Research On The Issues Of The Xuanquan Stable During Han Dynasty

The Xuanquan stable（悬泉厩）in Han Dynasty is located at the junction of Dunhuang（敦煌）and Guazhou（瓜州）in Gansu Province（甘肃省）today.It is a semi-independent institution in the Xuanquan station（悬泉厩置）.It has a close relationship with Xuanquan post station（悬泉置）in terms of functions and officials’s tenure.No later than Yuanfeng（元凤）6^th（75 BC）,the Xuanquan stable has a Zuo（厩佐）,not later than Ganlu（甘露）1^st（53 BC）,and the stable is equipped with a Sefu（啬夫）.After the Yangshuo（阳朔）years（24 BC-21 BC）,no longer saw the records of the Sefus and Zuos in the bamboo slips.At present,there are about 22 Sefus and 33 Zuos with clear information are available.There is a changing process in the scale of the Xuanquan stable:The expansion of the scale of Xuanquan stable was closely related to the process of the Western Han Dynasty’s management of the Western Regions（西域）in this period,and it’s cancellation in Yangshuo was related to the change of transportation mode and the expansion of transmission expenses.The functions of Xuanquan stable are the management of horses and the affairs of sending and welcoming.The stable’s officials（厩吏）are responsible for keeping and registering horses and making them into documents and they play a leading role in the treatment of illness/death of horses.In the affairs of seeing and welcoming,the stable’s Sefu is responsible for providing food for the seeing off staff of other stables,and the stable’s Zuo leads the team to leave the stable to see off the passing staff.After receiving food in other stables,the officials who is responsible for sending and welcoming guests will form a record in duplicate,which can be used to check the food in and out afterwards.