Bureaus and Offices in Qin County-Level Administration (秦縣的列曹與諸官—— 從《洪範五行傳》一則佚文説起)

Abstract

A prominent feature of Qin county-level administrative organization displayed in the newly unearthed Liye Qin slips is the division between bureaus (cao 曹) and offices (guan 官). On this point, fruitful comparison may be made with a recompiled excerpt from the lost Hongfan wuxing zhuan (Great Plan Five Phases Commentary), where government agencies are named according to the sexagenary ganzhi 干支 “heavenly stems and earthly branches” cycle. During the Qin period, bureaus were already established in commanderies and counties, however it would be inappropriate to classify all subordinate functionaries together as members of just “the arrayed bureaus” (liecao 列曹), as they were actually assigned to both bureaus and offices. Moreover, the role that Scribe (shi 史) personnel played in the operation of these bureaus and offices is also striking. 里耶秦簡所見縣級組織的突出特點是曹、官之分。這與《洪範五行傳》一則干支名官的佚文，可以對應。秦代郡縣已設曹，且郡、縣屬吏分類不宜以“列曹”統攝曹、官。而曹、官運作背後，引人注目的則是史類吏員的活躍。