<Articles>Research on the Stone Tablets Dealing with Water Supply in the Hongdong 洪洞 District of Shanxi 山西＝ : The Case of "Du zong guang zhen guo ding liang xian shui bei 都總管鎭國定兩縣水碑" from the Second Year of Tianjuan 天眷 Era of the Jin 金 Period

The stone tablets dealing with water supply refers to stone inscriptions recording details of irrigation works and results of disputes over the division of irrigation water. These tablets honored those involved and memorialized the project as well as stipulated regulations for water usage. There exist at the Guangshengsi 広勝寺 temple in Hongdong District in Shanxi many stone tablets containing records from the Early-Jin to the Late-Qing period of the irrigation system for Huoshui 窪水 water. Among these the "Du zong guang zhen guo dmg tiang xian shui bei" from the Tianjuan era of the Jin period specified that seventy percent of the Huoshui water for irrigation was to go to the south and thirty percent was to be distributed to the north, and that this ratio would be maintained over future dynasties. These rules remained in effect during the Ming period, as parties involved in Disputes in the Hongdong and Zaocheng 趙城 districts relied on the contents of the tablet to justify their actions. And government officials rendered judgments on such conflicts after taking consideration of their contents. When a collection of regulations related to the water supply, juce 渠冊 were compiled in the Qing period, the contents of the tablets were recorded at the beginning of the collection, but they were followed by detailed rules that had not been contained in the Jin-period tablets. The tablets also recorded various types of official documents that were exchanged by government offices, for example the shen 申, die 牒, zhazi 箚子, and shangpan 上畔. Among these, shangpan was a special term for a document whose written format was strictly maintained, and whose use was limited to the Early-Jin period. In Northem China, the Yuanshuaifu 元帥府 was the highest organ of government during the Early-Jin Dynasty, having succeeded the power of the prime minister of the Northern Song, and it issued documents in the form of zhazi. For that reason, it is thought that when the newly established subordinate office of Xumiyuan 樞密院 issued documents, the newly created form of shangpan was employed. This well-ordered system of documents formed the foundation for the rule of the Jin Dynasty in North China. The stone tablets that provided the fundament rules for dividing Huoshui water for irrigation were erected at the Pingyangfu 平陽府, the office charged with superintending this irrigation system, and at the point where the water was divided. As the tablet erected at the point of the divergence was lost, jt may be presumed likely that the tablet originally at the Pingyangfu was moved to the point of division. This demonstrates that this tablet was actually used across the dynasties.