Abstract
Many scholars in the past argued that all military paperwork at the frontier units along the Han north-western frontiers were done by the higher level officers, as the other personnel did not have the required capabilities to read or write reports. For the same reason, it was believed that the lowest level of frontier units, namely the sui (隧) or the beacon-fire station, was not responsible for handling administrative papers or writing reports to the higher offices.
Based on the evidences from Han wooden slips as well as writing and arithematic slips and tablets unearthed, and noting the writing samples that were widely available and the administrative system at the frontier, this essay tries to argue that in fact some commanders of the beacon-fire stations were literate, and some became literate because of training or education in writing and basic calculation, or they got versed to the formats and rules of administrative paperwork after their service in the military. Conscript military service in the Han dynasty was therefore an important institution to improve the literacy rate of the Han society in general.
Keywords
Han frontier, commander of the beacon-fire station, literacy
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