山之多茾者, 以茾纏書; 毋(無) 茾者以蒲、藺以枲萷(𦂗)之。各以其 [穫]時多 積之。
various trees were used according to regional popularity. For example, the Shuihudi slips are made from bamboo, while Liye slips are primarily made from cedar trees and other types of pine.190
Lacquer trees had a different purpose, to provide the chemical used in paint, as we can easily tell from tomb artifacts belonging to various states and periods. But examples from Xiao lü 效律 [Statutes on Checking] in the Shuihudi slips suggests that lacquer, along with vermilion, was used for writing, particularly to mark government armor, arms, and tools in order to signify the office to which the object belonged. And there was a corresponding register of each marked object. Of course, marking objects with some sort of ink, whether lacquer or vermilion, is not ideal because they can be effaced. So this method of marking was used only when officials could not inscribe or brand the objects directly.191
Although lacquer was used for marking inside the Qin administration, not every region could grow lacquer trees because of environmental limitations. Those administrative organs that were capable, thus, had to follow strict legal regulations regarding yearly quota and quality. Districts, according to the Shuihudi slips, were in charge of providing a certain number of lacquer trees, or a certain amount of lacquer, every year. Qin law
indicates that when the production of lacquer trees was poor, the sefu嗇夫 [bailiff] and
190 Liye fajue baogao,179.
191 Shuihudi, 44, slips, 102-103; Hulsewé, 59, A56. 公甲兵各以其官名刻久之, 其不可刻久者, 以丹若䰍 書之。其叚(假)百姓甲兵, 必書其久, 受之以久。入叚(假)而而毋(無)久及非其官之久也, 皆沒入公,
以齎律責之。Shuihudi, 45, slips 104-107; Hulsewé, 60, A57. 公器官 久, 久之。不可久者, 以䰍久之。 其或叚(假)公器, 歸之, 久必乃受之。Shuihudi, 74, slip 45; Hulsewé, 97, B21. 殳、戟、弩，䰍𣲥相易 殹(也), 勿以為贏、不備, 以職(識)耳不當之律論之。
his assistants were fined one shield; when the production was poor for three consecutive
years, then the bailiff was discharged permanently from his post.192
Officials were concerned about not only the production of lacquer but also its quality. Some regions that could not produce their own lacquer received it from other places, and the receiving artisans had to test the quality by examining how much water the lacquer absorbed. The less water it absorbed, the higher the quality. And according to the amount of absorbed water, the artisans and officials who manufactured it would be fined between
one shield and two suits of armor.193
The Qin government also managed minerals found in the mountains. While experts
know well that the later Han dynasty monopolized the iron industry,194 whether the same
is true of the Qin dynasty is less apparent. In the Qin lü za chao 秦 律 雜 抄
[Miscellaneous Excerpts from Qin Statutes] from the Shuihudi, there is one example showing that the Qin government supervised its mining industry, which focused primarily on iron:
When mineral production (caishan 采山) is twice assessed as poor, the bailiff is
fined one suit of armor, and his assistant [is fined] one shield. When production is
192 Shuihudi, 84, slips 20-21; Hulsewé, 111, C13. 䰍園殿, 貲嗇夫一甲, 令、丞及佐各一盾, 徒絡組各廿 給。䰍園三歲比殿, 貲嗇夫二甲而法(廢), 令、丞各一甲。
193 Shuihudi, 74, slips 46-48; Hulsewé, 97-98, B22. 工稟䰍它縣, 到官試之, 飲水, 水减二百斗以上, 貲工 及吏將者各二甲; 不盈二百斗以下到百斗, 貲各一甲; 不盈百斗以下到十斗, 貲各一盾; 不盈十斗以 下及稟䰍縣中而負者, 負之如故。For a study on the Qin lacquer industry, including types of work and the lacquering process, see Anthony J. Barbieri-Low, Artisans in Early Imperial China (Seattle: University of Washington Press: Published with the assistance of the Getty Foundation, 2007), 76-83.
194 Regarding Han control over salt, iron, and other economic resources, see Nishijima Sadao, “The
Economic and Social History of Former Han,” in The Cambridge History of China, vol. 1: the Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 B.C.-A.D. 220, eds. Denis Twitchett and John K Fairbank (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 580-85. Donald Wagner provides an extensive and thorough study on the iron industry in early China, focusing on the Han dynasty. His work includes the historical examination of the salt and iron monopolies and, most interestingly, the technique of producing iron. Donald B. Wagner and Nordic Institute of Asian Studies., The State and Iron Industry in Han China, NIAS reports, (Copenhagen, Denmark: NIAS Pub., Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2001).
poor for three consecutive years, the bailiff is fined two suits of armors and dismissed [from office]. If the production is assessed as poor but no extra expense was incurred, there is no fine. When the imposed annual quota of production is lost before it has been collected and assessed, as well as when there is a shortage, the
Grand Provisioner (taiguan 太官), The Treasury of the Right (youfu 右府), the
Treasury of the Left (zuofu 左府), The Iron Extractors of the Right (you caitie右采
鐵), and the Iron Extractors of the Left (zuo caitie 左採鐵) are assessed for poor
[management], and the bailiffs are fined one shield.195
采山重殿, 貲嗇夫一甲, 佐一盾; 三歲比殿, 貲嗇夫二甲而法(廢)。殿而不負費,
勿貲。賦歲紅(功), 未取省而亡之, 及弗備, 貲其曹長一盾。大(太)官、右府、左 府、右采鐵、左採鐵課殿, 貲嗇夫一盾。
There is no direct evidence in either the excavated or transmitted texts to confirm where in Qin officialdom the five officials mentioned above were placed. Editors of the
Shuihudi slips suggested that the Grand Provisioner was a subordinate of the shaofu少府
[Superintendent of the Lesser Treasury] during the Han dynasty, the Treasuries of Right and Left could also have been subordinate to the same office, and the Iron Extractors of
the Right and Left might have been part of the “tieguan 鐵官” [iron office] that the Qin
government established.196 Under these five offices, bailiffs from peripheral and local
195 Shuihudi,84-5, slips 21-3; Hulsewé, 112, C14. 196 Shuihudi, 85, n2.
governments had to manage the mining industry to meet the annual quota or be brought to account.197
This statute clearly mentions that the two offices focused on iron were involved in the mining industry, but the government probably controlled other minerals as well, such as gold, silver, red copper, and bronze, for they all could be used to make various types of tools, weaponry, ritual items, etc. Cinnabar was also likely included because it was a source of vermilion, which was used to mark tools and weaponry.