Empire by Replication: The Making of Measures during the Qin Dynasty

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New materials and new insights for our understanding of the First Emperor's Mausoleum and early imperial China" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

I will examine how the Qin empire (221-207 BC) established and maintained its rule over a vast expanse of territory by practices of replication, in which the making of measuring containers constituted the primary focus in my presentation, while other materials such as armors will be brought into consideration. One of the salient achievements of the Qin empire was the so-called unification of measurement systems, including lengths, volumes, and weights. Yet measurement systems and the technological methods employed to achieve accuracy and precision in ancient China have scarcely been explored in English-language scholarship. I hope to first investigate the material features of the containers in detail and explore the manufacturing techniques of making the containers. Whether this was achieved by a calculation of the volume of each container or the rapid replication of their models and/or molds constitutes our initial query. The containers were also useful tools for the purpose of propagandizing the establishment of the Empire. We will further investigate the means by which Qin bureaucrats cultivated an awareness of the Empire by widely distributing the standard containers and displaying the royal edicts inscribed on them.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• New materials and new insights for our understanding of the First Emperor's Mausoleum and early imperial China

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51010