Introduction: A Glimpse into Qin Dynasty Realities

Imagine being an ordinary “Shiwu” (commoner) living in Qianling County, Dongting Commandery around 220 BCE—what would daily life entail? The Qin Dynasty, often remembered for its legalist rigor and the First Emperor’s monumental projects, was also a world where survival depended on navigating harsh laws, natural dangers, and supernatural fears. Through excavated bamboo slips like the Liye Qin Slips, we uncover the struggles, superstitions, and surprising details of life in this ancient era.

Clothing Over Limbs: The Harsh Realities of Qin Law

In the Qin Dynasty, losing a limb was disturbingly common. The Qin Legal Code prescribed foot amputation for various offenses, yet clothing was treated as valuable property—almost on par with houses or livestock. The Fengzhenshi (a legal casebook) records thefts of garments, highlighting their importance. Unlike the dismissive adage in Romance of the Three Kingdoms (“Wives are like clothes, brothers like limbs”), Qin society might have reversed the sentiment: limbs were expendable, but clothing was not.

Nature’s Bounty and Perils: Hunting and Local Resources

Qianling, nestled in the forested Yangtze basin, teemed with wildlife and unique flora. The Liye Slips document local specialties like zhigou (Hovenia dulcis), a honey-flavored fruit used medicinally. Records from 214 BCE note a failed harvest, underscoring its economic role.

Hunting was both a livelihood and a duty. Slips mention quotas for rare feathers (e.g., white pheasant plumes), likely for ceremonial arrows or decor. Catching monkeys (yuan), however, required state-organized teams—their treetop agility made them nearly impossible to trap, as Zhuangzi poetically described.

The most perilous prey? Tigers. Pre-Qin texts like Mengzi and Shijing glorify tiger hunts, and the Qin state incentivized kills: one tiger earned a 1,000-cash reward or exemption from labor for six men. Liye Slips even detail tiger meat sales to officials, revealing a brisk trade in exotic game.

A World of Ghosts and Omens: Superstitions in Qianling

Historian Lü Simian noted that Qin remained steeped in “ghosts and numerology.” Natural disasters, war, and forced labor bred existential dread, channeled into elaborate spirit lore. The Jiejiu manuscript lists over a dozen ghosts—from “Thorn Ghosts” to “Hungry Ghosts”—and bizarre countermeasures:

– Shooting ghosts with peachwood bows.
– Throwing shoes (or even dog feces) at them.
– Surrounding homes with clay figurines while banging pots.

Qianling, influenced by Chu’s shamanistic culture, took this further. One slip reads like a military dispatch but is actually an exorcism chant: “Urgent! Ascend Mount Yi at once! Urgent urgent urgent!”—a precursor to the Daoist “Swiftly, by Imperial Decree!” Peachwood amulets, believed to repel spirits, were also found.

The Rishu (“Day Book”), a Qin-era almanac, dictated life’s minutiae:

– Farming: Avoid planting millet on Yin days.
– Marriage: Weddings on Xuxiu days bred jealous wives.
– Crime: Thieves born on Zi days were “sharp-mouthed with sparse beards.”

Even death had rules: burial on mismatched “Male/Female Days” prevented further family deaths.

Dubious Medicine and the Fear of Disease

While ghosts were battled fiercely, real illnesses like li (leprosy) terrified people. Diagnosed via symptoms like “no eyebrows” or “rotting hands,” sufferers were quarantined in li qiansuo—effectively left to die.

Medical slips reveal questionable remedies:

– Dysentery: Drink boiled rice water exclusively.
– “Damp-Heat” Fever: Consume worm-ridden peachwood boiled in wine.
– Abdominal Masses: Quench a hot sword in wine; women drink it in 12 doses.

Qianling’s “sickhouse” (si she) and physician Jing’s patient logs show early state healthcare—but also desperate pleas for “immortal herbs” tied to Qin Shi Huang’s obsession with longevity.

Legacy: Equality in Mortality

From the First Emperor (whose corpse famously traveled with rotting fish) to Qianling’s laborers, death was the great equalizer. Coffins were modest, and burial dates were meticulously chosen to avoid further calamity. The Liye Slips humanize the Qin beyond its terracotta grandeur, revealing a society where law, nature, and the supernatural intertwined in daily survival.

Through these fragments, we see not just a dynasty’s brutality, but the resilience—and quirks—of those who lived within it.