What "identity cards" did China have in ancient times?

We all have ID cards to prove our identity now, which will write your name, photo, household registration and date of birth. When you go out now, whether by car, high-speed train, plane or hotel, you need an ID card to prove our identity information. So in ancient times, did we ordinary people have ID cards?

In fact, there are, but different dynasties have different things to prove their identity. The earliest person to promote identity cards should be Shang Yang during the period of Shang Yang's political reform. Because I heard a story that Shang Yang failed in his political reform in the second half of his life and was arrested. Shang Yang was helpless and fled with his family. When he fled to a hotel, he wanted to stay, but the hotel owner dared not let him stay.

Why didn't the hotel owner let Shang Yang stay? Although Shang Yang gave him a lot of money, he was wanted at that time, so Shang Yang didn't bring anything to prove his identity. However, at that time, there was a law in the state of Qin, which stipulated that all people staying in should have identity cards. This regulation was formulated by Shang Yang himself during the political reform period. In the end, Shang Yang had no choice but to be caught and died of a car crack.

As can be seen from this short story, our country has had enough things to prove the identity of ordinary people since the Qin Dynasty. Only with the change of dynasties, all kinds of identity cards to prove the identity of ordinary people are different. For example, a certain dynasty once used something called a fish symbol to prove its identity.

It can be seen that in every dynasty and generation, it is extremely important to have something that can prove your identity, because without such an ID card, your identity will be difficult to be defined or even recognized by society.