3 research outputs found
DIETARY CONDITIONS AND DIFFERENTIAL ACCESS TO FOOD RESOURCES AMONG THE VARIOUS CLASSES DURING THE HAN PERIOD
No full textIn this thesis, I study how food resources and dietary conditions were determined by social and economic status during the Han period in China, B.C. 206~A.D.220. Even though earlier scholars have published research concerning the Chinese food culture of this period, these studies were limited in that they only illustrated the dietary culture of the upper class or the available food resources in one geographic area. Also, without any persuasive data, it has been assumed by these earlier scholars that there were big differences in food resources and food consumption between the upper and lower classes. In this thesis, for comparison among the classes, I divide the social and economic classes into five stratified groups: nobles, officials, peasants, soldiers and convicts. After a brief introduction of the nature of each social class, I examine the food resources and nutritional condition of each group using information such as the wealth and income of each group, the market price of food resources, the agricultural products of peasants, and the amount of food distribution to soldiers and convicts. I found these data from archaeological remains, received historical records and pictorial data, and excavated texts. This research shows a broader view of Chinese dietary condition focusing not only on the variety of food resources of nobles, but also on the different food accessibilities among the officials, and the food deficiencies of peasants. It also deals with the situations of food supply for soldiers and convicts in an effort to reveal the true dietary consumption and nutritional conditions for all Chinese. This research proves that the various classes during the Han period in China had different food resources and dietary conditions
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Food Redistribution during China's Qin and Han Periods: Accordance and discordance among ideologies, policies, and their implementation
No full textThis dissertation analyzes the food redistribution systems of the Qin and Han periods, finding accordance and discordance among ideologies, policies, and their implementation. During the Qin and Han periods, food was given by the emperor to his subjects through various redistribution systems: salaries, rations, relief, gifts, and feasts. In chapters one to four, I introduce each form of food redistribution that directly or indirectly influenced food consumption and the dietary conditions of people of various statuses: officials, soldiers, elders, widows, victims of natural disaster, and convicts. Using recently excavated documents, received texts, and archaeological remains, I analyze what ancient Chinese people of various statuses experienced under the governmental food system, which pursued moral justification and political, social, and economic benefits both for the rulers and the ruled. The first chapter investigates the regulations on grain storage in the central and local governments, using the Shuihudi Qin legal texts. The "Statutes on Granaries" and the "Statutes on Food rations at Conveyance Stations" are compared to administrative documents from Liye and Xuanquan to prove that there were significant discrepancies between these statutes and the actual distribution of food. Chapter two examines the reconstructed salary list and the "Statutes on Bestowals" from Zhangjiashan to see how the idea of discriminatory distribution was reflected in the salary system of the Han and how the system was maintained in spite of the problem of too little salary for the lower officials. The military salary system, which was combined with the ration system, and imperial gift food are examined in the context of a solution to secure the food supply to military families on the frontier and to the lower salary-grade officials. Chapter three concerns the food distributed to commoners, especially those in distress or danger. This chapter analyzes the welfare food distributions for the aged, female heads-of-household, and victims of natural disaster. I suggest that comfort-food and relief-food policies were actually geared toward pursuing social stability by saving able-bodied peasants and preventing social mobility, rather than having been designed simply to demonstrate filial piety in an emergency situation. Chapter four deals with ancient Chinese feasting as a method of food redistribution. This chapter examines the two different styles of feasting, the yan Ñç feast and the pu áT feast, by applying current anthropological theories of feasts to the roles of ancient Chinese feasts. After theoretical examination, the economy of leftover food after ritualistic feasting is analyzed based on recently discovered documents from Liye. I argue that by using the leftovers and byproducts, the rulers fed people of inferior status who suffered from poor dietary conditions. The food redistribution system in early imperial China was ideally designed to benefit all people under heaven "equally" within the framework of the social hierarchy, meanwhile providing extra resources to those of lower status and to people in distress. However, the ideology of the regulations and their actual implementation were frequently out of sync, as laws were applied flexibly and human greed worked every possible step of food redistribution
