Changing Relations 43
be dated exactly, namely to 966 and 984.104 The Tibetan manuscript seems
to be a document stating bylaws. Here unusually high punishments for not
abiding by the bylaws are stipulated. The Tibetan fragment does not match any
of the Chinese manuscripts. It is unlikely that it belonged to a privately formed
worship club. Unfortunately the first part of the Tibetan manuscript is missing
which stipulates the task. From the list of names mentioned in the manuscript
four names of members were physically cut out. Nine names remain. To sev-
eral names positions are added: one was a manager (Tib. zha co), four were
men of the club (Tib. zha myi);105 furthermore, four are listed with their full
name only. Thus this club seems to have had five functionaries. The members
whose names were cut out either had died or left the club.
As it appears that these tasks were organised in the form of a club, that is, not
by governmental order, this may be a sign that the administration of the local
rulers of Dunhuang following the demise of the Tibetan Empire was rather
weak. After the end of Tibetan rule over Dunhuang, administrative structures
formerly introduced by the Tibetans gradually broke down. Once the local rule
of the Zhang clan was established, however, no new administrative structures
were installed that were fit to organise the much smaller territory. Thus com-
munal work and the task of guarding had to be organised locally—through
establishing clubs. Although the formation of teams (Chin. dui) headed by
a teamleader (Chin. duitou) and his deputy (Chin. fudui) derives from the
Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst et al. (Berlin: Reimer, 2004), 341 indicates that it prob-
ably refers to the period of the Return-to-Allegiance Army. This is no doubt true as wor-
ship clubs (Chin. she) carrying out government-surveyed tasks were not known during
Tibetan rule over Dunhuang. Takata, “Le long rouleau,” 141, pointed to the transliteration
of Chinese names. According to him they were transliterated according to the Dunhuang
dialect. There are a number of reasons why it should be dated to the period of the Return-
to-Allegiance Army. During Tibetan rule communal work was carried out within the sub-
unit (Tib. tshan). Thus the workers would be selected by government officials such as the
head of a subunit (Tib. tshan). No Chinese names were written in dialect form then—
not even in privately concluded loan contracts, nor in the circular mentioned above
(P. tib. 1102). The paleography of the script as well as the distance between the lines point
to the period of the Return-to-Allegiance Army.
104 Yamamoto, She Associations, 18.
105 The Tibetan term zha myi certainly refers to functionaries of the worship club similar to
P. tib. 1102, in which they were not designated with their post, but before their name the
Chinese term for worship club (Chin. she) is written. It appears that the Tibetan term
zha myi in this manuscript is not equivalent to the Chinese term sheren (社人, mem-
bers of a worship club). Yamamoto, She Associations 8, mentions further posts such as the
sergeant-at-arms, the monthly duty officer and a sub-officer.