Change of “K`o” in the Han Dynasty

Abstract

“K`o,"" also translated as “guests,"" could be mainly devided into the hsia and the shih in the Warring States period. They were kept generously and respectfully by their hosts. Due to the political and social developments in the Han times, their original attributes have changed a great deal that k`o lost both the arrogance and dignity which they used to possess in the Warring States period. Instead, they were treated as retainers or servants by the powerful families. Since mid-Western Han, more and more tenants and hired laborers gradually became a new type of k`o and were forced to be subordinates to the powerful families, because of the uneven distribution of land and the polarization of social differentiation. The status of the above two types of k`o proceeded towards the same direction during the Eastern Han and the Three Kingdoms. They were asked to render domestic service, to engage in productive work, and even to serve as private troops for the powerful families. This article intends to explore the reasons why k`o`s characteristics have changed over time and offer the explanations for the process of k`o`s developments from pre-Ch`in times to the Three Kingdoms.At first the author will introduce some of k`o`s characteristics in the Warring States period as compared to those in the Han dynasty. The next three sections then will investigate the change of k`o`s attributes and will identify its various features in the Han times. Finally an essential but not easily detectable phenomenon will be analyzed, that is how and why the new type of k`o increasingly gained more importance by the end of the Eastern Han and the Three Kingdoms. Hopefully this article will further our understanding about the k`o in the Han dynasty which greatly influenced its status and role during Wei-Chin period.