I

11

I l

Dog mar Schafer, Dieter Kuhn

Weaving an Economic Pattern in Ming Times (1368-1644):

'I The Production of Silk Weaves in the State-Owned Silk Workshops

MPIWG

338.4 S2B4w rger Sinologische Schriften

orum

Dagmar Schafer, Dieter Kuhn

Weaving an Economic Pattern in Ming Times (1368-1644):

The Production of Silk Weaves in the State-Owned Silk Workshops

WOrzburger Sinologische Schriften

edition forum

Wtirzburger Sinologische Schriften edited by Dieter Kuhn

Dagmar Schafer, Dieter Kuhn

Weaving an Economic Pattern in Ming Times (1368-1644):

The Production of Silk Weaves in the State-Owned Silk Workshops

edition forum Heidelberg 2002

The seal Weiercibao hanx ue 1:ongkan was carved by Mr. An Du in Bcijing.

Wlirzburger Sinologische Schriftcn Jnstitut f'li r Kulturwissenschaften Ost- und Siidasiens - Sinologic, Universitilt Wlirz.burg, Am llubland, JJ-97074 Wlirz.burg

Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP- Einheitsaufnahme

Schlifer, Dagmlu; Kuhn, l)ietcr: Weaving an economic pattern in Ming times ( 1368- 1644): the production of silk weaves in the state-owned silk workshops. -l-l eidelberg : Ed. rorum , 2002 (Wiirzburgcr Sinologische Schri fk n) ISBN 3-927943-23- 1

All rights r.: servcd. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any Corm or by any means, electroni c or mechanical , including photocopy, recording, or any inl'ormation storage and retri eva l system, without permiss ion in writing l'rom the copyright holder.

") 2002 ed iti on l'orum. Dr. Jlans-1 1. Schmidt, 13ergheimer Str. 125, P.O. Box I 02103 , 690 11 Heidelbcrg, Tel. 06221-970880, Fax 06221-970810

Printed in Germany

ISBN 3-927943-23- 1

Contents

1. Introduction ............................................................... _l

On the Research Situation ........................... ... ....... ............ 3

The Standards ofZhu Yuanzhang .. ................... .. ............... 8

2. The State-owned Silk Workshops .......................... 11

2. 1. The State-owned Central Silk Workshops in Nanjing and Beijing ............... ............................ 12

The inner or Palace Weaving and Dyeing Services ........ 13

The Offices .for Weaving and Dyeing (~/the MinisLI'y <~f Public Works .......... ...... ........ ...... ....... .. .......... ........... .... ... . 15

The Hall for Ritual Silks .. .... ...... ........ ........ ........ ...... ...... .. 16

The Weaving Workshop for Short-term Requirement ...... 17

2.2. The State-owned Regional Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops ........... .......... .. .......... .... ........ 20

3. The Production Categories of the Regional Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops ............................ 27

3. 1. Annual Quota Production ...... .. ..... .... .. .... ........... 2 8

3.2. Pattern Production ...... ..... .................................. 35

3.3. Additional Order Production ............................. 39

3.4. A Comparison of Production Figures ................ 49

4. Conclusions .............................................................. 53

Bibliography ................................................................. 57

Index ............................................................................. 63

Wiirzburger Sinologische Schriften .......................... 69

1. Introduction 1

"The Great Ming Dynasty orders: All matters and qjjicial obligations ofcvurts and bureaus which are concerned with the weaving of fabrics should be handled with priority. The colours have to be distinct and clear, the measures and weights ought not to dijferji·om the prescribed shapes by a hair 's breadth. All o.fflcials should constantly supervise the working process and should together make the utmost use of the silk material. "2

1 We are ve1y grateful to John Staudenmaier, S.J. , who several years ago invited Dieter Kuhn to contribute a paper on the C hinese s ilk industry in pre-modern times to Technology & Culture. Unfortunately it took the authors far longer than initially expected to finish the manuscript. When John Staudenmaier and Dieter Kuhn met in March 1999 at The Dibner Institute for the Hist01y of Science and Technology in Cambridge, Mass., it was already evident that the manuscript would not focus on the history of technology as originally intended but on a special aspect of the administrative and economic history of s ilk production in Ming China. We would like to acknowledge here that our manuscript greatly benefited from many helpful suggestions by the anonymous readers of the original paper. Due to the fact that the manuscript has exceeded the average length of an article in a scholarly journal , and the Chinese characters should be included, we have decided to publish it as a small monograph .

2 Ming huidian lVl~ ~Jt [Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty] of

1503 by Xu Pu 1~M [Yingyin wenyuange siku quanshu 617-618], j . 161 gongbu 15 : I a/b.

2 I. Introduction

In this study we shall try to open up new ground in textile history by explaining the organisation of the official or state-operated silk weaving (guanying zhizao '§ ' :~~KJll\;@:) in various types of silk workshops3 and their production of silk fabrics on the basis of the historical Chinese textual sources. Knowledge about the state pro­duction of silk fabrics is essential not only for an understanding of silk manufacture in the Ming dynasty as a whole but also for elu­cidating the way in which the Ming state participated in produc­tion and tried to keep it under control. Hence this investigation has to focus on some crucial questions: What were the state-owned si lk workshops in Ming times, what did they produce, and how did they function? To answer these questions it is necessary to classify the silk workshops and to define the categories of silk fabrics pro­duced by them. Only after having explained the administrative structure and the range of textile fabrics produced - as done here in chapter 2 - can other problems be addressed in chapter 3 such as the production categories, productivity rate and organisational

Some authors use the term textile factory or imperial textile factory. Due to the use of a pre-industrial production technology we should rather prefer to call these s ilk weaving institutions workshops.

4 The use f Western respectively C hinese textile terms followed as far as poss ible the terminology published by Dorothy Burnham, Warp and We.fi. A Textile Terminology. (Toronto, 1980), and Zhao Feng il:E! _::1:::., Zhixiu zhenpin k~TQ.%£1~ 11d1. Treasures in Silk. An Illustrated His­tory (~f Chinese Textiles. (Hangzhou, 1999), pp. 328-349. Chinese publications such as Zhongguo dabaike quanshu:fangzhi 1=!= 1 ~:::k:Ta ¥1· :ft 8: ft.';/j~f& [The Complete Encyclopedia of China: Textile Technol­ogy. ] (Beijing, 1984) and Wu Shan ~ill (ed.), Zhongguo gongyi mei­shu da cidian 1:j::~ ~I T ~Sktfj::;k:~'(:.ljl(. [Great Encyclopedia o_fChinese Handicraft and Industrial Arts.] (Nanj ing, 1988) were consulted as well.

On the Research Situation 3

efficiency, crucial keywords in the Chinese discussion about the development of capitalism in the Ming dynasty. 5

On the Research Situation

In recent decades a number of Chinese and Japanese historians have investigated various aspects and problems of Ming dynasty s ilk manufacture. Many of the research works are based on a nota­ble article by Peng Zeyi SIJ¥~':ll~i1 .. 6 Most publicat ions have been mai nly concerned with the general conditions of silk production but have explained neither the cleverly devised structure of the

5 In this context we w ish to note that the C hinese Marx ist understanding of pre-modern "capitalism" and "capitalist thinking" should not be re­duced merely to its interpretation of the economic structure of the pri­vate market in C hina. T hi s v iew still dominates the Chinese di scus­s ion about the Chinese pre-modern market economy. See for example Chinese Capitalism, 1522- 1840, edited by Xu Dix in and Wu Cheng­ming, Eng lish T rans lation Ed ited by C. A. C urwen. ( 1-Io undsmill , Bas­ingstoke 2000). This publicat ion is based on Zhongguo zibenzhuy i fazhan shi 1-l=ljji]j ~~ 4 .:t 2/l ~!U&l ~ [ Histmy of I he Development of Chi-nese Capitalism.] (Beij ing, 1985), vo l. I. Xu and Wu do not cons ider that there ex isted state-owned workshops with managers observing the market rules in order to be successful and effic ient.

6 Peng Zey i .'i51~16t "Cong Mingdai guanyi ng zhizao de jingying fangshi kan Jiangnan sizhiye shengchan de x ingzhi 1Jt l ljH~·I~· ~~kf&m I~I<:J ~~ ~~ :7J :S::tfinY1fi.:%~k~~u~ ~jffji<J tHr:r [The Structure of S ilk Weav­ing Production in J iangnan w ith Reference to the Insti tution of State Textile Man ufacturing in the Ming Era]", Lishi yanjiu 2 ( 1963), pp. 33-56. In this context the unpubli shed M .A. di ssertation by Hildegard Sche id, w hich takes into account the research work by Peng Zeyi and others, sho uld be mentioned . Hildegard Sche id, Die Entwicklung der staat/ichen Seidenweberei in der Ming-Dynastie (1368- 1644). (Uni ­ve rs iUit Wi.irzburg, 1994).

4 I. Introduction

production system nor the changes which occurred over the centu­ries.7 Xu Dixin 's and Wu Chengming's research concentrates on the private economy and only a few pages deal with the state-run si lk workshops. The overall suggestion of the chapters on silk weaving published by these two authors is that the state-run work­shops were corrupt and inefficient, and thus , less and less capable of meeting the demands made upon them." 8 With regard to cor­ruption and inefficiency such a statement fulfils all the expecta­tions of most economic historians of the Ming times, but it does not help us to understand the economic complexity of the Ming dynasty silk weav ing industry. Moreover, this assertion is in any case somewhat questionable. Of course there was a good deal of corruption and mismanagement in the profitable silk industry but we have to keep in mind that this impression is mainly based on documents containing information on misbehaviour. Reports on proper behaviour and effici ent management, which may have been the rule, are rarely to be found. It should also be noted that apart from the re ign period wanli ~~)_ff ( 1573- 1620) the number of documents concerning corruption and mismanagement in the state­run silk workshops is almost negligible. In many cases it is possi­ble to show that complaints about mismanagement et cetera sprang up from political intrigue, personal avers ion and attempts to attract the emperor's attention or to control the court.

Some years ago Fan Jinmin ~11~ f~ started the only serious dis­cussion abo t state-owned silk workshops in the Ming and Qing

dynasties by concentrati ng on the Jiangnan tT. WJ region (southern

7 See for example Huang Zanxiong ~ilflil:1£.1L " Ming dai de s icho ushi

1!)]1 ~ i'f.J *A'~t.J~~ [The History of S ilk in the Ming Era]", Sichoushi yan­jiu I ( 1989), pp. 1-6.

8 Chinese Capitalism, 1522- 1840, edited by Xu Dix in and Wu C heng­ming (2000): 'S ilk Weaving in Suzhou and 1-langzho u' State Work­shops and the Handicraft Industry : The ' Imperial Si lkworks' are dis­cussed on pp. 83-85.

On th<: Research Situation 5

Jiangsu 1Itill and northern Zhejiang i!Jr'li)Y He maintains that the Ming dynasty succeeded in producing a larger quantity of si lk products than the Qing dynasty. The extraord inary productivity rate and the admirable effic iency of silk manufacture in Ming times is further confirmed by the research of Dagmar Schafer. 10 In this context mention shou ld also be made of the research work done by Paolo Santangelo, who has published on state intervention in the silk workshops in Suzhou )!!l)+l during the Ming and Qing dynasties. 11 Recently the monograph by Elke Piontek-Ma on the Suzhou silk workshop in the 17th century has become available. 12

In Japan Saeki YCtichi {ZC {I;:F(~- did research on the structure and economic situation of weaving households in the Ming dynasty, 13

9 Fan Jinmin 111~~ , Jiangnan sichoushi ymy"iu ITNJ*HJ,'~3l;1Df '7"'E [The History ofSilk in .Jiangnan.] (Beijing, 1995). Fan Jinmin also pub­lished a great number of artic les on the subj ect prior to 1995 in Chi­nese journals such as Sichoushi yanjiu.

10 Dagmar Schafer, Des Kaisers seidene Kleider. Staatliche Seiden­nwnufclkturen in der Ming-Zeit (1368-1644) . (He idelberg, 1998). [ Wiirzburger Sinologische Schrijten .]

11 Paolo Santangelo, Le manufatture tessili imperiali durante le dinast ie Ming e Qing. Con particolare attenzione a que/le di Suzhou. (Napol i, 1984 ). [Annali 44: I ( 1984 ). Supplemento 83 .] Translated into English as "The Imperia l Factories of Suzhou: Limits and Characteristics of State Intervention during the M ing and Qing Dynasties", in The Scope ofState Power in China, ed ited by Stuart S. Schram. (London, 1985), pp. 269-294.

12 Elke Piontek-Ma, Der Bericht von Sun Pei uber die kaiserliche Seidenmanufaktur von Suzhou im 17. Jahrhundert . (Heidelberg, 1999). [Wiirzburger Sinologische Schrijien.]

13 Saeki Yflichi Vr.fl~F(=f- , " Min zenhanki no kiko- Ocho kenryoku ni yoru shoaku o megutte IY3 ~u· "¥=- Wi o) 1J:llF' - TAVH#i } J (.: t 0 ¥: :tm f Y) <" -:> -c [Silk Workshops during the First Half of the Ming Era ­Emanc ipation from the Influence of Imperial Power]", T6y6 bunka kenkyil sho kiy6 8 (1956), pp. 167-210; Saeki Yflichi, "Mindai shoekisei no hokai to toshi kinuorimonogyo ryfltsfl shijo no tenkai

6 I. Introduction

while the Chinese textile historian Chen Juanjuan ~~~~y~ investi­gated the archaeological finds of the period. 14 Apart from these publications there are a number of translations of relevant Chinese works on the technology of silk production in western languages. 15

In this study we refer main~ to the historical textual sources origi­nating from Ming times, 1 and furthermore to memoranda and

IYH~It[ ~jtiliUCl))iJ'Jl~ t n!lrh~i~k~~tm~1JiV.illr]'I)~C7))~1Jf1 [The Collapse of the Craftsmen Service System and the Development of the Market C irculation of the Products of the Urban Silk Workshops in the Ming Dynasty]", T6y6 bunka kenkyu sho kiy6 I 0 ( 1956), pp. 359-425.

1'1

Chen Juanjuan IW~Fl~rt " Mingdai de gaiji r!J=H~I~I~ [..~{J~ [The gaiji­

loom of the Ming Era]", Gugong bowuyuan y uankan 3,2 (1960).18-24; Chen Juanjuan, " Mingdai tihua sha luo duan zhiwu yanjiu I!Ji ·f-~ :lt!!:

1.t:k~.*i'lf~.l!:kf&~1!Jf y'L: [Researches into the Patterned sha, luo and juan Products of the Ming Era]", Gugong bowuyuan yuankan 4 ( 1986), pp.

79-86; Chen Juanjuan , , Mingdai de sichou yishu IYH~I'I"J %*k;ffi~ i!.lil tfi [The Art of Silks in the Ming Era]", Gugong bowuyuan yuankan I ( 1992), pp. 56-76; 2 ( 1992), pp . 45 -60.

15 7"ien-kung k 'ai-wu. Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century by Sung Ying-hsing. Translated by E-Tu Zen Sun and Sh iou-chuan Sun . (University Park, Pa., 1966); Dieter Kuhn, Zur Entwick/ung der Wehstuhltechnologie im a/ten China. (Heidelberg, 1990). [Wiirz­burger Sinologische Schr(fien]; C hen Weiji (ed.), History of Textile Te<:hnolm!y in Ancient China. (New York, 1992).

16 Ming huidwn [Collected Statutes ofthe Ming Dynasty] of 1503 by Xu Pu [ Yingyin wenyuang(' siku Cfllanshu, 617 -618], and the enlarged edi­

tion Da Ming huidian A llj J f?3~· [Collected Statutes of the Great Ming

Dynasty] of 1587 by Shen Shixing rj3I'FJ]1:j' (reprint Yangzhou, 1989); furthermore the Ming shilu J:ifjt:_r~;~ [Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty] (reprint Ta ibei , 1962-1966); Ming jingshi wenbian lljJk:!J~ 'Ill)( t~;f) [A Colfe<:tion of Documents on the Economic World of

the Ming Dynasty] , edited by Chen Zilong I~ T l4a (Beijing, 1962);

Yuxuan mingchen zouyi 1[iJmlljj j;;_i * ~~ [An Imperial Selection of Throne Reports by Ming Dynasty Qfflcials] of 1781 eo m pi led under

On th.:: Research Situation 7

reports to the throne by officials which reveal problems, deficien­cies and discrepancies. 17 Due to the state ownership of the enter­prises the Ming historical documents offer a greater amount of information about official silk production than is the case with any earlier dynasty. The officials in charge knew the standard adminis­trative and teclmical procedures. These did not have to be ex­plained to them. Insider knowledge was taken for granted. Hence such reports normally do not describe standard procedures. But for outsiders - as historians of later centuries are - the standards themselves are difficult to trace and to explain. Thus it is often hard to tell whether a statement applies to the duration of an entire dynasty or merely documents a plan to improve production or a specific event which took place in a certain reign period. To facili­tate the reader's understanding of this complicated subject, a short introduction to the general hi storical development of state-owned silk workshops and their output in Ming times is given here.

As may be imagined ti"om the facts still extant, some simplifica­tions will have to be made in order to preserve continuity and pre­vent the reader fi·om getting lost in too many exceptions to the rule.

Emperor Gaozong i~d:i~J~ ( 1736-1795) [Wuyingdian ji ban congshu, I 8 I I -I 8 I 8.]

17 The problems become obvious in the Zhou Zhongmin zoushu ),7J.\~.l!~ ~UfrL [The Throne Reports (?f Zhou Zhongmin] by Zhou Qiyuan )i~ }~ j[; (Nanj ing, M icroii I m 623 ). The Nanj ing tushuguan library stores three memorials to throne composed by Zhou Qiyuan which thematise the problems of state owned silk manufacturing, clearly documenting the relationship and linkage of several economic activities. Shenmiao liuzhong zoushu huiyao f'il )~ijj f'i'f ,-11 # if;i}EIHf!}l [A Collection of the Throne Reports and Memoranda left in the Sacred Te1nple] by Dong Qichang 't'tl'J-l,~ (1555-1636) . Rare books [Ming shaoben] , j. I :2a-3a ., j . 5.

8 I. Introduction

The Standards ofZhu Yuanzhang

Zhu Yuanzhang *JLJ~! (r. 1368-1398), the founder of the Ming dynasty - better known under the title of his reign period hongwu 1jUf:~ - established a complex and, as far as we know, unparal­leled system of state-run workshops producing silk fabrics. Until the year 1628 these workshops operated to the standards set up by the founding emperor, occupied a central place in the economic system of the Ming dynasty. They manufactured ritual robes and ordinary garments for the emperor, the empress and the members of the imperial court as well as silk textiles used for state, tribu­tary, official , imperial and ritual , monetary and commercial pur­poses, producing about 62 percent of the total government weav­ing requirements.18 In the year 1578, for example, about ten per­cent of the total state revenue of 355 million liang ~~ was spent on the production of silks.19 The long period of its actual existence gives evidence in itself of the efficiency and flexibility of the sys­tem. The silk production in state-run workshops was part of the inside economic system - in contrast to the private family-run weaving workshops - because it was owned and controlled by the state and produced silks to cover court and official requirements.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang established a dual system of state-owned silk workshops: Some workshops were operated under central state control in the capitals Nanjing and Beijing, others under the supervi sion of local admini strative authorities. In theory, the grand secretaries, the highe:it ranking official in the hierarchy, was in charge of the silk workshops. In practice, the leading officials of the Ministry of Public Works (gongbu T ;~IS) or the Ministry of

Finance (hubu F .g:ll ) - who were administrative generalists but not specialists in textile production - were responsible for the

18 Chinese Capitalism (2000), p. 83. 19 Chinese Capitalism (2000), p. 67.

The Standards of Zh u Y uanzhang 9

workshops, their financial budgets, the workforce and the supply of raw materials needed. Generally the top-ranking otTicials of both ministries organized and controlled the silk workshops in Nanjing and Beijing according to their specific responsibilities and duties. The case of the Hall for Ritual Silks (shenbo tang f!Jl/~JJ ·~~)

was different. This workshop received its orders from the Direc­torate of Ceremonial (sili jian -ITJ fW.'&~.), which fixed the annual requirement of silk textiles for ritual usage after having obtained the emperor's consent. In the reign period yongle i.k~ Emperor Taizong ** (r. 1403-1424) for the first time authorised the Di­rectorate of the Palace Eunuchs to run the workshops which were in charge of producing the silks for imperial use and for the use of the imperial court (i.e. the Inner Weaving and Dyeing Service in Nanjing and later on its counterpart in Beiijing). In thi s way the eunuchs also gained control over the silk workshops, particularly in 1-langzhou HC1+1 and Suzhou fii¥)·1·1. The administration of the regional silk workshops was handled by representatives of the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of I· inance in the pro­vincial and prefectural authorities. They recruited the workforce and secured the raw materials to be processed. Within the prefec­tural administrations there was also a low-ranking oflicial , who was oflicially in charge of organizing and co-ordinating produc­tion. But none of these officials tigured as a decision-making au­thority.

As will be seen from the specifications for the silk fabrics pro­duced in the two types of silk workshops, the organization of pro­duction was closely connected with the classification of produc­tion categories. These categories, which mainly apply to the re­gional silk workshops, emerged during the first fifty years of the Ming dynasty and may be rendered in a word-for-word translation as annual production (suizao Jil!)i:m) or annual quota production,

tran~formed production (gaizao ~1)/:m), generally known as pattern production, and additional order production (a production of pat­terned silk fabrics on additional order). Various terms were used to name the additional order production: paizao ¥J~j]t:, jiapai }Jn¥J~,

10

qianpai %f1Jlt or ~x1Jlt and paizhi 1Jltk&'&, sometimes also called 'ad­ditional requisitions'.

But it was not only the dual administrative system of the state-run silk workshops and the production categories which were set up by the first Ming emperor, for he also specified the types of products each workshop had to produce. He determined their quality and quantity by establishing an annual quota production system. As time passed hi s original specifications proved too rigid to cover changing and growing demands. Thus a new quota was created, the so-called pattern production, which allowed the emperor to order additional and different patterns and qualities of silk fabrics. In order to save money the pattern production at first had to be met within the framework given by the annual quota production but it did not take long before these limits were exceeded by requests for additional raw si lk material and manpower. Thus the pattern pro­duction started to intrude into the already existing category of ad­ditional order production, which had been established so as to bridge growing and altered demands when the limits set up for annual quota production no longer sufficed to cover the needs for si lk products required for ot1icial and unofficial use.

2. The State-owned Silk Workshops

In Ming times the system of state-owned silk workshops distin­guished between state-controlled central workshops in the capitals Nanjing and Beijing and the state-controlled regional silk work­shops under the supervision of the provincial or district adminis­trative authorities.

The si lk workshops under the direct control of the central govern­ment were:

l. The Inner or Palace Weaving and Dyeing Service in Nan­jing (Nanjing nei zhiran ju 1¥J)i( IAJ K~~~W;JY.)) , which was known under this name from 1384, and its formal counter­part in Beijing, which was established after 1421 , when the government moved residence from Nanjing to Beijing. As they were directly controlled from inside the imperial palace they were also called the Inner Offices (neiju lkJJWD) .

2. The Office for Weaving and Dyeing of the Ministry of Public Works in Nanjing (Nanjing gongbu zhiran suo r-'tJffi T g l)~ili\W:JYf), and after 1421 its formal counterpart in Beijing. These offices were were also cal led the Outer Of­fices (wa!fu Yi'frD), because their administration was under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Public Works, i.e. outside the compound ofthe imperial palace.

3. The Hall for Ritual Silks in Nanjing (Nanjing shenbo tang -.1·- --'-- ·' cl I"" ~?. ) h'J /~ flrl rn .-"1l . .

12 2. The State-owned Silk Workshops

4. The Weaving Workshop for Short-term Requirements in Nanjing (Nanjing gongying jifcmg r'tJ* {,l:tff~fJJV% ), which was established to cover special administrative tasks.

In addition there were twenty-four regional Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops (zhiran zazao ju #f&~ ~f;ltmfiD or zhizao ju #~~@fib or zhiran ju #J~~)fiJ ). The economically most important were situated in the traditional silk producing areas of the Jiangnan 1Tfr'j region (see Map 1).

According to the Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty the cen­tral state-controlled silk workshops produced silk fabrics and silk garments for imperial use (shangyong J:. J:~) and ritual use

(gongyong i)U+J). The production of the regional state-controlled silk workshops covered the official demand for silk goods for trib­ute (shangci n ng) and commendations (gongshang 1;Jt~t) .

2.1. The State-owned Central Silk Workshops in Nan­jing anti Beijing

In thi s sub-chapter we shall describe the types of silk fabrics pro­duced in the difTere1 t workshops. The mqjority of weavers were men. 20

20 On women 's work and women' s place in silk and textile production see Francesca Bray, Technology and Gender. Fabrics ol Power in Later Imperial China. (Berke ley, 1997), pp. 237-272 .

2.1. The State-owned Central Silk Workshops in Nanjing and Beijing 13

The Inner or Palace Weaving and Dyeing Services

The most important of the centrally-run workshops was the Itmer or Palace Weaving and Dyeing Service in Nanjing (Nanjing nei zhiran ju JI(J~ I*J?-~1\:W:J~). According to the laws of the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, the Service was responsible for pro­ducing silk bolts for imperial supply (shanggong _[. 1Jl). Its most

delicate products were the famous dragon robes (longpao ~~~~ili) . 2 1

In addition, the Service was responsible Jor producing a range of variously coloured high-quality silks such as open-weave gauze (sha ?.'0>), crossed-warp gauze (luo ~111), twill damask (ling #&),

bb (j. l n ) . l f' . ( h . ft.•"• ft.:B ) 22 d I C' ta y uan t.\i=J , a specia type o satm z usz .. T .. ~,J ~ , an a so lOr various special products such as imperial appo intment patents (gaochi i'iM!Y.:) with woven inscriptions for the ofticials and other documents. For these products there existed no fixed quota or maximum quantity. When the Service was tounded ,somewhat more than 300 looms were set up, and the number of drafted craftsmen in military service amounted to around 3,000 per­sons."23 According to reports they produced some 5,000 bolts of fabric annually?4 Every year from 1522 until 1572, divided up into two deliveries (in spring and autumn), between 7,000 and 9,000 bolts of high-quality silk and other bolts of robe fabrics roughly 11.90 m in length and 68 cm in width were di spatched to the imperial court. For the year 1591 during the reign of Emperor

21 Ming Nanj ing chejiasi zhizhang ry]T>f.j ;~u:J i),~~ ffJ lff!X ~'t£: [The Duties of the O.fflce for Communication in Nanjing during the Ming pynasty] , edited by Qi C hengye 1¥l!S ~k:J:1i~ (reprint Shanghai, 1934 ). [Guoli Bei­jing daxue yanjiuyuan wenshi congkan disan zhong] , j . I :20-21 .

22 For a detailed di scuss ion of the terms in Ming times see Dagmar Schafer ( 1998), pp. 67-85 .

23 Da Ming huidian, voi.S, j.208:2769 (Sab). 24 Chinese Capitalism (2000), p. 84.

14 2. The State-owned Silk Workshops

Shenzong, the reports relate two annual deliveries of 7,769 bolts each?5 In view of the large volume of fabric manufactured, and given that the Service produced only very high quality silk fabrics with complex patterns as well as the carefully worked dragon robes, the number of looms and workers seems very small - after all, the weaving of a dragon robe alone took around 270 days, not including the time needed for the dressing of the draw loom. 26

As well as weaving, the Service was also responsible for the dye­ing of 50,000 bolts of various kinds of tabby-weave si lk (juan ~~)

and other fabrics (gese juanbu ~~~~::fff), which formed part of th annual tax receipts from the provinces and districts?7

With the removal of the capital to Beijing in 1421 , the attempt was made to transter the tasks of the Nanjing Inner Service to the newly founded Beijing llmer Weaving and Dyeing Service. How­ever, the attempt failed due to inadequate production technology. Not only were there insufficient craftsmen, the northern climate also proved unsuitable, and Beijing lay at too great a distance from the places where the raw silk was produced. Thus, the manufacture of high quality fabrics, and above all of the dragon robes, contin­ued de facto to take place in Na~ing. In 1567 this state of affairs was officially acknowledged and the relevant duties were assigned once again to the Nanjing Service.28 One of the few tasks which the Beijing Service still officially had to perform was the produc­tion of garments with new and unusual patterns such as ,dawn in

25 Ming Nanjing chejiasi zhizhang, j.l :20-2 1. 26

Chen Juanjuan I N! YI~ YI'J , Huang Nengfu 9Hmfiil, Zhongguo .fuzhuang shi 1 t'i~ JJ~~~ [J-!istory of Chinese Clothing.] (Beijing, 1995), p. 304 .

27 Da Ming huidian, vo1.5 , j.208:2772 (! lab). 28 Da Ming huidian, vol.5 , j.20 1 :2704 (4b).

2.1. Th..: State-owned Central Silk Workshops in Nanjing and Beijing 15

the sky above the sea"29 and the manufacture of ceremonial robes (gunfit ~]~)with the twelve insignia for the emperor.30

The Offices for Weaving and Dyeing of the Ministry of Public Works

An Otlice for Weaving and Dyeing of the Ministry of Public Works (Nanjing gongbu zhiran suo ~~ )J~ I. ifi~~Jt?:4~ JY'f) was like­wise establi shed in Nanjing.31 It was also called the Outer Office (waiju 5'i,Jj3iJ). The Nanjing Office produced among other items a special type of yellow crossed-warp gauze to be used by the em­peror as wrappings for presents handed out during imperial audi­ences. The fact that a large proportion of the personnel, namely 86 workers, consisted of dyers and that on ly two weavers were em­ployed in the Office underscores the nature of its activities .32

Its counterpart in Beijing, the Office for Weaving and Dyeing of the Ministry of Works in Beij ing (Beijing gongbu zhiran suo :lt J.i't' T. ~~~~~~ JYT), also funct ioned principa lly as a dyeing centre, in particular for white tabby juan-silk (lianjuanbo fr.dH\i::J If\). This silk was mainly made up of the quotas ofjuan-si lk forming part of the annual tax receipts from the provinces and districts responsible for deli vering them.33 The annual tax quota for juan-silks estab-

29 Zhuozhong zhiy u iW~ 1-l-1 ;-J} (ti [Addendum to the Notes on the Correct Measure] by Liu Ruoyu ~1J 1:;= [~ (reprint Taibei, 1976), j . x ia: Ja.

30 Da Ming huidian, vol.S , j .20 I :2704 ( 4b-5a). 31 Taizu shilu :k11i'!.~':Lit [Veritable Records .fi·om the Reign of the Em­

peror Taizu (1368-1398)] of 1418 by Xi a Yuanji ft JJrt :-~ et al. (reprint Ta ibe i, 1966, vol. I of Ming shilu), j .255:948 (6b).

32 Da Ming huidian, vo 1. 5, j . l89 :25 83 (34b). 33 Da Ming huidian, vo l. 5, j.20 1 :2705 (6a).

16 2. The State-owned Sil k Workshops

lished by the founding emperor amounted to 271 ,363 bolts in total. The highest-quality bolts were then chosen and treated. Of the roughly 70,000 bolts dealt with in the course of a decade, 10,000 were dyed for imperial use (shangyong l:JI=J) in the Office for Weaving and Dyeing of the Ministry of Works in Beijing.34 In the years before the reign period wanli ~IH (1573 - 1620) the Beijing Office gradually lost importance. It only dyed tabby-weave fabrics and clothing to be sent as tribute to the barbarians.35 By then the productive work of both Offices was obviously confined to their dyeing activities.

The Hallfor Ritual Silks

The Hall tor Ritual Silks in Nanjing (Nanjing shenbo tang j!(L~ffil

h\ ·; ;~) was responsi ble for the production of all kinds of silks l:or

ritual use (gongyong 1;JUlJ). The Hall was equipped with more than 40 looms and employed 1,200 craftsmen in service, who received food by way of payment.36 The high number of craftsmen em­ployed was due to the fact that in the course of the dynasty many well -off weaving workshops purchased service obligations in the Hall for Ritual Silks so as to avo id the much higher cost of buying equ ivalent obligations in some other state si lk-producing enter­prise . Thus, the number of weaving households obligated in thi s

34 Da Ming huidian, vol. 5, j .20 ! :2705 (6a). 35 Zhuozhong zhi ~J 1cl:.j ;=J;; [Notes on the Correct Measure] of 163 8 by Liu

Ruoyu ~iJ 1'il~~ [Congshujicheng chubian] , vol.2 , j.l6: 125; Da Ming huidian, vo l. 5,j .20 I :2705 (5ab).

36 Shizong shi!u t!:!:Jj~ tf~* [Veritable Records from the Reign ofthe Em­peror Shizong (1521 -1567) ] of 1577 by Zhang Juzheng ~~ Ji!fif (re­print Taibe i, 1966, vol. 8 and 9 of Ming shilu), vol.8 , j .19:7600-760 I (I b-2a); j.22:7623 ( I Oa).

2.1. The State-owned Central Silk Workshops in Nanjing and l.kijing 17

way varied greatly according to the extent and degree of corrup-. l . l . 37 t10n preva ent at a part1cu ar time.

The Hall's production cycle was set at ten years, durin~ which a total of 13,690 bolts of ritual silk was to be produced. 3 Unusual circumstances, e.g. wedding ceremonies, public mourning, acces­sions to the throne, and ritual attempts to placate the heavens on the occasion of inauspicious omens, meant that the short-term de­mand for ritual silk could increase markedly, with the result that actual production quantities are difficult to ascertain. For example, in 1614, towards the end of the reign period wanli (1573-1620), an annual total of over 3,000 bolts was sent to the capitai.39

The Weaving Workshop for Short-term Requirement

All the central state-owned silk workshops mentioned so far were hardly in a position to deal with short-term bottlenecks caused by a surge in demand, or to manufacture other kinds of woven prod­ucts. The Outer Offices in Beijing and Nanjing were responsible for the production of only small quantities of fabrics , being a lmost exclusively concerned with textile dyeing. The Hall for Ritual Si lks worked for a narrowly defined purpose which was hardly ever deviated from, namely the production of silks for ritual needs.

37 Shizongshilu, vol.8, j.22:7623 (lOb); vo1.9.,j.91:798 1 (2b);Jiangning fuzhi ¥r.c~IH~Lit [Local Monograph of the District ofJiangning] of 1888 by Chen Kaiyu ~ ~~ !Jfj)bo~ et al. (reprint 1966). [Zhongguo fi.mgzhi congshu, Jiangsu sheng: Huazhong difang 128], j .1 8:2b-3a.

38 Da Ming huidian, voi.S, j.20 I :2703 (2a), 2708 ( 11 b- 12a). 39 Ming Nanjing chejiasi zhizhang, j. dulike: 19-21 ; He Boqi xiansheng

wel?ii MtB~'f 5l ~tX: 1ik [Collected Works ofMr. He Boqi], contained in Mingjingshi wenbian l~]f(~ .)i::JI.},\)1) , vol.2, j . l44:1429- 1437, espe­cia lly p. 1436 (6b).

18 2. The State-owned Silk Workshops

Of all the central state-owned silk workshops, only the Inner Weaving and Dyeing Service in Nanjing was recognisably an im­portant producer of silk fabrics . That is to say, it was only this in­stitution which produced large quantities of silk fabrics for impe­rial needs. At times of increased court demand the only legitimate alternative option still in conformity with the guidelines laid down by the dynasty ' s founding emperor40 was to commission the ser­vices of the Weaving Workshop for Short-term Requirement m Nanjing (Nanjing gongyingj(fang p:ey}i'd~~l@H.lV% ) .

A throne report dating from 1530 indicates that the Weaving Workshop for Short-term Requirement in Nanjing was not, as was generally thought until now, a production centre equipped with looms but rather an administrative organ, wh ich drew up and is­sued weaving commissions. In a throne report Wang Ting .:EH: ( 14 74- 1544) argued on economic grounds for the closure of some of the "weaving workshops (}(fang H.lV%) run by the Weaving Workshop for Short-term Requirement in Nanjing and for their work to be taken over by workshops responsible for annual quota production."4 1 In hi s report Wang Ting clearly refers to weaving workshops which were entrusted with meeting short-term re­quirements. The Weaving Workshop for Short-term Requirement was thus a state admini strative organ responsible for the distribu­ti on of weav ing commissions according to short-term needs, in order to arrange the production of silk goods for imperial use.42 On numerous tomb-finds of sil k articles of clothing deposited in the Dingling /E l~ tomb of the emperor Shenzong fill* (r. 1572-1620), th : re can be found the words: "Produced for imperial use by the Nar jing Weaving Workshop for Short-term Requirement

4° For the guidelines laid down by the founding emperor see sub-chapter 3: I below.

~ 1 Shizongshi!u, vol.8 , j.I17:81S3 (Sa). 42 Shizong shilu, vo l.8 , j.II7 :8 1S3 (Sa).

2.1. The State-ownv;d Central S ilk Workshops in Nanjing and 13eijing 19

(Nanjing gongying .i?fang zao shangyong m:r~ 1~UJ~H~JJi :i§: J:. m)."43

According to a record dating from 1611 the Workshop was , origi­nally set up for short-term special requirement production" .44 In other words, the imperial court determined the types and produc­tion quotas of silk textiles according to its particular needs. Thus, both the quantity of raw materials and the number of craftsmen required were individually established for each commission. The Short-term Requirement Workshop was the only institution which made it possible, within the narrow guidelines laid down by the founding emperor, to adapt the machinery of state silk production to fluctuating demands and needs.45 In the course of time it be­came obvious, however, that this single 'wing' institution was not enough to counterbalance the growing and changing demand. Thus, the officials in charge had to open up new ways of sati sfy ing the needs of later emperors without breaking the long established rules.

43 Zhongguo shehui kexue kaogu yanjiusuo (ed.), Dingling /£ 11_3Z [The Imperial Tomb of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty.] (Beijing, 1990), pp. 70-71 .

44 Shenzong shilu, vol. I I, j .489: 12515-12516 ( I a). 45 lt is in connection with this institution that weaving to order (lingzhi

~}ji:'f& ), documented for Suzhou from 1483 onwards, should be seen. Weav ing to order - the fulftllment of state orders by private work­shops - developed after 1535 into a poss ible means of production which enabled the state to circumvent the need to support its own workshops, as well as the related financial ri sks, and which offered the officials and eunuchs a virtually inexhaustible source of se lf­enrichment. See: Shizong shilu, vo1.9, j .297 :8887 (I a); j.l72:8406 ( 4a-5a); Ming jingshi wenbian, vo1.2:970-971 ; Shenzong shilu, vol. II , j.42: I 0432 (5ab).

,,··.

20 2. The State-owned Silk Workshops

2.2. The State-owned Regional Silk Weaving and Dye­ing Workshops

The central state-controlled silk workshops had fairly specialised production programmes which supplied the court with silk fabrics ordered by it, whereas the state-owned Regional Silk Weaving and

Dyeing Workshops (zhiran zazao ju K*~t1Liil!:~ ) manufactured

silk fabrics for the official use (gongyong i~ J=I=J) of the govern­ment. With regard to production categories, they produced to meet requirements for the annual quota production46 as well as for the pattern production and additional order production. Official re­quirements comprised above all silk goods for tribute, awards and commendations. The quotas of silk goods which Regional Weav­ing and Dyeing Workshops had to deliver annually to the capital were fixed in the statutes of the Ming dynasty 's founding emperor. These fixed quotas were intended both to establish a balance be­tween demand and supply, and to ensure a certain stability and continuity with regard to the populace 's annual contributions to the state. Like the production quotas, the amount of service the weavers had to perform was also fixed, and their obligations were made hereditary .47 The security which the quota system brought fo r state and populace alike had its price: a lack of flexibility. Re­form, though, would have meant changing the laws of the found­ing emperor. In vJc.v of thi s, it was virtually impossible for offi­cials, however able and competent, to effect substantial changes to the system of state silk manufacture, or even to utilize its maxi­mum economic potential. It has to be accounted an administrative achievement of a high order that the oflicials were able to maintain silk production under these conditions, and that they could even increase the quality and quantity of the fabrics produced.

46 Da Ming huidian, vo 1.5, j .20 I :2703 (I a-2b) . 47 Da Ming huidian, vo 1. 5, j . 189:2567 (I ab), 2572 ( 11 b-1 2a).

2.2. The Stak-owned Regional Silk Weav ing and Dyeing Workshops 21

LIAODONG

1u Guan Xiaozhou

• Ganzhou

SHAANX:I

HEN AN

l:!la.h2J!

YUNNAN

GUIZHOU

Guiyang_. .G:lnzh<JU al:- ' ···> :

unming• • Guilin

\~'> ... - .. \'\)\ . . . .

uanzliou • '"·: ·.

Nanning • GO/'I.N~DONG g· :· ,

GuanRzh•~ .·· ···

~· · r:tJANGXJ

Rcg. ionnl Si lk Workshop .

Capita l ~~

Map 1. State-owned Regional Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops

22 2. The State-owned Silk Workshops

Table 1 Operational Life-spans of the Regional Weaving and Dyeing Workshops

Location Founded Dissolved

Hangzhou ~1U+I 1368 ea. 1628

Shaoxi ng ~(d!JTII1 1375 153 1

Yanzhou !i*.1HI ? 1549

Jinhua 1' ~! ? before 1436

Quzhou 11m )+I 1391 1636

Taizhou ~HI ? 1531

Wenzhou* iWit)+l 1335-40 153 1

Ningbo *~j( ? 1531

Huzhou t1VJ'l+l 1403 ea. 1522-66

Jiaxing iH~~ 1403-50 ?

Zhenjiang* U~rr 1335-40 1628-43

Suzhou* r!.if )+l 1368 1628-43

Songjiang f~~ f[ ? ea. 1628

Hui zhou iWN HI 1402 ea. 1640

Ningguo* 'l.ti l~l 1341-67 1568

Guangdezhou }~;~ 1i!J.\ )·1·1 ? 161 2

Fuzhou i· ,~~·j J·H 1375 ? Quanzhou )k HI 1428 1531 r . ).li -~ · tannmg · ¥- 1373 ? .liangxi rr ,rq ? 1567

Siehuan V- IJil 1373 ? He'nan M ~~~J ? 1506-9

Ji ' nan ri'frn 1436 1506-9

Shanxi Li 1 jJJi ? 1381

* These offi ces a lready existed during the Yuan dynasty. It is li ke ly that they cont inued to exist, at least officia lly, after the change o f dynasty. In addit ion there ex isted a number of Re­giona l Workshops which were operated on ly occasiona lly .

2 .2. Tht: State-owned Regional Silk Weaving and Dydng Workshops 23

The first emperor of the Ming dynasty establi shed twenty-four prefectural silk workshops (zhou zhiranju J+I~!~J~ ) , responsible for 62 percent of the total government weaving requirements. Six­teen of them, i.e. 66 percent, were situated in the region of Zhe­jiang ~;Vi·IT. and Nanzhili p(J ~~I$§~ provinces (see Map).48 Including the central state-owned silk workshops in Nanjing ten out of the total of 29 si lk workshops existing in Ming dynasty times were situated in the Jiangnan 1T JY(] region.49 That is to say, the Jiangnan region played a decisive economic role - even in solely quantita­tive terms - in the manufacture of silk during the Ming dynasty. 50

Table I shows that the regional institutions, especially those situ­ated outside the traditional areas of silk cultivation, were founded only at a slow pace. Exceptions are provided by the development of the Regional Weaving and Dyeing Workshops of Suzhou and Hangzhou as well as the workshops in the districts of Songjiang, Zhenjiang and Jiaxing. Whereas in the case of most Regional Weaving and Dyeing Workshops on ly the foundation and di ssolu­tion dates are known, a detai led picture of the organization and development of the workshops in Suzhou and 1-langzhou can be obtained.

Much information about the Suzhou Weaving and Dyeing Work­shop, which was establi shed as early as 1368, is contained in the Suzhou zhizao ju zhi ii!*1• 1'1r.iibii J~] ;J:~ [Monograph on the Suzhou Weaving and Dyeing Workshop] by Sun Pei f*~ijil , dating from 1686.51 Already in the reign periodyongle Jiz~ (1403-1424) pal-

48 Ming huidian, j. 161 :7b. 49 Dagmar Schafer ( 1998), pp. 49-52. 5° Chinese Capitalism (2000), p. 83 . 51 Suzhou zhizao ju zhi fii~d+ l f.f&:©:Jf.1 ;:5 [Treatise on the Weaving and

Dyeing Workshop ofSuzhou} by Sun Pei {;f; 1JiliL, prefaced 1685 (reprint

24 2. The State-owned Silk Workshops

ace eunuchs (taijian 1-\.J!Ki) were appointed to supervise produc­

tion. According to Sun Pei 's reports, the regional authorities did

no_t regain resEonsib~ lity for running the workshop during the Mmg dynasty. 2 To JUdge by the number of weavers, bet~fen 1426 and 1435 the office had from 100-plus to 150 looms. ) A

little over a century later, in 1547, Wen Zhengming )(1~&Fljj re­

ports of six hall s containing a tota l of 173 looms and employing

I , 700 craftsmen. 54

The Hangzhou Weaving and Dyeing Workshop (Hangzhou zhiran

ju 1Ji:1·1·1 NIL?4V•:U) was founded in 1369. Already by 1505 the work­

shop had been enlarged several times,55 and expanded once more

between 1567 and 1572. Officially, responsibility for it continued

to lie with the prefecture: thus, on paper it simply had the task of manufacturing silk fabrics as pm1 of the annual quota production.

In reality, however, it produced garments for imperial use.

Nanjing, 1959). See th e annotated trans lation by Elke Piontek-Ma

( 1999). 52 Suzhou zhizaoju, j .2 :4. 53 Liao Zh ihao J* ;-J,c; ·~ , "Shilun Mingdai Suzhou chengshi jingji tese

,]J\ ,'i1fi!IYH~!i!.¥1+ 1 JJ& 1lJ ~lUifi~J'~ [Attempting a Discussion of the Eco­

nomic Pecularities of the · ity of Suzhou during the M ing Dynasty]",

Wuxue yanjiu zhuanji ~~'1d:.f!:!B'-L -~~-t.i;li: . (Suzhou, 1994), pp. 297-309.

A translated summary of the contents can be found in Dagmar Schafer ( 1998) pp. 59-6 1 .

54 Wen Zhengming ... ~.:f:J&l:'):J, "Chongxiu zhiran ju ji tfi~1~t~~~)i'i]~ [Documents Pe1taining to the Revival of the Weaving and Dyeing

Workshops]", in Suzhou zhizao ju zhi, j.3 guanshu: 13-14. 55

"Zhiran ju beiji k~'W:fii:\ {i$ Mc [Notes on Stone Tablets Concerning the

Weaving and Dyeing Workshop]", in Wulinfanggang zhi. (Hangzhou, 1987), vol. I, p. 170.

2.2. The State-owned Regional Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops 25

The detailed documentation available for these two offices empha­sizes how important the regional silk workshops were and that they produced continuously throughout the whole reign of the Ming dynasty. In the case of the two workshops in question, it is essential to note that their duties changed over time : Instead of producing ordinary silks by way of fulfilling official requirements within the framework of the regular annual quota production, both offices later turned to manufacturing high-quality silks for impe­rial and ritual use as part of the additional order production. We should, however, note that the regional silk workshops produced imperial and ritual silk fabrics on additional order only under the supervision of the eunuchs. Thus, these workshops countered the shortcomings of the rigid scheme established by the founding em­peror; and what had originally started on a provisional basis be­came institutionalized. Every time the eunuchs ceased to be in charge, the civil officials quickly focused again on the fundamen­tal task of the regional workshops, namely that of fulfilling annual quota production. 56 This in turn meant that production for imperial and ritual use was once again interrupted for a while.

56 Shenzong shilu, vo1.12, j.4 75: 12453 (2a-3a); Shenzong shilu, vol.l2 , j.489: 12515-12516 (I a-2b), j .500: 12575 (6b).

3. The Production Categories of the Regional Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops

The Regional Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops (zhiran zazao ju ?.J11:~~~~~j~JT:i3 ) were responsible for producing silk fabrics for official use, including silk goods for tribute and commendations. This category of product, comprising 62 percent of the total output of state-controlled silk production, constituted economically the most important branch. It was known as the annual quota produc­tion (suizao %JU~) . Every district in which a Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshop was established had the obligation to supply a fixed annual quota production. Its respective size was determined by the guidelines laid down by the founding emperor. That meant that the annual quota production itself could not be adapted or al­tered according to growing demands. Hence new ways had to be found to solve the problem: The annual quota production was of­ten changed (and renamed) into the so-called tran~formed produc­tion (gaizao ~m), better known as pattern production, which was supposed not to entail extra costs. The transformed or pattern pro­duction took place in the Regional Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops. They manufactured fabrics with specific patterns for imperial use on orders from the emperor. The section below gives an outline of pattern production, particularly in terms of its early development and its relation to the annual quota production out­put.

Fabrics produced on imperial demand in Regional Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops which exceeded the regular annual quota production were called additional order production (paizao 1J~.©:).

28 3. Th.: Production Categories of the Regional Workshops

In order to calculate Ming era production volumes correctly, it is

necessary to establish the extent to, and the conditions under,

which orders for additional order production were issued and ful­

filled . As a large number of both official sources and relevant

memorial s date from the reign period wanli ~~!H. ( 1573-1620), the

production volumes of this period are here examined in detail and

compared with the known production figures for the reign period

zhengde IHIW (1506-1521 ).

3.1. Annual Quota Production

Every Regional Weaving and Dyeing Workshop had certain kinds

and quantities of silk fabric to produce annually and to deliver to

the capital. There is no adeq uate explanation for the divergent fig­

ures given in the various sources, but there is reason to assume that

the differences resu lt from miscalculations or defective transcrip­

tions. Traditionally, the total figure for all workshops, according to

the quota laid down by the founding emperor, amounted to 35 ,436

bolts.57 This figure is based on the sum of the individual figures

given for the Regional Si lk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops. As

may be seen from our own calculations based on the individual

quantities recorded in the already quoted Da Ming huidian, output

totalled 35,535 bolts (Table 2), with an additional 2,679 bolts in

57 Da Ming huidian, vo!.S, j.20 I :2703 ( I a-2 b). The additional amounts

of I zhang, 6 chi, I cun, 2 fen , i.e. 4,8 rn result from variations be­

tween the measurement methods employed in the different regions. Li

Xunxiao ~r: ~·u ;J-5l, Ming shihuozhi xiaozhu iifJ-&~;:JitQ1:E [Commen­

tated Edition of the Chapter on the Economy and Goods in the Ming Annals. ] (Beij ing, 1982), p. 28 1.

3. 1. Annual Q~1ota Production 29

leap years. 58 After several workshops were closed down in 1528 the annual quota production of the remaining workshops still amounted to 28,684 bolts.59 The total number increased by 2,061 bolts for a leap year with an intercalary month.60

According to the founding emperor's specifications the silk bolts produced in the course of annual quota production were to meas­

ure roughly 59.2 cm wide (I chi R, 8 cun ' J, 5 fen )}) by

10.24 m long (3 zhang sl:, 2 chi). This unit was defined as one pi

~' or bolt. In addition, for every workshop the founding em­peror's guidelines specified exactly what was to be produced, i.e. the kinds of fabrics and weaving patterns.

The highest production figures were achieved by the regions of Zhejiang and Nanzhili . The six districts of Suzhou, Songjiang, Zhenjiang, and Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou - the last three districts belonging to Zhejiang province - together accounted for over a third of all state silk production.

58 Plus 2 zhang, 8 chi, 8 cun, 2fen, i. e. 9 m. 59 Plus I zhang, 9 chi, 1 cun, 5 fen , i.e. 6 m. 60 Plus 5 zhang, 2 chi, 3 cun, 9 fen , i. e. 19 m. Mingshu lljj ~J [Documents

on the Ming History] by Fu Wei lin 14J fo.\iU!~ [Baibu congshu jicheng, jifit, 0643],j.82:7b, here the fi gure of37,400 bo lts (pi) is quoted. The Ming huidian, j.l6l :3a records 35,324 bolts (pi) plus I zhang, 7 cun , 6 f en. In the case of leap years with an interca lary month an additional 2,662 bo lts were to be produced, plus 2 zhang, 8 chi, 8 cun, 2 f en. Added together, the individual figures recorded in the Ming huidian amount to only 35,202 bolts, 1 zhang, 7 cun, 2 f en. The Da Ming huidian, voi.S, j .20 1 :2706 (7a-9b) cites the figures quoted in the text above ( ft. 54).

30 3. The Production Categories o f the Regiona l Workshops

Table 2 Annual Quota Production of the Regional Weaving and Dyeing Workshops

Silk Products

Zhusi Xi an- Sheng- Ling Se- Juan Total

Place K(JJ*%~ luo pmg- r.& chou ~f=J

f: i~J f:f; luo ~/.fPril ,.;;!J<,.\1- ~ri

::t 'V !i'fr -_ - - t,~'

Jiangxi 2,802 - - - - - 2,802

He' nan 800 - - - - - 800

Shandong 720 - - - - - 720

Huguang 1,939 - - - - - 1,961

Fujian 2,392 - - - - - 2,258

Shanxi - - - 500 - 500 1,000

Sichuan - - - - - *4, 516 4,516

Zhejiang* 10,403 520 1,000 - 528 - 12,81 7

Workshops in the Zhili region Suzhou 1,534 - - - - - 1,534

Songj iang I, 167 - - - - - I ,167

Chizhou** - - - - - *2 11 211

Taiping** - - - - - *500 500

Anqing** - - - - - *608 608

Yangzhou** 13 1 - - - 300 *701 1,132

Guangdezhou 240 - - - - - 240

Changzhou** 100 - - - - - lOO Zhenjiang 1,440 - - - - - 1,440

Huizhou 72 I - - - - - 721 ·--

Ningguo 796 - - - - - 796 Total: 25,284 520 1,000 500 828 7,036 35,535

3. 1. Annual Quota Production 3 1

(continued)

Leap year

Silk Products Zhusi Sheng- Juan I ling Xianluo Total

Place ~']!~~~ pingluo f(~' f'& Jllf:J,., Y,Ei o/* J l~tit -

~l:: j_F· *«1

Jiangx i 245 - - - 245 He 'nan 67 - - - 67 Shandong 60 - - - 60

Huguang 169 - - - 169

Fujian 191 - - - 191

Shanx i - 86 - 86

Sichuan - *377 - 377

Zhej iang* 795 25 - 31 851

Workshops in the Zhili region

Suzhou 139 - - - 139

Songjiang 97 - - - 97

Chizhou** - **20 - 20

Taiping** - *42 - 42

Anqing** - - - -

Yangzhou* * 72 - - - 72

Guangdezhou 14 - - - 14

Changzhou ** 17 - - - 17

Zhenjiang 120 - - - 120

Huizhou 48 - - - 48

Ningguo 47 - - - 47

Total 2,098 25 439 31 2,679

32 3. The Production Categories of the Regional Workshops

(continued)

Developments after the 7' 11 Year of the Reign Period jiajing (1528).

Silk Products (bolts) Converted into money Place value (lian11 , qian, fen)

After 1528 Leap year After 1528 Leap year

Jiangxi 10,651.40 931.00

He 'nan 3, 169.53 -Shandong 2,170.80 180.90

Huguang 7,526.60 648.40

Fujian 2,258 188

Shanxi

Sichuan

Zhej iang* 12,662 838

Workshops in the Zhili region

Suzhou 1,534 139

Songjiang 1, 167 97

Chi zhou* * 19 -

Ta iping** 500

J\.nq ing** 608

Yangzhou** 1, 132 72

Guangdezhou 240 20

Changzl11 ** 200 17 -

Zhenjiang 1,440 120

Huizhou 72 1 48

Ningguo 769 47

Total 23 ,439 1,586 23,5 18.33 I ,760.30

3.1. Annual Quota Production 33

* Total quota for the province including Hangzhou [etc .. ] A list of the quotas for the individual workshops cannot be given as the regional monographs often record only figures for high-quality fabrics with com­plex patterns, and in some cases give no details at all.

** These workshops are not li sted in the central state documents. How­ever, according to the local monograph s they assumed responsibility for producing pat1s of the annual quota for these administrative areas.

Note: The official records of the M ing dynasty (Da Ming huidian, Ming huidian, Mingshu) li st the individual quotas of the regional workshops and also give the total quantities of the silk bolts to be delivered to the capital. However, the individual quotas, when added together, yield a different total from that given in the official documents, which is around 5,000 bolts higher. No explanation could be found for this discrepancy.

34 3. The Production Categories of the Regional Workshops

Table 2 shows that zhusi -satin fabrics accounted for over 70 per­cent of the total production. One-fifth of the annual quota produc­tion was to consist of gold weave (zhijin f.~~), and four-fifths of

monochrome satin silk (guangsi :7 1cfr.v~~). 6 1 The details of the annual quota production contained in the regional gazetteers of the six di stricts show that the workshops sti ll conformed to this stipulation at the start of the 16th century. The fabrics produced included highest-quality silks with prescribed weave patterns.62

The int1ex ibility of the annual quota system led to considerable setbacks. T he increasing demand for fabrics produced as a result of pattern and/or additional order production requirements dimin­ished the attention which the central government could devote to the annual quota production. In 1582 a ll the provinces and districts wh ich had to fulfi l an annual quota still a lso had to deliver the en­ti re annual quota production totals for the years from 1573 (the first year of the re ign period wanli) to 1580 (the eighth year of the same reign period), i.e. more than 230,000 bolts overall.63 Be­tween 1583 and 1586 no annual quota production was achieved, because it was abandoned. ln 1588 the annual quota production was reduced by half in consequence of a petition by the Mini stry of Public Works "to a ll ev iate the di stress of the populace". 64 As a result, in the to llowing year, 1589, all regul ar production was con­verted into pattern prod uction.

6 1 Da Ming hwdian, vo l.5 , j .20 1 :2706 (7a). 62 Songjiangjitzhi f1.~f_[JfL.t~ lLocal Monograph ofthe District ofSong­

jiang] of 151 2 by Chen Wei IWJJ&, Gu Qing h'iM i~· [Ming zhengdejian keben] , j. 8:8a, j . 11 :2b.

63 Shenzong shilu, vol.l l , j.l51:10894 (2a, 3a); j.l28: 10790 (6b); j. 187:11070 (6a-7a).

64 Shenzong shilu, vol. l 2. j .227: I 1256 (I a) .

3 .2. Pattern Production 35

Up to 1588 the reductions, reallocations and actual figures for regular annual quota production can be almost fully reconstructed on the basis of the Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong. 65

These show that in the 18 years from 1572 to 1589 only around 7 percent of the regular total annual quota of 516,312 silk bolts was actually delivered. Around 17 percent - i.e. some 88,052 silk bolts - was transformed into pattern production, and over 75 percent was not produced at all. Statements concerning reductions and overdue amounts relating to regular annual quota production can be traced down to the year 1595 . It is thus not the case, as most historians have repeatedly asserted,66 that the regular annual quota production was continued year after year and exacted from the provinces and districts without regard for production capacity and raw material supply.

3.2. Pattern Production

The defect of the official annual quota production system lay in its inherent inflexibility. This foresta lled the possibil ity of reacting quickly to changing requirements. Moreover, as the founding em­peror seems to have been personally the most modest and thrifty of all Ming rulers, his annual quota production guidelines created problems concerning the extent to which hi s successors' needs could be met. The expansion of pattern production within the budgetary framework of annual quota production can thus be seen as an attempt to solve this dilemma while still adhering to the founding emperor's guidelines. The Da Ming huidian [Collected

65 Dagmar Schafer ( 1998), pp. 160- 162. 66 Fan Jinmin ( 1995), p. 120.

36 3. The Production Categories of the Regional Workshops

Statutes of the Great Ming Dynasty] defines this kind of produc­tion as follows:

"in districts such as Suzhou and Hangzhou there were ... Weaving and Dyeing Workshops. Fixed quotas existed for annual production and delivery to the capital. The quotas also included silks with tramformed weaving patterns (gaizhi r..~M!\), the patterns of which were transmitted downward by imperial order. Originally this was not addi-. I l d . '~7 twna . arc. er pro uctwn.

The transformation of annual quota production into pattern pro­duction meant not only a change in the type of product but above all a change of function. The original task of the Regional Weav­ing and Dyeing Workshops was to meet the need for silk goods for tribute (shangci 1~tl~) and commendations (gongshang {~t~ ) . Now, however, by taking over pattern production the workshops were to produce goods for imperial use (shant,ryong 1J8) and ritual requirements (gongyong 1:JU11) in order to alleviate supply shortages in these areas. Due to the fact that the pattern production was originally planned to be financed from the budget of the an­nual quota production it really cou ld be considered as a kind of transformed production. By devi sing and implementing the cate­gory of pattern production the otlicials in charge intended to adjust the annual quota production system along the given lines to the new economic necessities which resulted from the imperial orders for new patterns. Thus, the pattern production helped to make the annual quota production more flexible.

What quotas applied in the case of pattern production? The first documented transformation of annual quota production into pat­tern production can be dated to 1459. On that occasion 300 bolts

67 Da Ming huidian, voi.S, j .20 I :2703 ( I a).

3.2. Pattern Production 37

of chou t.J~ -silk, which Yangzhou :f~'l+l had to deliver as part of the annual quota production, were converted into pattern produc­tion in the form of I 00 bolts of zhusi ~'T.tE~ -satin fabrics. The quantities of raw materials involved were roughly similar. This indicates that, at first, pattern production quantities were estab­li shed on the basis of the raw materials available, and not accord­ing to the number of silk bolts required.

In 1488, when supply shortages of silk bolts for ritual require­ments (gont,ryong) and for presents and tributary gifts (shangci) arose, emperor Xiaozong ~~~ (r. 1488-1505) gave the order that the subprefectural or district administration should receive the anmml allotments (suipai }~1-*) of silk material. At the same time they should be entrusted with the task of transforming the annual quota production into the pattern production of multi-coloured zhusi #r}'.t%~ -satin, sha f.& -gauze, luo ~j'fi -crossed-warp gauze, ling ~ -twill damask, and chou f.J,~ -fabrics, amounting to some 55,500 bo lts. Recalling that the annual quota production of all districts together totalled only between 35 ,436 and 35,535 bolts, it becomes clear that the established output guidelines were no longer adhered to. In fact, this particular case involved not only the transformation of the annual quota production into pattern production, but al so a combination of annual quota production and additional order pro­duction. The term pattern production was used simply due to the fact that the emperor gave the order for production to be entrusted to the districts, for the regular am1llal quota production to be held in abeyance, and for the raw materials intended for the latter to be used for pattern production instead. The extra material s needed were paid for and supplied to the districts by imperial order, just as in the case of the additional quota production.68

68 Da Ming huidian, voi.S , j.20 I :2708 (I I ab).

38 3. The Production Categories of the Regional Workshops

Likewise, in a later order for pattern production dating from 1526 the quantities manufactured were determined not by the number of

silk bolts required but by the , amount of raw materials needed for the originally envisaged annual quota production".69 Only after

1572 did the number of si lk bolts set for the annual quota produc­tion al so become a determining factor in the quantities manufac­

tured tor pattern production. Until that year the emperor and his immediate administration managed to accommodate pattern pro­

duction within the establi shed framework of mmual quota produc­tion . In thi s way, without violating ancient guidelines, a consider­

able increase in working materials, man-hours and the production of silk fabrics was attained; at the same time, the problem of addi­tional finance was simply shifted onto the provinces and districts.

The regional workshops also faced an extra burden in the form of

the increased size of the silk bolts. The Ming dynasty 's founding

emperor had already laid down the dimensions of silk bolts manu­factured for imperial and ritual requirements in the course of pat­

tern production. 70 However, in the reign periodjiajing j~rBI~ ( 1522-

1566) the length of each silk bolt was newly set at 11 .9 m and the

width at '68 cm. Thus, all the silk bolts manufactured for pattern

production requirements now had to conform to these dimensions,

resulting in an extra work load for the workshops. Compared with

the workload needed for the annual quota production, this meant

an increase of L 7 percent in terms of the length of each silk bolt, and of 14 percent in terms of width.

As the pattern production quotas were no longer gauged according

to the regular S1J.pplies of raw materials, production costs rose greatly compared with those entailed by annual quota production.

In fact , as a result of thi s, pattern production really became another kind of additional order production, since the Regional Silk Weav­

ing and Dyeing Workshops could no longer meet the increased

69 Du Ming huidian, vol.5 , j .20 I :2708 ( I I ab).

70 Ming huidian, j . l61 :7b.

3.3. Add itional Order Production 39

demands: Additional money and raw materials thus had to be pro­vided as in the case of additional order production.

3.3. Additional Order Production

Additional order production (jiapai )Jl1 1J&) was the term used dur­ing the Ming dynasty to denote the production of all those goods ordered by the Inner Court which, in terms of quantity and quality, went beyond the framework defined by the quotas laid down in the statutes. 71 As shown by the above description of pattern produc­tion, this arrangement was flexible inasmuch as no particular quota and quality of fabric was regarded as binding. 72

Tables 3 and 4 attempt to give an overview of additional order production, in particular the orders issued , the reductions effected, and the extent to which the orders were fulfi lled. By comparing the data one can approximately arrive at the actual level of produc­tion for a given period. lt should be noted , however, that additional order reductions were not necessarily permanent, i.e. the origina l quota level could be restored without this being explicitly men­tioned. The statistics have been divided into two periods, pre-1573 (Tab le 3) and post-1573 (Table 4), to permit an assessment of whether the reign period wanli ( 1573-1 6 19) indeed did mark the quantitative high po int ofMing era silk production.

7 1 Da Ming huidian, vo1.5,j.20 1 :2703 ( la). 72 T he boundaries between the var ious types of production are by no

means as c lear as, for instance, Fan Jinmin asserts; Fan Jinmin ( 1995), p. 11 5.

Table 3 Additional Order Production until1573t

!Year Time of Requested Approved Workshop Usage I approval amount amount

(year) (bolts! (bolts) 1425 1425 9,0UO 4,500 5 districts Emperor/

Ritual 1446 1446 9,000 9,000 " " 1457 1462 34,700 24,700 " " 1457 1460 7,000 7,000 " " 1462 1462 s. tianshun 1 10,000 " " 1462 1462 935 dun 935 dun Nanjing Tribute 1463 1463 7,000 7,000 5 districts I 1494 1494 5,000jian 5,000jian Nanjing Commendation 1494 1500 I 84,760 5 districts Ritual 1499 1499 I 1,500 " Inner Court 1500 1500 6,000 6,000 " Emperor 1503 1503* 110,000 55,000 " "

1506 1506 24,760 8,250 " I

Source (title, chap. , page)

Xuanzong shilu, 7:1739 (4a)

Yingzong shilu, 147:3093 (2a-b) Yingzong shilu, 339:4097 (4a) Yingzong shilu, 316:4020 (4a) Yingzong shilu, 339:4097 (4a) Yingzong shilu, 341:4102 (3a) Yingzong shilu, 339:4097 (4a) Xiaozong shilu, 25:5582 (4a-b) Xiaozong shilu, 161:6171 (6a-7b) Xiaozong shilu, 158:6150 (2a-b) Xiaozong shilu, 170:6213 (8b) Xiaozong shilu, 197:6350 (5b), 200:6366 (la) Wuzong shilu, 13 :6621 (8b-9a)

.I>.

~

::f (1;

"'0 0 0.. u g· ("')

'" n ~ et• <r.

c .., :;. (1;

:;:;; n

(JC c;· ::l

::?.. ~ c

* ~ 0 -o V:

(continued)

Year Time of Requested approval amount (year) (bolts)

1508 1508 I

1516 1516 I

1544 1544 I

1545 1545 I

1551 1551 I

1553 1553 I

1567 1568 I

1568 1568 I

1568 1569 I

1569 1569 I

1570 1570 I

-' see the notes on the page 33.

Approved Workshop Usage amount (bolts)

17,400 Nanjing " 5 districts

16,700 5 districts "

I " I

I " Ritual

86,300 " " 30,150 chi " " Four cases Nanjing Court/Tribute/ Sihan 5 districts Commendation

I " " 1,600 5 districts "

1,860 " " 10,000 Nanj ing I

Source (title, chap., page)

Wuzong shilu, 45:6780 (8a-9b)

Wuzong shilu, 138:7200 (lb)

Shizong shilu, 285:8849 (1 b)

Shizong shilu, 297:8887 (la)

Shizongshilu, 378:9151 (Sa)

Shizong shilu, 406:9244 (2ab)

Muzong shilu, 18:9884 (2b ); 20:9901 (lOb); 21:9904 (4a)

Muzong shilu , 21:9904 ( 4a)

Muzong shilu, 29:9954 (12a-b)

Muzong shilu, 29:9954 (12a)

Wujiang xianzhi, j .11 , Yanshan tang bieji, j.3

w . ..., > 0.. 0..

c· ::l

c a.. ~ -o a 0.. u c;· ::l

..,.

Table 4 Additional Order Production in the Reign Period wanli (1573-1620) t ,First Time of Re- Approved Quantity Workshop Source (chapter: page) I official approval quested amount delivered request (wanli) amount (bolts) (bolts) (wanli) (bolts)

157S (3) 1576(4) S8,766 S6,366 56,366 Nanjing Shenzong shilu, 42:10432 (Sa/b), 48:10472 (12a), Zhou Zhongmin zoushu, 1:46

1S7S (3) 1S76 (4) 97.940 97,940 97,940 Nanjing, Shenzong shilu, 42:10432 S districts (Sa/b), 48:10472 (12a),

Zhou Zhongmin zoushu, 2:1-8b.

1S76(4) 1S9S 2,840 2,SOO Shaanxi Shenmiao liuzhong zoushu (23) luchou luchou huiyao, 1

1S76(4) 1S76 (4) S9,360 29,680 16,347 S districts Shenzong shilu, 116: 10742 (3a-b), 47S: 124S3 (2a)

1S79 (7) 1S87 72,800 36,400 36,400 Nanjing, %enzong shilu, (lS) S districts 121:10761 (7a!b),

- ---

Annotation

Reduction of 2,400 pi

I

1618 13.333 pi still missing

In 1S 8 7 reduced by half

..,. N

w ...., ::;,-

"' -o a 0.

~ c; · ::l

(") ~

"' (TO 0 .., ~· Vl

0 ..... ::;,­

" ;;:;:l (";

q:: . 0

~

~ s * <r. :r e u <r.

(continued)

First Time of Re- Approved official approval quested amount request (wanl i) amount (bolts) (wanli) (bolts)

1581 (9) 1582 146,100 146,160 (10)

1582 1582 107,495 ?

(10) (I 0)

1582 1595 ea. 4,800 ea. 4,800 (10) (23) luchou luchou

1585 1586 4,320 /it 4,320fit (13) (14)

; 1587 1587 127,315 84,877 (15) (15)

1587 1589 2,400 2,400 ( 15) (17) luchou luchou

- --

Quantity Workshop delivered (bolts)

136,160 5 districts

? 5 districts

4,500 Shaanxi luchou

4,320fit Suzhou

84,877 5 districts

? Shaanxi

Source (chapter: page)

Shenzong shilu, 121:10761 (7ab), 172:10975 (3b)

Shenzong shilu, 121:10761 (7ab)

Shenmiao liuzhong zoushu huiyao, 1

Shenzong shilu, 172:10975 (3b), 173:10986 (3a)

Shenzong shilu, 187:1 1070 (6a-7b)

Shenmiao liuzhong zoushu huiyao, 1

Annotation

Reduction of about 10,000 pi notuntil1586

w w >-0. 0.

Q. §_ 0 2. ~ :0 0 c..

~ g·

.!>. w

(cominued)

First Time of Re- Approved official approval quested amount request (wanli) amount (bolts) (wanli) (bolts)

,1589 1589 5,000 5,000 (17) (17) luchou luchou 1589 1589 600 600 (17) (17) mang- mang-

dragon dragon

1595 1595 13,800 13,800 (23) (23) luchou luchou 1595 1607 20,000 20,000 (23) (35)

1599 16 10 41,900 I (27) (38)

1600 1600 37,000 37,000 (28) (28)

-

Quantity Workshop Source (chapter: page) delivered (bolts)

I Shaanxi Shenmiao liuzhong zoushu huiyao, 1

600 Shaanxi Shenmiao liuzhong zoushu mang- huiyao, 1 dragon

I Shaanxi Shenmiao liuzhong zoushu huiyao, 1

? Zhejiang, Shenzong shilu, Nanjing 431:12246 (la)

I 5 districts Shenzong shilu, 475:12453 (2a-3a)

20,000 Zhejiang Shenzong shilu, 11852:53

Annotation

In 1612 only 33,000 pi were delivered

""" """

w

;; (;

-o a 0..

[ c;· :::> (") ~

5

~ o· "' 0

;;; ;;:.:1 n ~ c;·

:::> ~

~ s * V> g--o "'

(continued)

First Time of Re- Approved official approval quested amount request (wanli) amount (bolts) (wanli) (bolts)

1604 1610 26,000 26,000 (32) (38)

1605 1605 9,600fit 9,600fit (33) (33) 16,000 16,000

taopi taopi

1610 1610 40,000 26,660 (38) (38) luo-silk luo-silk

16 11 1611 43 ,390 43 ,390 (39) (39)

' see the notes on the page 33.

Quantity Workshop delivered (bolts)

I 5 districts

9,600 fit Zhejiang, 16,000 Nanjing taopi

26,660 5 districts luo-silk

I 5 districts, Shaanxi

Source (chapter: page)

Shenzong shilu, 475:12453 (3a)

Shenzong shilu, 405: 12002-3 (4b-5a)

Shenzong shilu, 475: 12453 (3a)

Shenzong shilu , 489:1251511 6 (la-2b)

Annotation

i w w

:J> 0.. 0..

c· :::l

"" 0 2.. ~ :0 c 0..

~ a· :::l

.,. v.

46 3. The Production Categories of the Regional Workshops

Analys is of the official documents concerning additional order production shows that the responsible officials were well informed of the conditions and di ffic ulties of this kind of production. Thus, they did not make unrealistic demands on the productive capacities of their workshops but tried to obtain concessions from the em­peror involving temporary reductions in orders, or, alternatively, delayed order fulfilments; also they tried by other means to cir­cumvent imperial directives.73

The majority of the additional order production had to be tackled by the Regional Silk Weaving and Dyeing Workshops of the five di stricts of Suzhou, Songjiang, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou. The lirst add itional order production which those tive di stricts had to fulfi l was originally for a total of 9,000 silk bolts . They were intended to cover the requirements of the Inner Court. After some debate the amo unt was reduced by one-half, to 4,500 bolts. The defin iti ve order was issued in the 8th month of the year 1425. 74

The Inner Weaving and Dyeing Service at Nanjing was rarely in­vo lved in additi onal order production, since orders directed to this office were classi fi ed not as additi onal order production but as regular assignment production. However, when one considers that, after 1522, the production output of the Nanjing Inner Service in­creased from an initial average of 2,500 bolts to over twice that amount/ 5 the size of the add itional workload becomes evident. ft should also be noted that for some of the additional orders issued

7.1 Shizong shilu, vo1.8, j.34:7677 (3b-6a); j .93 :7995 (2b-3a); vol.9 ,

j .297:8887 ( I ab); Shenzong shilu, vol. I I, j.48: I 0655 . 7~ Xuanzong shilu 'Li ~d:nH< [Veritable Records from the Reign of the

Emperor Xuanzong (1425-1435)] of 1438 by Yang Shiqi +~ 1-:f:Q·· and

Ya ng Rong {1,}~ et al., vo l. 3 , j . 7: 1739:4a. 75 Ming Nanjing chejiasi zhizhang, j . l9-2 1.

3.3. Additional Order Production 47

by the Inner Court no details as to quantities or fabric types have survived.76

The fulfilment of additional orders for complex-patterned fabrics caused major problems, as the costs rose disproportionately 111

comparison to those involved for regular production:

"The Minister (~f the MinisiiJI of Public Works (gongbu shangshu Ti4'1Hr!o B) Xu Guan1~bLf and others said: '[ . .] Today the districts of Suzhou, Hangzhou and others were additionally entrusted with the production of multi-coloured patterns (gese huayang 1'1-51'-t:t'R) totalling over 1,500 bolts. The value of each bolt amounts to 40 to 50 silver liang ~~. If the number of original and artistic patterns is

h . ., h. h '"77 great, t rs entm s tg costs.

For comparison purposes: During the same period the value of a silk bolt with gold weave (zhfjin r.f&~) forming part of the regular

annual quota production was set at 3 hang 1>-1~ , 5 qian }1. The financing of the above order thus caused problems of a size which can be only imperfectly gauged from the number of silk bolts or­dered.

All commentators on Ming dynasty silk manufacture have empha­sized the exponential increase in additional order production. However, this emphasis needs to be put in perspective, as is shown by an additional order from the year 1576. In this case, the Inner

76 Wuzong shilu Jt~ *tttiJ< [Veritable Recordsfrom the Reign ofthe Em­peror Wuzong (1505-1521)] of 1525 by Fei Hong t'Y:'!i and Shi Yao

::£:1.14 et al. (vol. 7 of Ming shilu), j.l6:6642 ( 4a). 77 X iaozong shilu ?.Y:~f:'J3J~{ft [Veritable Recordsfi-omthe Reign ofEm­

peror Xiaozong (1487-1505)] of 1509 by Li Dongyang 4*1l~ (vol.6 of Ming shilu), j . 158:6 155 (6b).

48 3. The Production Categories of the Regional Workshops

Court ordered the regional workshops of the five districts of Suzhou, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou and Songjiang to deliver 59,360 bolts of silk. 78 Already in the previous year an additional order amounting to 97,940 bolts had been issued to those five re­gional workshops as well as to the Inner Weaving and Dyeing Service in Nanjing. 79 The extra additional order of 1576 thus pro­voked criticism on the part of the officials. Within a month the emperor had received several depositions from the Ministry of Public Works and the Supervising Secretaries and Censors (kedao *'I· ill) questioning the necessity of this latest order:

"Unce again additional orders Oiapai )JI/Y)~) amounting to 59,360 bolts are now to be issued to workshops below. At a rough estimate, money totalling 500,000 to 600,000 silver liang f>iAi will be needed for this. How are the regional (workshops} actually going to procure this [high sum]? You should answer the many requests of the officials and above all stop appointing eunuchs [to supervise weaving]. Furthermore [we ask fmj the amount of rare and extra­vagant gooc/.~· for imperial requirements to be reduced by one-half The [production/ of all further silk fabrics to cover requirements .for ritual silks (gonE:,ryong 1Jt!+J) and tributary gijis (shangyong 1't )IJ) should be held in abey­ance until the previously ordered woven gooc/.~· have been manufactured, and then discussed anew. "80 The emperor then replied: .. The strength of the people in the south-east is exhausted. /low could !, as emperor, not f eel pity and .~ympathy on this account? Nonetheless, in the case of goods .for the ritual requirements (gongyong {jUIJ) of the Inner Storehouse (nei chengyun ku i:l\J iJkillirll) supply shortages should by no means arise. Thus, I am having or-

?M Shenzong shilu, vo l. II , j .48: I 0472 ( 12a). 79 Shenzong shilu, vol. I I, j.42 : I 0432 (5ab ). 80

This sentence re fers to the additiona l order of 1575 amounting to 97,940 bo lts.

' 3.4. A Comparison o f Production Figures

ders issued to the effect that both imperial requirements (shangyong) and also ritual requirements (gongyong) should each be reduced by one-half In addition, an able and dependable eunuch should be chosen to supervise pro­duction. The re!>p onsible Ministry [for Public Works} should continue to see to it that the previously ordered number ofsilk bolts is produced as soon as possible. Deliv­eries to the capital should be speeded up so that quantities required for gijis j or commendation and tribute (gongshang l li· •l!l•) b d "HI '''.to.~. can e guarantee .

49

The lowering of production quotas for ritual requirements was never put into effect, as later accounts show. But additional orders for imperial requirements were reduced, as can be gauged from a statement by the eunuch Zhang Zuo §l~ 16: dating from 1581.82 It can thus be concluded that many o f the high additional orders were reduced, or were fultilled only in part or after a delay.

3.4. A Comparison ofProduction Figures

To judge from the sources, during the reign period hongzhi ~[jf::l ( 1488-1505) the annual quota production of silk fabrics delivered by the fi ve regional workshops in Jiangnan amounted to 35 ,436 bolts per year. Over these 17 years their annual quota production totalled 602,41 2 bolts. Even if one deducts from thi s fi gure the output produced in the regional workshops of Ji angx i, Shandong, Huguang and He' nan, thi s still leaves a regular annual quota pro­duction total of 495 ,890 bolts. [f one adds to that tigure the addi-

81 Shenzong shilu, vol. II , j .48: I 0472 ( 12a). 82 Shenzong shilu, vo l. II , j . ll6: I 074 1 ( 1 ab).

50 3. The Production Categories of the Regional Workshops

tional order production total of 147,260 bolts, this yields an overall production volume of 643,150 silk bolts plus 5,000 units (jian 1~:) of garment fabrics.

According to ot1icial figures, in the 18 years from 1573 to 1590 during the reign period wanli, a total of 516,312 bolts was to be produced and delivered to the capital by the regional workshops, i.e. 28,684 bolts per year, all manufactured as annual quota pro­duction. In fact, during these 18 years only 38,535 bolts reached the Imperial Storehouse as annual quota production. A further 88,052 bolts of the total number were manufactured as pattern production fabrics. In other words, annual quota production output fell by a total of 389,725 bolts. During the same 18-year period the regional workshops of the five districts received orders for addi­tional order production totalling 513,070 bolts plus 4,320 garment fabric combinations. In only two cases was the Inner Weaving and Dyeing Service in Nanjing also involved in production. It can be shown that during these 18 years only 479, 159 bolts (see Table 4) plus the 4,320 garment fabric combinations were delivered. lf one adds to thi s f-i gure the 38,535 annual quota production bolts and the 88,052 pattern production bolts manufactured during the same time-span, the total production of the regional silk workshops in co-operation with the Inner Weaving and Dyeing Service in Nan­jing amounts to 605,746 silk bolts plus 4,320 garment fabric com­binations.

If one compares the documen ted average total annual quota pro­duction figures for the hongzhi and wanli periods specified, one can see that during the former some 37,832 silk bolts were pro­duced every year, and during the latter "only" around 33 ,652. The extent to which pattern production and additional order production overlapped cannot be taken into account here, as the surviving ev idence is not always unambiguous. A further aggravation lies in the fact that the manufacture and delivery of additional order pro­duction often took several years; at the end of the reign period wanli ( 1620) several orders were still due for delivery. For the same reign period the sources indicate that in the majority of cases annual quo ta production gave way to additional order production.

3.4. A Comparison or Production Figures 51

Overall production was thus not only lower than has generally been assumed until now, it was also considerably more expensive, since additional order production almost completely replaced an­nual quota production. Thus, on the basis of the textual sources and the archaeological finds we can conclude that the reign period wanli indeed represents a qualitative, though hardly a quantitative, high point in the Chinese manufacture of silk fabrics.

4. Conclusions

It is often overlooked in assessments of silk manufacture produc­tivity during the Ming era that the raw material silk is an agricul­tural product. Thus, the amounts produced cannot be increased ad infinitum but depend on climatic, regional and biological factors. The officials of the time, too, repeatedly had to remind the em­peror of this whenever he or hi s advisers once again wished to go beyond the boundaries of the possible, which also meant aggravat­ing the burden shouldered by the populace and state.

In terms of both quality and quantity, the centre of silk production during the Ming dynasty was to be found - understandably- in the traditional areas of sericulture, silk manufacture and silk process­ing in Jiangnan, especially in Suzhou, Songjiang, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing.

To get an idea of the amounts of silk produced by the state­controlled silk workshops one should note that in the 17 years from 1488 to 1505, 643,150 silk bolts and 5,000 garments were produced. The silk bolts in themselves would have reached a length of more than 7,000 km and would have covered some 4.58 km 2 (in the wanli era 4.48 km 2

). In the half-century from 1522 to 1572 the Inner Weaving and Dyeing Service alone produced around 400,000 silk bolts, a total corresponding to an overall length of 4, 760 km (almost the length of the Yellow River, 4,875 km). The production of ritual silk delivered to the capital totalled on average I ,369 bolts per year, and towards the end of the reign period wanli in 1614 as many as 3,000 bolts.

54 4. Conclusions

In the view of histori ans the Ming dynasty featured a rather com­plicated system of state-owned workshops producing silk fabrics, garments and robes for the emperor, the empress, the members of the court, and for all other requirements which the court and state had to fu!Jil. To comply with demands the Ming dynasty estab­li shed a dual system of silk fabric production consisting of central state-owned silk workshops and regional silk workshops. They were in charge of producing the various types and qualities of silk products needed. The workshops based in the capitals were re­sponsible for producing silks and silk garments for imperial and ritual use. As far as state-run silk production in regional silk work­shops was concerned there were three types of production catego­ries employed for silk goods used as tributes and commendations: the annual quota production, the pal/ern production and the addi­tional order production. The three types were to guarantee not on ly that the basic needs of silk products were covered but also that special silk products could be produced on imperial order. Although there were considerable difficulties maintaining this type of organ isation there can be little doubt that it worked astonish­ingly we ll over several centuries.

Let us take a look at some of the quantities of silk fabrics produced by the system . The annua l quota production of the regional silk workshops was set at an average of 35 ,435 bolts. In 1425 addi­tional order production amounted to 4,500 bolts, but thi s total rose steadily, reaching the figure of 59,360 bolts by the year 1576. The reported fi gure tor the preceding year, 1575, is even larger: 97,950 bolts.

The handl ing of the system of pattern production and additional order production demanded from the officials in charge an ex­traordinary mental agility, administrative flexibility , and a consid­erab le knowledge of practical and technologica l aspects of silk weav ing, because nobody was allowed to alter or reform the origi­nal instructions given by the founding emperor of the dynasty. Thus as far as the production was concerned ingenious and clever patchwork became the dominant method when there was no other way but to continue production within the quota system. Or to put

4. Conclusions 55

it metaphorically: In the end the state-run silk production, which the founder of the Ming dynasty had originally designed as a "simple means of coping with tabby weave production" turned into a "complicated pattern" which required efficient organisation and permanent technical control in order to be produced.

As the above examination of the silk industry during the reign pe­riod wanli shows, the growth of additional order production did not entail an overall increase in production output, as annual quota production was correspondingly lowered.83 Although the total number of silk bolts produced remained roughly constant, the bolts were longer and broader in the wanli period than in earlier periods. Up to now, the two separate figures for annual quota production and additional order production were simply added together, re­sulting in misleading and highly inflated production tigures. To get a more realistic total figure they have to be balanced out against each other. It can be stated, therefore, that the number of silk bolts actually delivered during the wanli period was smaller than hitherto assumed. However, it is important to note that the quantities of high-grade silks produced grew exponentially, since the additional order production entailed a massive concentration on quality fabrics.

From today's perspective it is easy to assume that wrong decisions and misguided reactions on the part of the officials and the em­peror were responsible for the growing problems faced by state silk workshops in Ming dynasty China. Nonetheless, the actions of those involved rarely betray ignorance. Rather, political necessity or self-interest were the main determining factors. And after all , it was not always easy to mediate successfully between traditional norms and economic demands. Behind the discussions and com­plaints about mismanagement and wrong decision-making which are recorded in the official historical textual sources and which

83 Fan .I inmin ( 1995), p. 120.

56

reflect the difficult position of the officials running the si lk work­shops, a well-functioning and superbly organized manufacturing system geared towards efficiency can be detected. Judging by the output of silk fabrics it has to be conceded that the Ming dynasty officials had a surpris ingly professional commitment and a some­what " modern" productivity- and efficiency-oriented understand-. f' "lk d . 84 mg o . SI pro uct10n .

We may conclude that it was in fact not the officials who were responsible for the decline of the state-owned silk workshops, but rather the inherent structural weakness of the system of state-run silk production itself, whose outlines dated back to the 14th cen­tury: For by the end of the Ming era, that system was no longer strong enough to survive the collapse of the Ming dynasty un­scathed. So it would be idle to speculate as to whether a reformed system of production would have been able to keep up high pro­duction levels even during the ensuing period of political confu­sion. Nonetheless, the durability of the Ming dynasty silk produc­tion system, and al so of the craftsmen's know-how, is refl ected in the fact that immediate ly after the change of dynasties - following a politica lly occasioned interruption fi·om 1628 to 1645 - regional silk workshops were aga in set up and able to begin production straightaway. Now, however, the organisers wisely refi"ained from linking output levels to fi xed annual production quotas.

K4 We are re fe rring to the definition of " modern" economy as it origi­

nated in the context of the Industrial Revolution, mainly driven by economic necess ities, questions of supply and demand, and the cir­cumstances of European capitalism. R. Bin Wong, "Chinese Under­standing of Economic Change : From Agrarian Empire to Industrial Soc iety", in Culture and Economy: The Shaping of Capitalism in Eastern Asia, edi ted by Timothy Brook and Hy V. Luong. (Ann Arbor, 1997), pp. 45-60. Haruo Shimada, "Same Game, Slightly Different Rules", Intersect (May 1993).

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Index

A Anqing ~).£! (ammal quota production) 30-31

8

Beijing gongbu zhiran suo

:lt :JT~ T fii~ ~JiX~ JYT 11 , 15

bolts of silk 28-29, 34-35, 37, 46 49-51 53-54 (- con-

' ' ' verted into money value) 32, (measures) 29, 38, ( - of ritual silk) 16, ( - of robe fab­rics) 13 , 14, 50, (reduction of production) 34-35 , 46

c Changzhou 'i'l't' 1+1 (annual quota production) 30-31

Chen Juanjuan IU!~Fl~i~ 6

Chichou 1lli1'!'1 (annual quota production) 30-31

chou t.JI~ 3 7

corruption 4

craftsmen 16, 24

D

Da Ming huidian -)( I~] -w- ~·~ 35-36

Dingling !-EIW 18

Directorate of Ceremonial

(silijian IIJ f~H~n 9

dragon robe 13 , 14

E

Emperor Shenzong fill )j~ (r. 1572-1620) 18

Emperor Taizong A~~~ (r. 1403-1424)9

Emperor Xiaozong q:;j-~ (r. 1488-1505) 37

eunuchs 9, 24,25,48,49

F

Fan Jinmin ~~~ [~ 4

Fujian fhiffi (annual quota production) 30-31

Fuzhou ftlHI·I (regional work­shop) 22

64

G

gaizao i.:-'11: ±& (pattern produc­tion) 9, 27, 35-39

gaochi tr~i J\5\(: (imperial ap­pointment patents) 13

gongshang w~ 1{ ( commenda­tions) 12, 36, 49

gongyong 1JU'fj (ritual re­quirements) 12, 16, 36, 37, 48

gont,ryong 0 FI-J (official use) 20

Guangdezhou J~;Hi&U·I·I (an­nual quota product ion) 30~3 1 (reg ional workshop) 22 '

guangsi YCJt~ 34

guanying zhizao 'i~\' :f~; k~,:,&Jii 2

gunji1 !J JM 15

H

l-langzhou .fJU+I 9, 36, (re­gional workshop) 22, 23, 29, 46, 47, 48,53

Hangzhou zhiran ju .fJU·IHf& ~)R] 24

He' nan 1nJ Ph (annual quota production) 30-31 , (regional workshop) 22, 49

hongwu 1Jtit reign period 8

hongzhi ')L, '(fl re ign period 49

Index

Huguang 1~~Wi~ (annual quota production) 30-3 1, (regional workshop) 49

Huizhou f;f~ j+l (annual quota production) 30-31 , (regional workshop) 22

1-Iuzhou WU+I (regional work­shop)22,29, 46, 48, 53

J • • • • 1 ! f -'·::J-· 0

0 juyzng ;r,;.-!f,=J re1gn penod 38

jiapai )Jl] Y)~ (additional order production) 9, 39-49

Jiangnan 1-0~1 23 , 49, 53

Jiangx i t CTITi (annual quota production) 30-31 , (regional workshop) 22, 49

Jl·a · 1.-11· ·. ~.: nn 111 g )Q; '-jU• (regional workshop) 22

Jiaxing ;:?r\· a"~ (regional work­shop)22, 23 , 29, 46, 48,53

j(lang H:lV% 18

.Ji ' nan ¥ftH(J (regional work­shop) 22

Jinhua ~it! (regional work­shop) 22

juan ~ii] 13, 14, 15, 16, (an­nual quota production) 30-3 1

K

kedao ~J..!-:11& 48

L

l . . b f(<l~ f(.-. $ I 5 twyuan o ,.lJK,.\f=J 1 n

ling fo.l~ 13, 30-31, 37

longpao ~f!Ai!!. 13, 14

looms (drawlooms) 13 , 14, 16,24

luo *it 13, 37, (shengping1uo) 30-31 , (xianluo) 30-31

M Ministry of Finance (hubu F -;~: 11) 8

Ministry of Public Works (gongbu ~ 1..: itl~) 8

N

Nanjing gongbu zhiran suo r~J J~C[ :A:I~ ~f& ~ f9r I I , I 5

Index

Nanjing gongying j!fang P~"J. :r~ ifl~J}.Q..\1):\V% 12, 17-19

Nanjing nei zhiran ju mJj( j:AJKf&~%} 11 , 13 , 48, 50, 53

Nanjing shenbo tang ~{J~f'i' I ' I ~L· 11 I d . . 1f1 '.[j'i~ , 6, (pro uctton ctr-cle) 17

Nanzhili rrJH$!~ 23,29

65

nei chengyun ku 11-.J i}'C;llli )I]i 48

neiju I*J )~ 11

Ningbo ·w):~J( (regional work­shop) 22

Ningguo 'i.tiWJ;\ (annual quota production) 30-31, (regional workshop) 22

p

paizao 1JLUli 9, 27

paizhi ¥JLU~'ti\ 1 0

Peng Zeyi l'1;¥l;1il ~~- 3

Piontek-Ma, Elke 5

Q

qianpai ~~ 1)~ I 0

Quanzhou )~ 'l+l (regional workshop) 22

Quzhou 1\1lU'l+l (regional workshop) 22

5

Saeki YCtichi i~~di' l i~f- 5

Santangelo, Paolo 5

sechou -~'l+l (annual quota production) 30-31

sha kJ> 13, 37

Shandong 111 * (ammal quota production) 30-31 , (regional workshop) 49

66

shangci 1ifltJ (tribute) 12, 36

shanggong 1:_ 1Jt (imperial supply) 13

shangyong J::. JlJ (imperial use) 12, 16, 49

Shanxi 1 Lr TLJ:I (annual quota production) 30-31 , (regional workshop) 22

Shaox'ing *<=1 9~~ (regional workshop) 22

shengpingluo ~1::. ~ ll f.Jti (annual quota production) 30-3 1

Sichuan 1111) il (annual quota production) 30-31, (regional workshop) 22

silk products converted into money va lue 32

Songjiang tz~iT quota production) (regiona l workshop) 29, 46, 48, 53

(annual

30-31 ' 22, 23 ,

state revenue (production of silks) 8

suipai J~iJ~ 37

suizao #j:Jji (annua l quota production) 9, 27, 28-35, (inflexibility) 34, 35

Sun Pei fJ~ ViPl 23

Suzhou fQ¥)+1 9, 36, quota production) (regional workshop) 29, 46, 47, 48, 53

(annual

30-31 ' 22, 23 ,

Index

Suzhou zhizao ju zhi f.a* ;HI K~Q mJ~;=JJ: 23

T

Taiping J.: .ii"L (annual quota production) 30-31

Taizhou ~HI (regional workshop) 22

twelve ins ignia (shi 'er zhang _,_ -- ~~) 15

w waiju :Yi' )i'c.] 11 , 15

wanli ;(lt lfif reign period 16, 28, 34, 39,50

Wang Ting I fti (1474-1544) 18

Wen Zhengming )(f~ lif:j (14 70-1559) 24

Wenzhou illrt'l+l (regional workshop) 22

Wu Changm ing 5R:if~ r!f:j 4

X

xianluo t.~~{li (annual quota production) 30-31

Xu Dixin fr!F~~ ;Jfr 4

Xu G uan 1~ J:l 4 7

y

Yangzhou f&l'l+l (annual quota production) 30-31,37

Y anzhou Jlli( HI (regional workshop) 22

yongle ik~ reign period 9, 23

z Zhang Zuo 5~1tr: 49

Zhejiang HJriT 23 , 29 (annual quota production) 30-31

zhengde i I~ 1ifH. reign period 28

Zhenjiang £JHI (annual quota production) 30-31, (regional workshop) 22, 23, 29

zhUin kf&1i>. 34, 47

h · · ~tti' t/LMjl· ' 11- )~' z zran zazao .JU .. ~1.1\::>K'J'Oa C.J

12, 20, 27,46

zhizuoju ~~)f.;j 12

zhiranju NttW:fr-D 12

zhou zhiran ju 'l+lki~~ )fi] 23 , 46

Zhu Yuanzhang *)l;J~i. 8, 35, 38, (laws) 20, (quota) 16, 28

Index

h . ~:'· ~;B 13 3 7 ( d Z USl ,,T nvJ~ , pro UC-

tion) 34, (annual quota pro­duction) 30-31, (pattern pro­duction) 37

67

Wiirzburger Sinologische Schriften edited by Dieter Kuhn

The Wiirzburger Sinologische Schr!ften series is published by Edition Forum in Heidelberg, Germany. (Address: Dr. Hans­Hermann Schmidt, Ed ition Forum. Bergheimer Str. 25 , 69011 Heidelberg, Germany, Tel. 06221 970880, Telefax 06221 970810).

The series was started in 1990 in order to publish sinological re­search results, works in progress, translations from Chinese, doc­toral dissertations and habilitations by present, former and associ­ated members of the Department for Cultural Studies of East and South Asia at the University of Wi.irzburg.

Dieter Kuhn, Die stummen Zeugen. Griiber tragen zur Elforschung der Geschichte Chinas bei./ The Mute Witnesses. Tombs Contribute to Studies in the History of China. Heidelberg 1990, 71 pp. , 18 figs, 3 maps (sold out)

Dieter Kuhn, Zur Entwick/ung der Webstuhltechnologie im a/ten China . Heidelberg 1990, 173 pp. , 80 figs . ISBN 3-927943-01-0. OM 11 2.--

Dieter Kuhn, Status und Ritus. Das China der Aristokraten von den Anfiingen bis zwu 10. Jahrhundert nach Christ us. Heidelberg 1991 ' 753 pp. , 28 maps, 53 figs ISBN 3-927943-03-7. OM 128.--

"Das Buch halt mehr als es verspricht. Es behandelt nicht nur die chinesische Oberschicht, die sich und ihre soziale Umwelt ,von den An fangen bis ins I 0. Jahrhundert nach Chri stus' in der Tat durch Status und Ritus definierte. Neben Kaisern und Kaiserinnen , Aristokraten, Generalen, Usurpatoren , Beamten, Gelehrten. Dichtern und Kautleuten dreht es s ich auch um Bauern, Handwerker, Monche, Einsied ler und Sklaven . Das Buch ist

70 Wlirzburger Sinologische Schriften

vielmehr, um es mit den einleitenden Worten des Autors zu sagen, "ein Entwurf fUr die Geschichte Chinas, in dem die politischen Ereignisse, die gesellschaftlichen Veranderungen, die wirtschaft­liche Entwicklung und die geistesgeschichtlichen Stromungen im Rahmen ihrer fiir das Gesamtverstandnis der Geschichte Chinas bedeutungsvo llen Wechselwirkung .. . dargestellt werden" (S.I5). Ein anspruchvolles Unterfangen- und es gelingt!"

Gudula Linck (Universitat Kiel), lnternationales Asienforum. Inter­national Quarterly for Asian Studies ( 1992).

Gerhard Mueller, Wohlwollen und Vertrauen. Die lnvestiturgesandt­scha(i von Chen Kan im Jahre 1534 vor dem Hintergrund der politischen und wirtschafilichen Beziehungen des Ming-Reiches zu den Ryzlkyt'i-Jnseln zwischen 13 74 und 1535. Heidelberg 1991 , 134 pp. ISBN 3-927943-02-9. DM 68.--

Dieter Kuhn, Helga Stahl, Annotated Bibliography to the Shike shiliao xinbian [New Edition of Historical Materials Carved on Stone]. l-l e idelberg 1991 , 283 pp. ISBN 3-927943-04-5. DM 98.--

This publication is a nrst bibliographical working tool to be used with the Shike shiliao xinbian. An effort to make accessible the vast body of stone inscriptions and works on stone inscriptions scattered in variou s collections and I ibraries resulted in the Shike shiliao xinbian by the Xinwenfeng Publication Co. Taibei , in the edition of 1977 (the 2nd edition of the first series was reprinted in 1982, 30 vols .), and 1979 (second series, 20 vols.), and 1986 (third series, 40 vol s. ) The three series cons ist of 90 volumes altogether containing some 1.030 collections of stone inscription s of various types. The ea rliest collections and compilations included date from the Song dynasty but most works are of later, some of recent ( 1980) origin. The greater part of the material was collected and composed in the Qing dynasty. A large number of rarities, difficult-to-find and hard­to-obtain works, and many otherwise not well known or unpublished manuscr ipts are included. The entries in the Annotated Bibliography to the Shike shiliao xinbian are arranged alphabeti­ca lly by title (including the Chinese characters), date of compilation (preface, foreword), name and dates of author or compi la tor, period of time and geographical region covered by the work, short com­ment on the contents, inclusion of the title in bibliographic cata­logues, edition or congshu used for the reprint. The name of persons of the Song, Liao, .I in , and Wei Qi dynasties whose complete ly transcribed epitaphs can be found in the series, are

WUrzburger Sinologische Schrillen 71

li sted in the order of appearance in the title ent1y. An alphabetically arranged li st of these persons as well as an index to the authors is supplied as well.

Rainer Holzer, Das Ch 'ien-fu fun des Wang Fu. Auj~·iitze und Betrachtungen eines Wel(fliichtigen. He idelberg 1992. ISBN 3-927943-05-3 , 207 pp. DM 95.--

Dieter Kuhn (ed.) unter Mitarbeit von Silvia Fre iin Ebner von Eschenbach, Arbeitsmaterialien aus chinesischen Ausgrabungs­berichten (1988-1991) zu Griibern aus der Han- bis Tang-Zeit. Heidelberg 1992, 283 pp. , 91 figs. ISBN 3-927943-06-1. OM 138.--

Angela Schottenhanuner, Zufuj}gehen und Zubodenfallen. Liao Mosha und die Literaturkampagne zu Beginn der Kulturrevolution. He idelberg 1993, 79 pp. ISBN 3-927943-07-X. OM 58.--

lna Asim, ReligiiJse Landvertriige aus der Song-Zeit. He ide lberg 1993 , 244 pp. ISBN 3-927943-08-8. OM 120.--

In thi s volume the functions of land deeds (diquan, maidiquan, etc .), a funerary object frequently placed in tombs in the Eastern Han (A D 2 1-220) and Song dynast ies (960-1 279), are discussed . The text of the inscriptions contains a deed between the deities of the ne itherworld and the deceased, who is declared the new owner o f the plot of land occupied by the tomb. It was carved in stone, brick or a metal tableau usua lly made of lead or iron. Most of the deeds are of clearly re lig ious character, followin g a mode l given in the Dili xinshu (New Book on Geomancy) by Wang Zhu (997-1 057). Others show highly individual characteristics and were given to those deceased who by the lack of status as offic ia ls were not ent itled to receive an epitaph (muzhiming). This book i~ the only publication in a western language dealing comprehensive ly with the re lig ious and intellectua l background as we ll as the archaeologica l documentation of thi s burial object . It gives transla­tions of more than 30 examples of archaeologically excavated tomb contracts .

Dieter Kuhn (ed .), Burial in Song China. He idelberg 1994, 370 pp, 2

maps, 53 fi gs . ISBN 3-927943-09-6. OM 138.--

This vo lume includes five contributio ns documenting some results of an research proj ect investigating the archaeological ev idence of tombs from Song, Liao, and J in periods. The processing of the archaeo logical materi a l, rec iproca l in respect of method, and

72 Wlirzburger S inologischc Schriflen

comp lementary in respect of substance, taken together with the tombs, their associated artefacts and the epitaphs, as well as the land purchase deeds and other documentary evidence obta ined in a geographically, historically and socially definable framework, have opened up hitherto unrecognised historical links and have provided a new perception of, and thus a fresh approach to , the cu ltural history of China . Thi s approach on the basis of archaeological materials and contemporary printed sources has not only facilitated assignment of these tombs and graves to members of given groups of the Song elite but has also helped to provide insight into the understanding of burial in Song times generally. The investigation s have revealed that the hi story of China, even in one of the most traditi~nal fields of Chinese culture, ancestor worship and burial cult, did not in any way stagnate, but was subject to steady change and further development in the sense of historical continu ity. The volume inc ludes contributions to the main topics of the project: "Decoding Tombs of the Song Elite" by Dieter Kuhn, "Su Shi's Orthodox Burials: Interconnected Double Chamber Tombs in S ichuan" by 1-lelga Stahl, "Public Graveyards of the Song Dynasty" by S ilvia Freiin Ebner von Eschenbach, "Characteristics of Song Epitaphs" by Angela Schottenhammer, and "Status Symbol and In surance Policy: Song Land Deeds for the Afterlife" by lna As im.

"This vo lume opens up a new field: the arch itectura l and soc ial his tory of graves. The notes are a model of throrough scholarship ... " Yalerie 1-lansen (Ya le Un iversity), Revue Bib liographique de Sinologie ( 1995)

Angela Schottenhammer, Grabinschrifien in der Song-Dynastie. 1-leidelberg 1995 , 214 pp. ISBN 3-927943- 1 0-X. DM 128.--

Dieter Kuhn (ed.) unter Mitarbeit von lna Asim, Beamtentum und Wirtscha.fispolitik in der Song-Dynastie . Heidelberg 1995, 368 pp. ISBN 3-927943- 1 1-8. DM 138.--

Die in sgesamt sechs Beitr~ige behandeln verschiedene Aspekte des Beamtentums und der mit ihm verbundenen Wirtschaftspolitik in der Song-Zeit. Der Band beinhaltet Aufsatze i.iber "Grabinschriften ei ner Famil ie aus der Nordlichen Song-Zeit al s historische Quel len" (He lga Stahl), "Die Legitimation der Beamten in der Song­Dynastie" (Dagmar Schafer), "Die korperliche Dienstleistung in der Song-Ze it" (Christiane Reinhold), "Das System von Teetransp011 und -vertri eb in de r Nordlichen Song-Dynastie (960-1126)" (Reinhold Kreife lts), "Das Schiffahrtsamt in der Song-Zeit" (lnes

Wlirzburger Sinologischc Schrillcn 73

Hennevogl) und "Theorien liber das Papierge ld in der Song-Zeit"

(Eike Pio ntek) .

He lga Stahl , Gri:iber in Sichuan von der Tang- bis zur Song-Zeit:

Mdglichkeiten einer Regionalgeschichte anhand von

archi:iologischen Funden. He ide lberg 1995, 240 pp. , 22 figs. ISBN

3-927943-1 2-6 . DM 128.--

Throug hout the hi story o f C hina, the region of Ba and Shu, today

making up most o f S ichuan prov ince, played a cultura lly distinct

role. Inhabited large ly by non-Han people we ll in to Song times and

geographica lly an a lmost ideal region fo r secess io nists, S ichuan in

its hi sto ry was always e ither one of the first to leave the Chinese

state in times of internal tro uble and brea k-up or the last refu ge for

empero rs who had to fl ee the ir capi tal. T his ambiguous s ituation -

be ing we ll suited to secede from the empire and to save it - is

mirrored in various ti e lds, e.g. in the material culture of the region.

The re lative stability and prosperity enj oyed by the S ichuanese

under the re ign o f the Kingdoms of Shu in the I Oth century and the

harsh treatment the region suffered during its conquest by the Song

dynasty and well into the 11th century made many upper-class

Sichua nese concentrate on the ir own region, strengthening the loca l

e lite a nd weakening Song influence. T hose who did become S ng

o ffi c ial s like Su Shi were t~tr from giving up the ir background but

turned the tables: they took every effort to prove themse lves the

better Confuc ians. Tomb architecture and grave goods from the

Tang to the Song dynasties illustrates this ve ry well. S ichuanese

tombs until the end o f the Southern Song were and remained

markedly diffe rent fro m tombs in other parts o f China, in contrast

to the deve lopment in other parts of the Song empire continuing the

Tang traditio n of fairl y large to mbs. The funeral inscriptions give

furth er ev idence o f the S ichuanese view of things . This study brings

together the archaeologica l materia l on Sichuanese tombs from the

7th to the 13th century and w ith the he lp of these sources shows

new aspects of the hi story o f the region.

S il via Fre iin Ebner vo n Esc henbach, Die Sorge der Lebende11 um die

Toten. Thanatopraxis und Thanatologie in der Song-Zeit (960-

1279). He ide lberg 1995,475 pp . ISBN 3-927943- 13-4. DM 148 .--

Raimund T heodor Ko lb, Die ostas iatische Wanderheuschrecke und ihre

Bekiimpfung unter besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Ming- und

Qing-Dynastie (1368-1911). He idelberg 1996, 338 . pp, I co l.pl.

IS BN 3-927943- 14-2. DM 138.--

74 Wlirzburger S ino log ische Schriflen

With his work about the Oriental Migratory Locust (dongya fei­huang) Raimund Kolb provides the first comprehensive account in a western language of the devastating influence of this plague ani­mal in C hina. The book deserves attention by scho lars from different di sc iplines because it offers much more than the modest title promises. Aspects of the role of locusts in agriculture, plague control , prognostics, local religious cults, to mention just a few, are presented in their historical context. Based on contemporary ac ridological research the study analyses historical reports about locust plagues which date mainly from Ming and Qing dynasties and are backed up by a variety of data derived from sources dating back as far as the Shang dynasty ."

R~wue Bibliographique de S ino logie ( 1998).

" ... Ko lb begins his monograph ... with an introduction to the mod­ern c lass ificatio n of the species and subspec ies and of the biology of locusts in China before proceeding with an introduction to the historical Chinese sources on acridology and the "beet" of the book: an exhaustive hi story of pest control , "spiced" with trans la­tions of relevant passages from C hinese works espec ially from the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries... As a "dessert" the mid­nineteenth century Pu-huang t ' u-shuo, an illustrated guide to locust pest contro l, is repri nted in full as an appendix."

" ... a unique contribution in a European language to the history of the locust in China, the study of locusts, and pest contro l o f loc usts over the centuries. "

Hermann Re ichen bach, Archives of Natural History, 1997

Dieter Kuhn, A Place for the Dead. An Archaeological Documentary on Graves and Tombs of the Song Dynasty (960- 1 279) . Heide lberg 1996, XXX III & 478 pp, 122 ill. ISBN 3-927943-15-0. DM 158.-­foreword by Kwang-chih C hang, Harvard University

In a review of Diete r Kuhn 's Die Song-Dynastie (960 bis 12 79): Eine neue Gesellschqji im Spiegel ihrer Kultur (We inhe im, Acta Human iora VCH 1987) Conrad Schirokauer (Harvard Journal of As iatic Studies 49 ( 1989), S.673) expressed hi s wish: "One hopes that Kuhn w ill soon have occasion to publi sh hi s complete survey of Song tombs. "

T he archaeologica l documentary was published now. Regard ing the vast amount of archaeological material invo lved, it appeared

Wlirzbu rger S inologische Schriflen 75

necessary and justified to a rrange it accord ing to typo logica l categories of to mbs and graves so as to establish a framework of some re liability , espec ia lly as far as the tombs and graves excavated refl ect the soc ial c lass to which the ir occupan ts be lo nged. Thi s approach fac ilitated the ass ignment of the tombs and graves to members o f g iven gro ups of the Song era upper c lass. The research documents the fact that in the Song era the evo lution of Chinese buria l culture reached another unprecedented peak after the Zhou, Han and Tang times, w ith the ir ma inly ari stocratic tomb res idences. T he scho lar-offi c ials o f Song times championed the tombs of o ld, which in the ir opin ion had a s imple structure . O nly such s imple graves and tombs were tho ught to accord with the Confuc ian idea ls of s implici ty. Without doubt, the philosophical and at the same time ideo logica l perceptions of the Song scho lars and offic ia ls made the s imple tomb acceptable to members of the highly educated upper c lass and thus dec isive ly influenced the breakthrough of the s imple tomb structure which became the standard tomb of offi c ia ls in China afterwards.

" ... many of Dieter Kuhn ' s publications a re so thought-provoking and st imul ating because he successfully directs o ur mind to hitherto unexplored roads leading in to the past and opening up new hori zons. " Kwang-chih Chang (Harva rd Univers ity) .

Dieter Kuhn , Die Kunst des Grabbaus. Kuppelgrdber der Liao-Zeit (907-1125). He ide lberg 1997, 25 1 pp., I 05 figs, one map, one tab le ISBN 3-927943- 16-9 . OM 138.--

"Thi s work g ives a comprehensive typo logy of Liao e lite tomb architecture as derived from the examples of published excavations. Material instances of reference are re lated to wri tten sources whereever poss ible. The work is divided in to seven maj or chapters ... A map of a ll excavation s ites and a tab le o f a ll dome­shaped tombs referred to in the text round up this survey ... The author's study resul ts in a typo logy of Liao a ri stocrat ic tombs which emphas izes the characteri stics of Liao funerary customs, the ir deve lopment fi·om Tang forerunners, the ir variations in des ign, and the ir contrast to the new concept of the architectura lly less sophi st icated tombs of the ir Song e lite counterparts ."

Revue Bibliographique de S ino logie ( 1998).

76 Wiirzburga Sinologische Schriften

Dieter Kuhn, How the Qidan Reshaped the Tradition of the Chinese Dome-shaped Tomb. Heidelberg 1998, 67 pp. , 9 figs, 2 col.p1s.

ISBN 3-927943-18-5 . (so ld out)

Dagmar Schafer, Des Kaisers seidene Kleider. Staatliche Seiden­manufakturen in der Ming-Zeit (1368-1644). Heide lberg 1998, 235

pp. ISBN 3-927943-17-7. OM 128.--

The author presents a differentiate picture of the insti tutional

organization of the silk industry and attempts a reconstruct ion of

the economica l and material conditions of the offic ial prod uct ion.

Information derived from the offic ial sources, for in stance on the

target quota of s ilk production, are contrasted with reports and

petitions to the throne. These requests and appeal s by individual

offic ials revea l g limpses of the rea l conditions which were implied

in the s ilk production, such as insuffic ient de liveries, incorrect

amounts o f bolts of a spec ific fabric , bo lts that were detected as

being too light or show ing deficiencies in color or weav ing pattern

etc. Which workshop was entitl ed to produce which types of fabric,

for which purpose were they intended, and how many workers who

were e ither paid a sa lary from the official budget or who worked in

o rder to complete the ir corvee labor obligat ions were employed in

which workshop in the Ming dynasty : these are quest ions for which

the author managed to find answers. The volume is the first of

others to follow which result from a research project at the Inst itute

ofS ino logy, WUrzburg Univers ity.

Elke Piontek-Ma, Der Bericht von Sun Pei iiber die kaiserliche Seiden­manufaktur vun Suzhuu im 17 . .Jahrhundert. He ide lberg 1999, 24 1

pp. ISBN 3-927943- 19-3. OM 128.--

In the year 1668 Sun Pei conc luded his , Report on the (Imperial

S ilk-) Weav ing Workshops o f Suzhou' (Suzhou zhizaoju zhi)

which is the only extant comprehensive contemporary source on the

s ituation of a Jiangnan silk-weaving workshop in the seventeenth

centu ry. Based on Sun 's report as well as on sources such as

memoranda to the throne, loca l gazetteers, shilu-records, and other

official compilations the author takes the case of Suzhou to

illustrate the attempts of the Q ing court to rebuild and re-establish

the s ilk-weav ing workshops which had seen severe deterioration in

the end of the M in g. T hi s book is the second volume resulting from

a research proj ect dedicated to the analys is of the administrative

organi zat ion and the production process of s ilk-weav ing workshops

Wiirzburg..:r S in})!ogische Schrillen 77

in the Ming and Qing dynasties which was carried out at Wi.irzburg University under the supervis ion of Dieter Kuhn.

M ichael Leibold, Die handhabbare Welt: Der pragmatische Konfuzianismus Wang Tingxiangs (1474-1544). l-leidelberg 2001 , 295 pp. ISBN 3-927943-21-5 . DM 78.--

Dagmar Schafer, Dieter Kuhn , Weaving an Economic Pattern in Ming Times (1368-1644): The Production of Silk Weaves in the State­Owned Silk Workshops. 1-leidelberg: Edit ion Forum 2002, 67 pp. , I map, 4 tables. ISBN 3-927943-23-1.

e-book

Dieter Kuhn : Die Republik China von 1912 bis /937. Eine politische Ereignisgeschichte. [Republican China. A Narrative History of Po­litical Events.] 1-leidelberg: Ed ition Forum 2000, XIX & 649 pp. , 2 maps. ISBN 3-927943-20-7.

The e-book may be ordered from

lnstitut fi.ir Kulturwi ssenschaften Ost- und Siidasicns- S ino logie

Univers itat Wiirzburg

Am 1-lubland, Philosophiegeb~iude

D-97074 Wiirzburg

Germany

e-mai 1: dieter.kuhn@ mail.un i-wuerzburg.de

Published by Edition Forum

Dieter Kuhn, l-lelga Stahl (Hg.), Die Gegenwart des Altertums. Formen und Funktionen des Altertumsbezugs in den Hochkulturen der A/ten Welt . l-leidelberg 200 1, 545 pp. , 16 pis . ISBN 3-927943-22-3.

Mit chinawissenschaftlichen Beitragen von Jess ica Rawson, Susan N . Erickson, Ellen Johnston Laing, Lothar Ledderose, lna Asim, Craig C lunas, Dorothy Ko, Susan Naq uin , Dieter Kuhn.