Chapter 2 Post in the Qin, Han and Wei-Jin Period

Section 1 Unification and Legislation of Post in the Qin Dynasty

With vast territory, the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C) set up enormous government organizations and took a series of important measures, such as constructing road and waterways, developing water transportation. unifying characters and transport vehicles, which consolidated the centralization of power, enforced the contact between central government and local administration, promoted further consolidation and development of post system.

After unifying China in 221 B.C, Qin Shihuang --the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty set up post delivery system all over the country with the capital as its center, ended the confusion of post communication of the Zhou Dynasty and made it develop toward6 centralization and unification. The organization regulation and communication style were getting standardized and systemized. The Han Dynasty carried on the Qin's system. All systems were getting more perfect.

Bamboo slips unearthed from Qin Tomb,
which was the decree on document delievery
in Qin Dynasty

In the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period, post system of each state was not unified. By the Qin Dynasty, the confusion of post system was ended, its communication system became standardized. The earliest post legislation of China was created. The "Post Delivery Law" of the Qin Dynasty is found by now to be the first decree about communication, which divided documents into urgent one and common one, for which there were different time requirements. Registration system of delivered documents was established to note the concrete time of document sending and receiving. It was required to report to the government if document was lost. On the bamboo slips unearthed from the Qin-tomb in Hubei Province, there is clear regulations on time requirements, register, personnel, remuneration and systems of rewards and punishments of document delivery. The important instructions and urgent documents issued by the Emperor should be delivered at once, while the non-urgent document should be sent within the day. Delay was Prohibited, anyone delayed would be punished. So in the Qin Dynasty there was a set of strict post system and the safety and rapidness were ensured by regulations.

Post system of the Qin Dynasty had such functions: (1)instruction delivery which included imperial edict, government document and instructions and announcement of local governments; (2)military instruction and information delivery, (3)reception of envoys and officials, providing accommodation. carriage and horse, and (4)government and military material transportation. The Qin Dynasty attached importance to post system. It put large amount of investment and materials in road constructing, post pavilion building and material providing and formed the regulations by legislation, which maintained communication network of the Qin Dynasty.

There were two kinds of communication forms: delivering documents successively along the route, such as announcement, document or delivering document to the destination, forwarding, no opening along the route, both of which were relay delivery. Delivery communication in the Qin Dynasty was very popular, with wide range. There were four main routes:(1)Northwest route;(2)Southwest coastal route;(3)Northeast route, and(4)Southeast route.

The vocabulary of communication in Pre-Qin period such as "Ri" "Ju" ''Zhi" disappeared in Qin Dynasty, while the delivery was still called "post" carrying on as the Zhou Dynasty. Meanwhile, in the Qin Dynasty, there appeared "post pavilion" which was established long main lines of communication to provide couriers with places of rest and changing carriages or horses.