02 9 月 Liyi – The Administration Institution of Qin Shi Huang Di Tomb
The construction of the Qin Shi Huang Di tomb was a huge project with a long construction period and required a large number of manpower and material resources. In order to ensure the smooth development of the tomb construction project, the state of Qin set up a special administration institution called “Liyi”. The original name of Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum was “Lishan”, and its mausoleum was called “Lishan Garden”. The name “Liyi” is derived from the name of the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. In the Chinese dictionary, the original meaning of “Yi” is a capital city, and its extended meaning is also the name of an ancient administrative division.
The nature of Liyi is unique in that it was a special administration institution established for the tomb and served the Qin Shi Huang Di tomb construction, not a general name for an administrative division. Because of the inseparable relationship between Liyi and the Qin Shi Huang Di tomb, it was also considered an important part of the mausoleum system. The construction of the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor took 38 years, and at the most 720,000 people were employed. With so many people and such a long period of time, it was a very complicated and difficult system project to concentrate on the construction of the mausoleum, its supply of necessities, as well as the organization, management, market exchange, security, and so on. Under this specific historical background, the creation of the mausoleum came into being.
According to relevant data information and inscriptions on Qin wares, the date of the establishment of “Liyi” should be in the 16th year of Qin Shi Huang (231 B.C.). In the Records of the First Qin Emperor, the name “Liyi” is mentioned in the 35th year of the First Qin Emperor (212 BC). In the 35th year of Qin Shi Huang’s reign, “When 30000 people were relocated to Liyi and 50000 to Yunyang, they were all exempted from ten years of hard labor.” Move refers to migration. Most of the families who migrated were the notable families of six states who were defeated in the Qin unification war. Over the years, the pottery inscriptions unearthed in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang have also confirmed the existence of the “Liyi” system. For example, a remnant pottery plate is engraved with reads “Liyi, 2.5 Sheng, 8 Chu” and on the lid of another pottery vessel, the inscription reads “Liyi, 5 Dou, Cui”. The location of Liyi is not yet determined.
Archaeologists found a large area of the Qin building base site in Liuzhai village in Xinfeng Street, north of the Qin Shi Huang Di tomb, and unearthed bricks and tiles with the word “Lishi” written on them. It can be generally judged that this should be the location of Liyi. Before the Qin Dynasty, no imperial tombs were set up, the first emperor of Qin initiated the establishment of a tomb administration near the imperial tombs, and this practice was inherited by the Western Han Dynasty. For example, Liu Bang, the emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, was buried in Changling and set up Changling city; Anling of emperor Hui, set up Anling city; The baling of Emperor Wen set up Baling. The establishment of Lingyi, a special administrative institution, ensured the smooth and orderly construction progress of the mausoleum project.
