413 Published by the Harvard-Yenching Institute HJAS 78.2 (2018): 413–476 “I Write Terefore I Am” Scribes, Literacy, and Identity in Early China Armin Selbitschka 謝 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich I n a recently published article on literacy and identity, social scientists Elizabeth Birr Moje and Allan Luke distinguish “fve met- aphors for identity in history and contemporary research.”1 More importantly, though, the authors review a tremendous amount of soci- ological and social-psychological literature in order to demonstrate how scholarship has increasingly related diferent conceptions of iden- tity and the self to literacy. Accordingly, “texts and the literate practices that accompany them not only refect but may also produce the self. 1 Elizabeth Birr Moje and Allan Luke, “Literacy and Identity: Examining the Metaphors in History and Contemporary Research,” Reading Research Quarterly 44.4 (2009): 419. Abstract: Scholarship usually accords early Chinese scribes litle respect. Te common perception is that they were nothing but low-level bureaucrats who carried out menial tasks in early imperial administration. But scribes saw themselves diferently. Trough an in-depth analysis of received literature and archaeological fnds unearthed from the tombs of scribes, I argue that being a scribe was not only a privilege but also a mater of great pride to the individuals allowed to enter this profession. Te fact that a signifcant number of tombs from the late ffh century BCE through the early frst century CE yielded admin- istrative and legal manuscripts in close proximity to writing utensils shows that literacy was the most crucial aspect of their identity. Teir writing skills informed a sense of self that even extended into the aferlife. 摘要：學術界對代文書（ “” ）並不相當重視。文書通常僅被視爲代政治制 度中負責事的低官，但是他們對自己的身卻完不的看法。通過對 文獻與墓葬的深入研究，文的結論是文書認爲這一业不但是一種殊榮 幸譽，時也是個人的驕傲。 Acknowledgments: I thank Michael Loewe, Charles Sanf, Paul Goldin, Michael Hunter, Hans van Ess, Maria Khayutina, Joachim Gentz, Mathias Richter, Barend ter Haar, Wolfgang Behr, Martin Kern, Michael Puet, Michael Nylan, Lillian Lan-ying Tseng, Duane Corpis, John Kieschnick, Melissa J. Brown, and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments. All remaining mistakes are my own.