Abstract

Among the 190 articles in the so-called “Answers to questions about the Qin Laws/Statutes” (Falü dawen 法律答問) written on bamboo strips excavated from a tomb at Shuihudi in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, the one concerning Qin's citizenship particularly attracts my attention. It says: “What is the meaning of a ‘Xia child’? (A child born of a) father from a vassal state, and a Qin mother.” (可 [何] 謂夏子? 臣邦父、秦母 謂也). In this paper, I argue that this article, which is perhaps surprising in regard to the patriarchal mentality dominating the Chinese world, can be explained by the historical, political and military context of the Qin state in the 3rd Century B.C.E. and by its global strategy of infiltrating and “nibbling at” its protectorates.

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