This dissertation explores the household system developed in the Qin and early Han periods (ca. 3rd-1st century BCE) mainly by examining the transmitted and excavated textual materials. It shows that the household unit, as an artificial unit legitimized by the authorities, enabled the direct control of the population by the central government. Except for reconstructing the general management theoretically, this dissertation pays much attention to the local society and focuses on real administration. Chapter one starts with the analysis of two crucial legal terms—“household member” and “co-resident”—that frequently occur in the legal texts. “Household members” denotes the people on the same household register, which was not determined by kinship; besides, subjects and slaves were considered their masters’ household members as well. Distinctly, the “co-resident” group did not include the subjects and slaves, and only formal family members who lived in the same residence were attributed to it. Then we investigate the succession and establishment of households which constitute the fundamental issue in functioning the household system. The succession for a household concerns two aspects: the succession to the householder status and the succession to the rank. Nonetheless, these two aspects represent two distinguished systems, the rank system and the heir system, respectively, which were not always consistent with each other. The succession for households signifies the maintenance of pre-existing households, while the establishment of households implies the creation of new households. Separation of a household by adult sons was encouraged in Qin and early Han times. With more households, the government could extract more taxes and labor services. Chapter Three engages in reconstructing the hierarchical household management in administration by illustrating the functions of different-level organizations and the relevant personnel. Among the local levels composed of the village, district, prefecture and commandery, the ...