How the Chinese Dynasty Ruled Millions With Paper | History To Sleep

Описание: This is how the Han dynasty governed through documents: household and land registration, grain and coin taxation, corvée labor rosters, granary accounting, courier networks, and inspection. Following the chain from villages up to counties, commanderies, and the central ministries, it shows how standardized paperwork and audits turned people, land, and supplies into usable state power—and how the system’s failure points appeared when registers, transport, and enforcement stopped matching conditions on the ground.

Sources & further reading :

Primary sources:
Hanshu (Book of Han / History of the Former Han) by Ban Gu — core source for Western Han institutions, offices, and state practices.

Hou Hanshu (Book of the Later Han) compiled by Fan Ye — core source for Eastern Han institutions and biographies (including the traditional account crediting Cai Lun with papermaking improvements).

Excavated documents and material evidence (bureaucracy “on the ground”)

Zhangjiashan Tomb no. 247 legal texts (Western Han) — critical evidence for statutes, procedures, and administrative practice.

Xuanquan postal relay station manuscripts (near Dunhuang) — excavated slips illuminating relay-station operations and state communications.

Juyan / Edsen-gol (Ejin) frontier wooden slips — administrative and military paperwork from garrison zones, showing routine record-keeping in practice.

Modern scholarship

Hans Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Times (Cambridge University Press, 1980).

Michael Loewe, The Government of the Qin and Han Empires, 221 BCE–220 CE (Hackett, 2006).

Mark Edward Lewis, The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han (Harvard University Press, 2009).

Denis Twitchett & Michael Loewe (eds.), The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 1: The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 BC–AD 220 (Cambridge University Press).

A. F. P. Hulsewé, Remnants of Ch’in Law (Brill, 1985; reissued editions exist) — foundational for early imperial legal-administrative rules and procedures.

-----------------Disclaimer----------------------
These videos are created with deep respect for history. I direct, write, and edit each piece, using AI tools as a creative partner for research, drafting, and visualization. The final narrative, structure, and fact-checking are guided by me.

The narration uses a digital recreation of a professional voice actor’s voice, and the visuals are artistic impressions created to capture historical atmosphere rather than exact reconstructions. While grounded in historical research, these stories are meant for reflection and relaxation, not as formal academic sources.

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