Chapter 4 Section 4 The Development of Post Offices in the Shang Dynasty

From the Xia Dynasty to the Shang Dynasty, information transmission developed rapidly.There are often records of information exchanges in oracle bone inscriptions.For example, Fu Hao, the concubine of Wang Wuding of the Shang Dynasty, was a famous female general who often led troops to fight. Wu Ding was worried, and often used inscriptions to ask: "Wu Hao has faith?" or "Wu Hao has no faith?" This "faith" means that The meaning of the message is at the same time asking whether the messenger has arrived.According to literature and archaeological materials, the road transportation network of the Shang Dynasty was greatly expanded than that of the Xia Dynasty. "The Book of Songs · Shang Song" once praised the large-scale capital city of the Shang Dynasty: "The mall is winged, and the four corners are extremely", which means that the neat and magnificent royal capital is a model of the four directions.According to archaeologists' excavations, there are 11 broad avenues criss-crossing inside and outside the city, and there are 11 broad avenues extending in all directions. Among them, there are "horse roads" specially paved with neat stone slabs, which can go straight to the city wall.According to the materials provided by oracle bone inscriptions, there are several main roads leading to the various places of the kings of the Shang Dynasty: one leads to the Xuhuai area, one leads to Hunan and Jiangxi, and the other two reach the Weishui River Basin in the west, and one reaches Northwest Shaanxi Gansu area.These passages called "King's Road" are wide, flat, and straight, which is very convenient for vehicles and horses to travel.

The Shang Dynasty had a strict system for road management.It is recorded in oracle bone inscriptions that for the convenience of travel and the prevention of accidents, the government of the Shang Dynasty set up many strongholds and lodging places along the thoroughfare, which formed the original post station system of the Shang Dynasty.At first these strongholds were called "castrations (die butterfly)", which were probably defensive fortifications built with wooden fence walls.According to Han Feizi's calculation method, a place was set up in 50 miles at that time.Later these battlements developed into "times". "Time" means to settle down in a house, that is, to gradually become a hostel where you can live temporarily.At that time, there were names such as Huoci, Qici, and Huaici, which were temporary guest houses for staying in Huo, Qi, and Huai.Later, on this basis, "Jie" was formally established, and the ancients noted that "Ji" is "the one who passes and stops".This is a roadside inn specially built for Shang kings and nobles in the Shang Dynasty. Scholars believe that this is the earliest "special setting like a post station" in China.In the Shang Dynasty, Ji had not yet been named with a special place name, but was named according to the order of the road progress. There were records from one to five in the oracle bone inscriptions, that is, from the first station to the fifth station.It is estimated that "one night for thirty miles" at that time, the fifth prison should be about 150 miles away from the dynasty.These prisons are not only for lodging, but also for food and drink.

In the Shang Dynasty, there were messengers dedicated to conveying information, which were written as "(辶达)〔zhi支〕" or "(彳至)" in oracle bone inscriptions.When the king of Shang travels, he often has a few (辶达) around him, so that he can issue orders to his ministers at any time.In oracle bone inscriptions, there are often "Wang Qitian, (辶zhi) to", "Yutian, Qi? San", etc., which means that the king of Shang went to the field to hunt, and there were □ following him.During the Shang Dynasty, there were many Fang kingdoms and tribes affiliated to Shang, and they often sent (辶zhi) to report the situation to the King of Shang and exchange news.The oracle bone inscriptions talk about "Da Shi (辶达)", which means that Da Shi sent (辶达) to come to business; to) business report.In the Shang Dynasty, there was no permanent post-transmission system for delivering information in sections as in later generations, and messages and orders were generally transmitted to the end by a dedicated person.Therefore, the journey of the messenger is very hard, and sometimes they will encounter the danger of robbers, snakes and insects.There is an oracle bone tablet from the reign of King Wuding of the Shang Dynasty, which records that a very old messenger walked on the road for 26 days, covering 600 miles, and died before reaching the destination.Some post envoys have a longer journey. There is a piece of oracle bone inscriptions recorded in the time of Shang Wang Zugeng. One (辶zhi) set off at dusk of a day and traveled for 48 days on the way, and finally arrived at the destination. around.Judging from this example, in the Shang Dynasty about 3,000 years ago, my country's post biography was already at a considerable level, and it was in an advanced position in the world at that time.

With the foundation of Xia and Shang's communication establishment, it was not until the Western Zhou Dynasty that my country's communication and postal transmission system was able to develop greatly.