ID card during the Zhenguan period: shaped like a fish to prove the identity of an official

Ancient China ID card

Recently, the 23rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress voted to adopt a decision on amending the Resident Identity Card Law. The first-generation ID card will cease to be used from January 1, 2013, and fingerprint information will also be registered on the new ID card. For a time, ID cards became a hot topic for people.

The earliest ID cards began to appear in the Sui Dynasty, but the real ID card was the "fish talisman" issued to officials by Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, during the Zhenguan period. It is made of refined wood or metal and is shaped like a fish. It is divided into left and right pieces, with small holes cut in it for fastening. The fish talisman is engraved with the official's name, position in the yamen, official residence level, salary, and what kind of treatment they enjoy when traveling. The main purpose of fish talismans is to prove the identity of officials and facilitate them when being called in and out of the palace gate for verification. "New Tang Book·Che Fu Zhi" records: "Those who possess fish talismans will answer the call with their precious and cheap ones." The materials used to make fish talismans are directly related to the official title size. At that time, all fish talismans used by princes and officials above the third grade were cast in gold to show their high taste and status; fish talismans for officials above the fifth grade were silver; fish talismans for officials below the sixth grade were copper. Officials above the fifth grade also have special bags for storing fish talismans, called "fish bags." By the time of Wu Zetian, the fish talisman was once changed to a "turtle talisman" shaped like a turtle, with the same purpose as the fish talisman.

In the Song Dynasty, fish talismans were abolished, but officials still wore fish bags. They were simpler and much more convenient than the fish talismans in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

In the Ming Dynasty, the court abolished the fish talismans and fish bags used in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the identity cards of officials were replaced with "teeth tags." Its materials and production have been fundamentally changed. It is made of ivory, animal bones, wood, metal, etc. It is engraved with the licensee's name, place of origin, official status, official rank, annual salary and the name of the yamen to which he belongs., etc., it is very close to a plastic card-type ID card in the modern sense. According to Lu Rong's "Shuyuan Miscellaneous Notes" in the Ming Dynasty, not only officials hang their teeth tags,"Anyone who enters and leaves the Inner Mansion, regardless of whether they are noble or humble, will hang their tags to avoid suspicion." It can be seen that the use of ID cards in the Ming Dynasty was no longer limited to officials and began to develop into the middle and lower classes.

In the Qing Dynasty, the identity of each class was proved by the top beads on the hat. The top material was made of gems, coral, crystal, jade, metal, etc., which distinguished the user's identity from the size of the official title. If you are a first-class official, you can wear a large ruby crown; if you are a scholar, you can wear a copper crown. Of course, ordinary people have no tops on their hats and can only tie a hat knot with silk.