1. See Loewe, Michael, “The Religious and Intellectual Background,” in The Cambridge History of China, vol. 1, The Ch'in and Han Empires, ed. Twitchett, Denis and Loewe, Michael (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 661–69Google Scholar.

2. Ban Gu 班固 (32–92 c.e.), Han shu 漢書 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1962), 56.2504, 64B.2811–12Google Scholar.

3. Tian Xudong 田旭東, “Cong Liye Qin jian ‘Ci Xiannong’ kan Qin de jisi huodong” 從里耶秦簡 “祠先農” 看秦的祭祀活動, in Liye gucheng: Qin jian yu Qin wenhua yanjiu 里耶古城: 秦簡與秦文化研究, ed. Zhongguo shehui kexue kaogu yanjiusuo, et al. (Beijing: Kexue, 2009), 214Google Scholar.

4. See Sima Qian 司馬遷 (c. 145–c. 86 b.c.e.), Shi ji 史記 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1959)Google Scholar, 28.1371; and Han shu, 25A.1206.

5. See Shi ji, 6.242, 6.260, 28.1367; Han shu, 25A.1202; for collected examples and discussion of these records, see Tian Tian 田天, “Qindai shan chuan jisi geju yanjiu” 秦代山川祭祀格局研究, Zhongguo lishi dili luncong 中國曆史地理論叢 26.2 (2011), 53–66Google Scholar.

6. Shi ji, 28.1367, 28.1377, 28.1397; Han shu, 25A.1202, 25A.1209, 25A.1234.

7. Shi ji, 88.2567.

8. Shi ji, 6.236. For later rulers' use of this term, see e.g. Shi ji, 28.1381; and Liu Xu 劉昫 (887–946 c.e.), Jiu Tang shu 舊唐書 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1975), 23.892Google Scholar.

9. Shi ji, 6.241, 6.266.

10. Shi ji, 6.266.

11. Shi ji, 6.266, 6.274, 28.1370; Han shu, 25A.1205.

12. Shi ji, 28.1377; Han shu, 25A.1209; official titles here and below translated following or with reference to Bielenstein, Hans, The Bureaucracy of Han Times (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980)Google Scholar.

13. The most famous Qin example is that of the general Bai Qi 白起 (d. 257 b.c.e.); see Shi ji, 73.2337.

14. There is some information of this sort for Han times; see e.g. Xie Yu 謝宇 and Dong Muda 董慕達 (Brown, Miranda), “Tiandi zhi jian: Donghan guanyuan de shuangchong zeren” 天地之間: 東漢官員的雙重責任, Shehui 社會 4 (2011)Google Scholar, 20 and passim.

15. See Sterckx, Roel, “Religious Practice in Qin and Han,” in China's Early Empires: A Re-appraisal, ed. Nylan, Michael and Loewe, Michael (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 415–29Google Scholar; and Sterckx, Roel, “The Economics of Religion in Warring States and Early Imperial China,” in Early Chinese Religion, Part 1, Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD), ed. Lagerwey, John and Kalinowski, Marc (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 862–64Google Scholar.

16. Shuihudi Qinmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu, ed., Shuihudi Qinmu zhujian 睡虎地秦墓竹簡 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1990) [hereafter Shuihudi], 99–100Google Scholar.

17. Shuihudi, 162–63.

18. See discussion in Giele, Enno, “Using Early Chinese Manuscripts as Historical Source Materials,” Monumenta Serica 51 (2003), 409–38Google Scholar; and Richter, Matthias L., The Embodied Text: Establishing Textual Identity in Early Chinese Manuscripts (Leiden: Brill, 2013)Google Scholar.

19. Graham, A.C., “The Nung-chia 農家 ‘School of the Tillers’ and the Origins of Peasant Utopianism in China,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 42 (1979), 68–69Google Scholar.

20. Lewis, Mark Edward, Sanctioned Violence in Early China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990), 177–79Google Scholar.

21. Cai Yong, “Du duan” 獨斷, in Cai Zhonglang ji 蔡中郎集 (Siku quanshu ed.), 1.13a.

22. Henricks, Robert G., “Fire and Rain: A Look at Shen Nung (the Divine Farmer) and His Ties with Yen Ti (the ‘Flaming Emperor’ or ‘Flaming God’),” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 61 (1998), 102–24, quote from 108CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23. See Ding Shan 丁山, Zhongguo gudai zongjiao yu shenhua kao 中國古代宗教與神話考 (Shanghai: Longmen, 1961), 13–30Google Scholar.

24. See Ouyang Xiu 歐陽脩 (1007–72 c.e.), Xin Tang shu 新唐書 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1975), 14.357Google Scholar.

25. Ji Yun 紀昀 (1724–1805 c.e.), et al., eds., Hanguan jiuyi erjuan buyi yijuan 漢官舊儀二卷補遺一卷, in Hanguan liuzhong 漢官六種 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1990)Google Scholar, 55; this fragment from commentary at Fan Ye 范曄 (398–445 c.e.), Hou Han shu 後漢書 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1965), 2.107–8Google Scholar.

26. Beijing daxue lishixi Lunheng zhushi xiaozu, Lunheng zhushi 論衡注釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1979), 727Google Scholar.

27. See discussion in Zhan Yinxin 詹鄞鑫, Shenling yu jisi—Zhongguo chuantong zongjiao zonglun 神靈與祭祀—中國傳統宗教綜論 (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji, 1992), 139–42Google Scholar; for discussion in the context of the Liye and Zhoujiatai materials, see Lü Yahu 呂亞虎, “Shilun Qin-Han shiqi de ci Xiannong xinyang” 試論秦漢時期的祠先農信仰, Jiangxi shifan daxue xuebao (zhexue shehui kexue ban) 江西師範大學學報(哲學社會科學版) 46.6 (2013), 109–10Google Scholar.

28. Zhou li zhu shu 周禮注疏, 33.495; this and all other references to the Thirteen Classics from Ruan Yuan 阮元 (1764–1849), ed., Shisanjing zhu shu 十三經注疏 (1815; rpt. Taipei: Yiwen, 2001)Google Scholar.

29. Li ji zhu shu 禮記注疏, 26. 500; Hanyu dacidian 漢語大辭典, s.v., “Xianse.”

30. From his monograph on ritual; see Hou Han shu, 3110.

31. Tian Xudong, “Cong Liye Qin jian,” 211–12.

32. Lüning, Cao, “Liye Qin jian ‘Cilü’ kaoshu” 里耶秦簡 “祠律” 考述, Shixue yuekan 史學月刊 8 (2008), 39Google Scholar.

33. Hu'nansheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo, et al. , “Hu'nan Longshan Liye Zhanguo – Qindai gucheng yihaojing fajue jianbao” 湖南省龍山里耶戰國 – 秦代古城一號井發掘簡報, Wenwu 2003.1, 4–35Google Scholar; see also Hu'nansheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo, et al. , “Xiangxi Liye Qindai jiandu xuanshi” 湘西里耶秦代簡牘選釋, Zhongguo lishi wenwu 中國歷史文物 1 (2003), 8–25Google Scholar; Hu'nansheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo, Liye fajue baogao 里耶發掘報告 (Changsha: Yuelu, 2007)Google Scholar.

34. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian zhong de ci Xiannong jian” 里耶秦簡中的祠先農簡 (paper presented at Disanjie jianbo xueshu taolunhui 弟三屆簡帛學術討論會 [Third seminar on paleography], Chinese Culture University 中國文化大學, Taiwan, 18–19 May 2005); Zhang's paper was available online at <nuhm.pccu.edu.tw/seminar2005/papers/11.htm >, accessed 17 February 2012, but subsequently removed; Chunlong, Zhang, “Liye Qin jian ci Xiannong, ci Yin he ci ti jiao quan” 里耶秦簡祠先農, 祠和祠隄校券, in Jianbo 簡帛, no. 2, ed. Wuhan daxue jianbo yanjiu zhongxin (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2007), 393–96Google Scholar.

35. Hu'nansheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo, ed., Liye Qin jian 里耶秦簡, vol. 1 (Beijing: Wenwu, 2012)Google Scholar. NB that the serial numbers Zhang uses do not match those in the volume; presumably there was some adjustment during the process of final compilation. The numbers I use are those from the volume where available; in all cases I will provide page citations from the relevant source.

36. Yates, Robin D.S., “The Qin Slips and Boards from Well No. 1, Liye, Hunan: A Brief Introduction to the Qin Qianling County Archives,” Early China 35–36 (2012–13), 318–22Google Scholar translates and discusses some examples of these.

37. Dates here and below converted according to Wang Shuanghuai 王雙懷 et al. , Zhonghua rili tongdian 中華日曆通典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi, 2006)Google Scholar.

38. As elsewhere in the Liye documents, here the word cang 倉, “granary,” is a shortened title for the person in charge of the granary; see Liu Lexian 劉樂賢, “Liye Qin jian he Kongjiapo Han jian zhong de zhiguan shengcheng” 里耶秦簡和孔家坡漢簡中的職官省稱, Wenwu 文物 2007.9, 93–96Google Scholar.

39. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 393, nos. (14) 639, 762; cf. also (14) 286. The word nong 農 in the name Xiannong in these texts is consistently written with the graph 辳, a familiar graphic variant. Here and below, I present transcribed texts in standard modern graphs. I translate the term zang 牂 as “ewe,” which is the definition in standard dictionaries such as Hanyu dacidian; this finds support in, e.g., the Mao 毛 commentary on the Shi 詩; see Mao shi zhengyi 毛詩正義, 15-3.527. Chunlong, Zhang, “Liye Qin jian zhong,” argues that zang 牂 means ram and not ewe, following Xu Shen 許慎 (d. c. 120), Shuowen jiezi 說文解字 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1963), 78Google Scholar.

40. Zuo zhuan zhu shu 左傳注疏, 45.787.

41. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 393, nos. (14) 656, (15) 434, and see also (13) 598.

42. Read, Bernard, Chinese Medicinal Plants from the Pen Tsʻao Kang Mu. A.D. 1596 (Taipei: Southern Materials Center, Inc., 1977), no. 752Google Scholar, says that shu 黍 is Panicum miliaceum L. var. glutinosa, glutious millet; on “processed millet,” see Hanyu dacidian, s.v., “shumi” 黍米; see also Shi Shenghan 石聲漢, ed., Qimin yaoshu jinshi 齊民要術今釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2009), 688–89Google Scholar.

43. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 393, no. (15) 493.

44. Li ji zhu shu, 27. 523; see also Zhou li zhu shu, 5. 73, in a different context.

45. As Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 393, does.

46. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 393, no. (14) 4. Here and below I use [/] to mark broken strips.

47. Here and below, an empty box ( □ ) indicates that the presence of a character is clear but that the character is illegible.

48. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 393, no. (15) 451.

49. Zhou li zhu shu, 6.90. Guyan 苦鹽 refers to salt produced by evaporation, which was in a coarsely granulated form; sanyan 散鹽, a form of sea salt, had finer granules; see Hanyu dacidian, s.v., “guyan” and “sanyan.”

50. Yili zhu shu 儀禮注疏, 42.498.

51. See above.

52. Hanyu da zidian 漢語大字典 transliterates the graph 冣 as ju and I follow it. The Taiwan Ministry of Education's online Yitizi zidian 異體字字典 also lists it as an alternate form of zui 最 (http://140.111.1.40/yitia/fra/fra00302.htm, accessed 20 July 2013).

53. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 394, nos. (14) 698, (15) 595, (14) 743; see also nos. (14) 650, (14) 652.

54. Jiang Feifei, “Jiandu shiliao yu zaoqi Zhonghua diguo lixing xingzheng – yi Liye Qin jian ‘si Xiannong’ jian wei li” 簡牘史料與早期中華帝國理性行政 – 以里耶秦簡“祀先農”簡為例 (unpublished paper), 10–12.

55. See Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 394; see nos. (14) 21 and (14) 23 for an example of a larger total reduced to one dou and the price for that listed; on the sheep's head and feet, see nos. (14) 300, (14) 764, and (14) 641.

56. The phrase zachu 雜出, “distribute together,” referring to more than one person jointly distributing things, occurs in the “Cang lü” 倉律 section of the Shuihudi statutes, where it clearly refers to multiple individuals working together; see Shuihudi, 27. In cases like these records from Liye, it is unclear why sometimes the phrase zachu is used and sometimes just chu—especially in cases like Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 394, nos. (14) 66 and (15) 480, which are two records of a single matter, one having zachu and the other chu.

57. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 394, nos. (14) 300, (14) 764.

58. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 394, no. (14) 641.

59. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 394, nos. (14) 649, (14) 679.

60. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 394, nos. (14) 675, (15) 490.

61. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 394, nos. (14) 654, (15) 480.

62. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 394, no. (14) 66; see also nos. (14) 719; and Liye Qin jian, 62, no. (8) 1166.

63. Zhilong, Shi, “Qin ‘ci Xiannong’ jian zaitan” 秦 “祠先農”簡再探, Jianbo 簡帛 5 (2010), 84Google Scholar.

64. Peng Hao 彭浩, “Du Liye ‘Ci Xiannong’ jian” 讀里耶“祠先農”簡, Chutu wenxian yanjiu 出土文獻研究 8 (2007), 21Google Scholar.

65. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 394, no. (13) 597.

66. E.g., Song Yanping 宋艷萍, “Cong Qin jian suojian ‘ji’ yu ‘ci’ kuixi Qindai diyu wenhua – Liye Qin jian ‘Ci Xiannong’ jian yinfa de sikao” 從秦簡所見 “祭”與 “祠”窺析秦代地域文化 – 里耶秦簡 “祠先農”簡引發的思考, in Liye gucheng: Qin jian yu Qin wenhua yanjiu 里耶古城: 秦簡與秦文化研究, ed. Zhongguo shehui kexue kaogu yanjiusuo, et al. (Beijing: Kexue, 2009), 27Google Scholar; Tian Xudong, “Cong Liye Qin jian,” 212–13; Peng Hao, “Du Liye ‘Ci Xiannong’ jian,” 20; Lü Yahu, “Shilun Qin-Han shiqi de ci Xiannong xinyang,” 107–8.

67. See e.g. Hanyu dacidian, s.v. “tailao”; additional references below; Bodde, Derk, Festivals in Classical China: New Year and Other Annual Observances during the Han Dynasty 206 B.C.–A.D. 220 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975)Google Scholar, 56, 265 and passim, mentions the tailao, which he calls the “greater sacrifice,” and the shaolao, his “lesser sacrifice”; he identifies both as sets of animals.

68. Mao shi zhengyi, 17-3.619; cf. Wang Yanhai 王延海, Shi jing jinzhu jinyi 詩經今注今譯 (Shijiazhuang: Hebei renmin, 2000), 687Google Scholar.

69. See e.g., Shuihudi, 140, 183, 196, etc.

70. Xu Shen, Shuowen jiezi, 29.

71. See the various and contradictory explanations gathered in Yu Xingwu 于省吾, ed., Jiagu wenzi gulin 甲骨文字詁林 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1999), 1504–17Google Scholar.

72. Yu Xingwu, Jiagu wenzi gulin, 1504–17; Yu Chenglong 于成龍, “Shang de jian xia, xia bude jian shang: Zhanguo Chu bushi qidao zhong de ‘kui shi li’” 上得兼下, 下不得僭上: 戰國楚卜筮祈禱簡中的 “饋食禮,” Zhongguo lishi wenwu 6 (2007), 58–60Google Scholar.

73. Li ji zhu shu, 12.245.

74. E.g., Zuo zhuan zhu shu, 35.599.

75. Yi li zhu shu, 47.557.

76. See Chen Qiyou 陳奇猷, ed., Lüshi chunqiu xin jiao shi 呂氏春秋新校釋 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2002), 63, 67n12Google Scholar.

77. Chun qiu Gongyang zhuan zhu shu 春秋公羊傳注疏, 5.59.

78. Zhou li zhu shu, 3.48.

79. Yi li zhu shu, 50.603.

80. Shanghai shifan daxue guji zhengli zu, ed., Guoyu 國語. (Taipei: Liren, 1981), 1.41Google Scholar.

81. Wang Pinzhen 王聘珍 (eighteenth century), ed., Da Dai liji jiegu 大戴禮記解詁 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1983), 5.101Google Scholar.

82. See also discussion in Yu Xingwu, Jiagu wenzi, 1504–17, which despite Yu's opinion really only shows how limited our understanding of lao is given the available information.

83. Yi, Zhao, Gaiyu congkao 陔餘叢考 (Shanghai: Shangwu, 1957), 56–57Google Scholar.

84. Yu Chenglong, “Shang de jian,” 59.

85. See e.g. Yu Xingwu, Jiagu wenzi, 1517, and others' opinions he includes at pages 1511 and 1514–15.

86. Li ji zhu shu, 5.98; the terms xiniu 犧牛, “plain ox”; feiniu 肥牛, “pure ox”; and suniu 索牛, “select ox,” are translated following Zheng Xuan's commentary there.

87. Shi ji, 28.1380; Han shu, 25A.1212.

88. This in his monograph on sacrificial offerings, which—like his other monographs—has been incorporated into Hou Han shu; see Hou Han shu, 3204.

89. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian ci Xiannong,” 396, no. (10) 1336.

90. E.g., Hanyu dazidian 漢語大字典; and the Taiwan Ministry of Education's online Yitizi zidian.

91. As Matthias Richter pointed out to me.

92. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 395.

93. Yan appears as a phonetic element in some graphs now pronounced yin (e.g., 圁, 誾), suggesting that the presence of the phonetic element yan in a character later pronounced yin is possible. However, in terms of phonology yan and yin were quite different; Axel Schuessler reconstructs ŋan and Ɂəm, respectively; see Schuessler, Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese: A Companion to Grammata Serica Recensa (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2009), 254, 362Google Scholar. In a personal communication dated 22 April 2012, Matthias Richter suggests that writing habits at the time may have contributed to graphic indeterminacy between the elements yan 言, found in yin , and yin 音, which occurs in yin 窨. Richter notes that the elements kou 口 and yue 曰, which differ by a single stroke, were sometimes written for each other as parts of complex characters in early manuscripts. He further points out that yin specifically was commonly written pou 咅 in Chu materials, a tendency that can still be seen even in the Mawangdui manuscripts, which date to early Western Han times. Writing pou for yin would make the two graphs even closer in appearance. The repetition of the graph yin —written clearly— on a number of strips suggests that this is not an error per se, but the potential for exchange still seems to exist.

94. Zhan Yinxin 詹鄞鑫, Shenling yu jisi—Zhongguo chuantong zongjiao zonglun 神靈與祭祀—中國傳統宗教綜論 (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji, 1992), 74–77Google Scholar discusses offerings to the spirits of “doors” (both men 門, exterior doors of houses or walls, and hu 戶, interior doors within the rooms of the house); stoves (zao 灶 and cuan 爨); gutters (liu霤) and the zhongliu 中霤 within the courtyard, to which water from the gutters ran and which came to stand for the whole house, in context referring to the spirit of the house; xing 行 as spirit of the road; etc.; cf. also Bodde, Festivals in Classical China, 55.

95. Tian Xudong, “Cong Liye Qin jian,” 214–16.

96. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian ci Xiannong,” 396, no. (16) 786.

97. Peng Hao, “Du Liye Qin jian,” 199.

98. Both Chunlong, Zhang, “Liye Qin jian,” 395, and Liye Qin jian, 78, no. (8) 1579Google Scholar, transcribe this graph as gou 䑦, which means “boat.” Chen Wei 陳偉 et al. , Liye Qin jiandu jiaoshi 里耶秦簡牘校釋 (Wuhan: Wuhan daxue, 2012)Google Scholar, 364, have qu朐, “rolled dried meat”; after examining photographs of the strip, I agree with the latter.

99. The transliteration of the personal name Zu follows that given in Hanyu dazidian as the first pronunciation, although there are other possibilities.

100. Chen Wei et al., Liye Qin jiandu, 269, combine strips (8) 1005 and (8) 1579 on the basis of matching width and broken edges, as well as compatible meaning; cf. Liye Qin jian, 57, 78. Cf. fragments Liye Qin jian, 57, 60, nos. (8) 993 and (8) 1091, which seem likely to be related.

101. Cf. Jiang Feifei, “Jiandu shiliao yu zaoqi Zhonghua diguo,” 23, who suggests standardized terminology like shiding was a part of early imperial accounting systems. It is of course conceivable that she is correct and that standards changed over time, which would also explain the variances in wording.

102. Chen Wei et al., Liye Qin jiandu jiaoshi, 246, join fragments (8) 907, (8) 923, and (8) 1422 to give this text; cf. Liye Qin jian, 54, 55, 69.

103. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian,” 395, no. (7) 39.

104. Liye Qin jian, 62, no. (8) 1162.

105. Yili zhushu, 24.283.

106. Shi ji, 28.1371; Han shu, 25A.1206.

107. Shuihudi, 22.

108. Zhang Chunlong, “Liye Qin jian zhong de ci Xiannong jian.”

109. Tian Xudong, “Cong Liye Qin jian,” 212–13.

110. Peng Hao, “Du Liye ‘Ci Xiannong’ jian,” 22.

111. Shi Zhilong 史志龍, “Qin ‘ci Xiannong’ jian zai tan” 秦“祠先農”簡再探, Jianbo 簡帛, no. 5, ed. Wuhan daxue jianbo yanjiu zhongxin (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2010), 83–84Google Scholar.

112. See e.g., Chen Wei et al., Liye Qin jiandu jiaoshi, 219, 249, nos. (8) 764 and (8) 925 + (8) 2195.

113. Shuihudi, 131.

114. Li ji zhu shu, 5.97.

115. Yates, Robin d. s., “Purity and Pollution in Early China,” in Zhongguo kaoguxue yu lishixue zhi zhenghe yanjiu 中國考古學與歷史學之整合研究, ed. Zang Zhenhua 臧振華 (Taipei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, 1997), 479–536Google Scholar.

116. Hubeisheng Jingzhoushi Zhouliangyuqiao yizhi bowuguan, ed., Guanju Qin-Han mu jiandu 關沮秦漢墓簡牘 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2001), 145–58Google Scholar.

117. Guanju Qin-Han mu jiandu, 154–55.

118. Cf. discussion in Giele, “Using Early Chinese Manuscripts.”

119. Zuo 胙 denotes the meat used in sacrifices; cf. Shuowen jiezi, 89.

120. The text of the prayer and directions, here and below, are from Hubeisheng Jingzhoushi Zhouliangyuqiao yizhi bowuguan, Guanju Qin Han mu jiandu 關沮秦漢墓簡牘 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2001), 132Google Scholar; in reading I referred to the grammatical notes contained in Han Jiannan 韓劍南 and Hao Jinyang 郝晉陽, “‘Zhoujiatai Qin jian’ xuci yanjiu” “周家台秦簡”虛詞研究, Huaibei meitan shifan xueyuan xuebao (zhexue shehui kexue ban) 淮北煤炭師範學院學報(哲學社會科學版) 25.4 (2004), 111–13Google Scholar.

121. Qun 囷, “silo,” refers to a round structure for storing grain as opposed to cang 倉, a square granary.

122. Zhui 腏 (also written 餟 and 醊) means to make an offering, particularly of fermented drink; see Hanyu dacidian, s.v. “zhui” in all three graphic forms.

123. San 三, “three,” could potentially mean “repeatedly.” However, the “Yu pace” seems to always be performed in threes when part of a formula, so I believe it is probably best understood literally, as thrice.

124. “Dew” (lu 露) is known as an alternate reference to alcoholic beverages in later texts. Based on the context, it must mean that here, as well.

125. Han shu, 77.3257, including commentary by Yan Shigu 顏師古 (581–645 c.e.), who explains, “Chu 除 means to decorate and clean out” 除，謂修飾掃除也; cf. Guiyuan, Wang, “Zhoujiatai Qin mu jiandu shidu buzheng” 周家台秦墓簡牘釋讀補正, Kaogu 2009.2, 72–73Google Scholar, who argues the phrase chushe 除舍 should mean “to prepare a new place,” which is similar to my reading.

126. The text of the entire prayer is found in Guanju Qin-Han mu jiandu, 132; images of the strips containing the text are found in photographic plates 51–52 (nos. 347–53).

127. Bodde, Festivals in Classical China, 49–75.

128. Guanju Qin-Han mu jiandu, 103. Note that the text uses the term Jiaping 嘉平 to denote the La day. The Shi ji records that the First Emperor changed the name of the La to Jiaping in 216 b.c.e.; according to some accounts, this was an ancient name for the same; see Shi ji, 6.251; cf. Bodde, Festivals, 50–51, 68–69. The presence of both names in texts from Zhoujiatai suggests that the change was either not instantaneous or not complete, or both.

129. Brashier, K.E., Ancestral Memory in Early China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011)Google Scholar, 97 and 375n137 reads it similarly.

130. Hanyu dacidian, s.v., “taifu.”

131. Cf. Gao Heng 高亨, Guzi tongjia huidian 古字通假會典 (Ji'nan: Qi-Lu, 1989), 632–34Google Scholar.

132. Wang Guiyuan, “Zhoujiatai Qin mu jiandu shidu buzheng,” 72; cf. Li ji zhu shu, 17.343.

133. Sipeng, Chen, “Zhanguo Qin Han jianbo zhong de zhudao wen” 戰國秦漢簡帛中的祝禱文, Xuedeng 學燈 5 (2008)Google Scholar (online at http://www.guoxue.com/magzine/xuedeng/xd005/xd005_12.htm, accessed 14 May 2012).

134. See Liye Qin jian, 33, no. (8) 461 (originally numbered (8) 455). For discussion of the vocabulary board, see Zhang Chunlong and Long Jingsha 龍京沙, “Xiangxi Liye Qin jian 8-455 hao” 湘西里耶秦簡 8-455 號, Jianbo 簡帛 4 (2009), 11–15Google Scholar; Hu Pingsheng 胡平生, “Liye Qin jian 8-455 hao mufang xingzhi chuyi” 里耶秦簡 8-455 號木方性直觸芻議, Jianbo 4 (2009), 17–25Google Scholar; Zhu Honglin 朱紅林, “Liye Qin jian 8-455 hao mufang yanjiu – zhujian Qin-Han lü yu ‘Zhouli’ bijiao yanjiu (qi)” 里耶秦簡 8-455 號木方研究 – 竹簡秦漢律與 “周禮”比較研究(七), Jinggangshan daxue xuebao (shehui kexue ban) 井岡大學學報(社會科學版), 32.1 (2011), 125–29Google Scholar. For examples of wangfu as “ancestor(s),” see e.g. Shang shu zheng yi 尚書正義, 11.159; Han shu, 97B.4000; and Hou Han shu, 5.204.

135. My translation of the expression chu zhong 出種 as “select seeds” follows Donald Harper, “The Recipe Miscellany from Zhoujiatai Tomb 30 and Qin Manuscript Culture” (unpublished paper, 2010), 22–24, who renders it as “setting out seeds.” Harper cites Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋 in this context, which has the phrase “select the various seeds” (chu wu zhong 出五種); Gao You 高誘 explains in his commentary that this means “to dispense [seeds] from the store cellar and select them” 出之於窌, 簡擇之也; see Chen Qiyou, ed., Lüshi chunqiu xin jiaoshi, 626n12 (“Ji dong ji” 季冬紀12.622). Wang Guihai 汪桂海, “Qin-Han nongye shengchan zhong de xinyang xisu” 秦漢農業生產中的信仰習俗, in Gansusheng dierjie jianduxue guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwenji 甘肅省第二屆簡牘學國際學術研討會論文集, ed. Zhang Defang 張德芳 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2012), 428–32Google Scholar, understands it the same way.

136. Translation of “Yu bu” 禹步 as “pace(s) of Yu” follows Harper, Donald J., Early Chinese Medical Literature: The Mawangdui Medical Manuscripts (London: Kegan Paul International, 1998)Google Scholar, 167 and passim; see discussion below.

137. “Farmer” (nongfu 農夫) here could refer to a number of things. These perhaps include the occupation of the person praying, in which case the line would read, “I am no different: I work as a farmer.” However, given that the word appears again in the following lines as what can only be a spirit, I believe it designates not just any farmer but rather the Farmer, Xiannong. Harper, “The Recipe Miscellany,” 20n41, and Wang Guiyuan, “Zhoujiatai Qin mu jiandu,” 73, understand it similarly.

138. Guanju Qin-Han mu jiandu, 132.

139. Harper, Early Chinese Medical Literature, 167–69, quote from 169–70.

140. Following Wang Guiyuan, “Zhoujiatai Qin mu jiandu,” 73, I read the graph shi 侍 as written, in the sense of “to prepare.” Wang cites an instance in a Mawangdui text, in which shi appears to have this meaning, and in which a pig is also the object; see Mawangdui Han mu boshu zhengli xiaozu, ed., Mawangdui Han mu boshu 馬王堆漢墓帛書, vol. 4 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1985), 40Google Scholar. The editors of the Zhoujiatai volume believe this character is a borrowing for chi 持, “to hold, have, carry,” which is also a viable reading.

141. Wang Guiyuan, “Zhoujiatai Qin mu jiandu,” 73 reads this similarly.

142. Wang Guiyuan, “Zhoujiatai Qin mu jiandu,” 71 reads bing 並 as a borrowing for ping 瓶, “small basin,” which would then be the vessel in which the two aspects of the sacrifice were combined. Although this loan appears possible, in context Wang's reading seems less natural than to take bing as a grammatical particle meaning “together.”

143. Hanyu dacidian does not list qunkuai 囷廥 but has cangkuai 倉廥, a storehouse for grain, and qunkuai is surely similar.

144. Saidao 塞禱 denotes sacrifices made to repay a prayer fulfilled; see e.g. Shi ji, 28.1371; Han shu, 63.2761.

145. Guanju Qin-Han mu jiandu, 132. In commentary on Li ji, Zheng Xuan defines, “Gu 故 means the likes of sacrificial offerings” 故謂祭祀之屬; Li ji zhu shu, 29.546.

146. Wang Guiyuan, “Zhoujiatai Qin mu jiandu,” 73; Zhou li zhu shu, 32.488; Zuo zhuan zhu shu, 55.965.

147. Brashier, Ancestral Memory in Early China, 187–94.

148. Yates, “Purity and Pollution.”

149. Brashier, Ancestral Memory.