Abstract

A Draft History of Transportation during Qin and Han Dynasties is the final output of a research project supported by a grant from the Chinese Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The first edition was published in July，1994 by the Central Party School Press. The book was short-listed for the inaugural National Book Award，and in September 1999 won third place in the National Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Research Contest. In January 2013 the book was included in the Contemporary Chinese Humanities Reader Series，and a revised and expanded edition was published by Renmin University of China Press.

The Qin and Han dynasties was an important period for the development of transportation in China. This is the first systematic study of this subject，and covers a broad range of topics，including historical background，development of road transportation，river crossings and bridges，vehicles，new sources of power for land transport，inland navigation，coastal and maritime transport，shipbuilding，urban transportation，transport system in major regions of advanced cultural development，granary system and major grain shipping routes，geographical distribution of industries and the distribution system，freight transport，population migration and population flow，modes of correspondence，cross-border connections，the civilizational significance of transportation，and mentality and customs associated with transportation.

The pursuit of empirical evidence，both archaeological and archival，is the cornerstone of this research. Fieldwork at historical sites is also of particular importance to the author. Earlier versions of parts of this book had previously appeared in 123 journal articles and three archaeological reports. This research also benefited greatly from the author’s involvement in a number of other book projects，including Economic History of China，Volume on the Economy of the Qin and Han Dynasties （chief editor Lin Ganquan），the six-volume Chinese History （chief editor Zhang Qizhi） and Fifteen Lectures on Chinese History （written by Zhang Qizhi）. The 161 figures in the book provide vivid supplements to the text. While working on this project，the author received generous support and valuable advise from many scholars，including He Ziquan，Shi Nianhai，Fang Shiming，Tian Yuqing，Tian Changwu，Sun Daren and Lin Jianming. In his preface，Li Xueqin put it this way：” Producing genuinely original work in the history of the Qin and Han period，a field in which a massive body of scholarship going back many generations already exists，is no easy task for anybody. Yet Wang Zijin saw in transportation history a topic with vast research potential. Wang was thorough in his research，rigorous in his analysis，and innovative in his methodology，and yet never tried to be novel for the sake of novelty. This is no doubt a worthy piece of scholarship. It is my belief that Qin and Han scholars，researchers studying transportation history，and those among the general public interested in ancient and cultural history would all have much to learn from reading this book. Many of the questions raised by the author and his suggestions for how they might be answered contain theoretical insights of the kind that merely delineating historical facts cannot produce.” The book has received favorable reviews from Guangming Daily，Historical Research，Social Sciences Weekly，Social Sciences of Beijing，Academics，China Book Review，a Hong Kong publication，and China Studies Monthly，a Japanese journal.