[Dissertation] Writing and Materiality in the Three Han Dynasty Tombs at Mawangdui

Author:
Waring, Luke

School:
Princeton University

Defended:
2019

Abstract:

This dissertation is a study of the different kinds of writing excavated in the 1970s from the three Western Han dynasty (202 BCE-9 CE) tombs at Mawangdui 馬王堆, including manuscripts on silk, wood, and bamboo, and inscriptions in different media. I examine the ways these texts were produced, performed, used, viewed, and buried in order to determine the different roles writing played in the lives and afterlives of three members of one noble family, and those connected to them, in the second century BCE. In the process, I show that in addition to recording or communicating important knowledge or information, written texts were also incorporated into a diverse array of artifacts and integrated into a wide variety of cultural practices, and that writing in early Western Han thus ought to be understood as part of early Chinese material and visual culture.

The Introduction provides an overview of the Mawangdui tombs and their contents, including the manuscripts and texts that were found there, as well as recent scholarship on writing, literacy, and material culture. Chapter 1 is concerned with the different ways the Mawangdui manuscripts and inscriptions were produced. Chapter 2 explores how some of the manuscripts were used in ritual performance and display. Chapter 3 describes the use of written texts as amulets and talismans. Chapter 4 details the visual effects of certain kinds of manuscripts. And Chapter 5 speculates about the ways the manuscripts were used and stored above ground, and why they were deposited in the tomb. Finally, my Conclusion summarizes my findings, and the Appendix provides a table containing information about the material and codicological features of the Mawangdui manuscripts and related artifacts.


Table of Contents:

Introduction – Writing, Materiality, and Mawangdui 

Chapter 1 – Producing Texts: The Materiality of Textual Production at Mawangdui

Chapter 2 – Performing Texts: Writing in Rituals and Ceremonies

Chapter 3 – The Materiality of the Sign: Texts as Amulets and Talismans

Chapter 4 – Visualizing Texts: The Visual Design of Texts on Silk

Chapter 5 – Owning Texts: From Library to Tomb

Early China 42 (2019) 《古代中國》第42期

Table of Contents:

Obituaries

LIU ZEHUA 劉澤華 (1935–2018)
Yuri Pines

LI XUEQIN 李學勤 (1933–2019)
Liu Guozhong, Edmund Ryden

REMEMBRANCES OF LI XUEQIN (1933–2019)

Articles

“XI SHUAI” 蟋蟀 (“CRICKET”) AND ITS CONSEQUENCES: ISSUES IN EARLY CHINESE POETRY AND TEXTUAL STUDIES
Martin Kern

A SELF-REFLEXIVE PRAXIS: CHANGING ATTITUDES TOWARDS MANUSCRIPT AND TEXT IN EARLY CHINA
Rens Krijgsman

TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE: THE CHU CI 楚辭 (VERSES OF CHU) AS RESPONSE TO THE SHI JING 詩經 (CLASSIC OF ODES)
Michael Hunter

THE REIFICATION OF FATE IN EARLY CHINA
Mercedes Valmisa

INTERTEXTUALITY AND MEMORY IN EARLY CHINESE WRITINGS: A CASE STUDY FROM HUAINANZI
Oliver Weingarten

RU SCHOLARS, SOCIAL NETWORKS, AND BUREAUCRACY: DONGHAI 東海 MEN AND MODELS FOR SUCCESS IN WESTERN HAN CHINA (206 b.c.e.–9 c.e.)
Liang Cai

WRITING BEFORE INSCRIBING: ON THE USE OF MANUSCRIPTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF WESTERN ZHOU BRONZE INSCRIPTIONS
Ondřej Škrabal

Review

G. E. R. Lloyd and Jingyi Jenny Zhao, eds., in collaboration with Qiaosheng Dong, Ancient Greece and China Compared. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Paul R. Goldin

Bibliography

DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS
Wen-Yi Huang, comp.

ANNUAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wen-Yi Huang, comp.

Silk Roads: Peoples, Cultures, Landscapes

Editor:
Susan Whitfield

List of Contributors:
Peter Sellars, Idriss Abduressul, Alison Aplin Ohta, Warwick Ball, Bérénice Bellina, Arnaud Bertrand, Jonathan M. Bloom, Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud, Robert Bracey, Sonja Brentjes, Ursula Brosseder, Cristina Castillo, Tamara T. Chin, Joe Cribb, Rebecca Darley, T. Daryaee, Sophie Desrosiers, Claire Dillon, K. Durak, John Falconer, Anna Filigenzi, Frantz Grenet, Zsuzsanna Gulácsi, Anne Hedeager Krag, Julian Henderson, Georgina Hermann, B. Hildebrandt, P. P. Ho, Mark Horton, Susan L. Huntington, Karel C. Innemée, Jun Kimura, Elizabeth A. Lambourn, Lewis Lancaster, George Lane, Li Tang, Li Wenying, Xinru Liu, George Manginis, Kate Masia-Radford, James A. Millward, Sergey Miniaev, Noriko Miya, Valentina Mordvintseva, Davit Naskidashvili, Lukas Nickel, Jebrael Nokandeh, Luca M. Olivieri, Mehmet Ölmez, Hamid Omrani Rekavandi, Charles R. Ortloff, Sara Peterson, Marinus Polak, Gethin Rees, Nicolas Revire, W. K. Rienjang, Rong Xinjiang, Eberhard W. Sauer, Nikolaus Schindel, Angela Schottenhammer, Assaad Seif, Eivind Heldaas Seland, Angela Sheng, Nicholas Sims-Williams, Ursula Sims-Williams, Robert N. Spengler, Sarah Stewart, Ingo Strauch, Richard J. A. Talbert, Ilse Timperman, Marina Tolmacheva, Dmitry Voyakin, Rosalind Wade Haddon, Helen Wang, Wang Xudong, Daniel C. Waugh, Peter Webb, Peter Whitfield, Tim Williams, Paul D. Wordsworth, Zhao Feng

Publisher:
October 2019

Publisher:
University of California Press

Abstract:

The Silk Roads continue to capture the imagination of the public, and, in 2014, a section of the land routes was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Yet there was no single "Silk Road." Instead, a complex network of trade routes spanned Afro-Eurasia’s mountains, plains, deserts, and seas. From silk to spices, religion to dance, traffic in goods and ideas was crucial to the development of civilizations through rich cultural interactions and economic activity.

Centered around the dramatic landscapes of the Silk Roads, this beautiful volume honors the great diversity of medieval Afro-Eurasian cultures. Each section—from steppe to desert to ocean—includes maps, a historical and archaeological overview and thematic essays by leading scholars worldwide, as well as sidebars showcasing objects that exemplify the art, archaeology and architecture of the Silk Roads.

Table of Contents:

photo credit:
Silk Road Digressions

The Political Economy of the Han Dynasty and Its Legacy

Editors: 
Cheng Lin, Terry Peach, Wang Fang

Publisher:

Routledge

Publication date:

June 2019

Abstract:

This book contains original essays on various aspect of the Han’s political economy and its legacy, written by leading Chinese and Western scholars whose collective expertise spans Economic History, History of Economic Thought and Sinology.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: The Political Economy of the Han: Introduction, Terry Peach

Chapter 2: From Contention to Unification: Transformation of Economic Thought in the Han Dynasty and its Heritage, Cheng Lin and Zhang Shen; 

Chapter 3: Dong Zhongshu and Confucian Economic Thought as State Ideology in the Western Han Dynasty, Zhong Xiangcai; 

Chapter 4: The Monetary and Fiscal System of the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties, Ma Tao and Li Wei

Chapter 5: Monetary Thought in the Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms Period (220 BCE-280 CE), Gavin S.H. Chiu and S.C. Kwan

Chapter 6: The System of Tribute Equalisation in the Han, Li Chaomin

Chapter 7: War Economy in the Western Han Dynasty, Elisa Levi Sabattini

Chapter 8: The ‘Land Quota’ System in the Han Dynasty and its Historical Influence, Wang Fang

Chapter 9: A Western Perspective on the Yantie lun, Bertram Schefold

Chapter 10: Sima Qian and Laissez Faire: Satire on a ‘Discordant and Degenerate Age’, Terry Peach

The Origins of Ancient Vietnam

Author:
Nam C. Kim

Publication date:
June 2018

Publisher: 
Oxford

Abstract:
The Origins of Ancient Vietnam explores the origins of civilization in the Red River Delta of Vietnam and how related studies can inform our understanding of ancient societies, generally, and the foundations of Vietnamese culture, specifically. Long believed to be the cradle of Vietnamese civilization, this area has been referenced by Vietnamese and Chinese writers for centuries, many recording colorful tales and legends about the region's prehistory. One of the most enduring accounts relates the story of the Au Lac Kingdom and its capital of Co Loa. Founded during the third century BC, according to legend, the fortified city's ramparts still stand today. However, there are ongoing debates about the origins of the site, the validity of the literary accounts, and the link between the prehistoric past and later Vietnamese societies. The Han Empire's later annexation of the region, combined with the problematic accounts found in the Chinese chronicles, further complicates these questions.

Recent decades of archaeology in the region have provided new perspectives for examining these issues. The material record reveals indigenous trajectories of cultural change throughout the prehistoric period, culminating in the emergence of a politically sophisticated society. Specifically, new data indicate the founding of Co Loa by an ancient state, centuries before the Han arrival. In The Origins of Ancient Vietnam, Nam Kim synthesizes the archaeological evidence for this momentous development, placing Co Loa within a wider, global setting of emergent cities, states, and civilizations.

Table of Contents:
Chapter One: In Search of a Prehistoric State
Chapter Two: Research Setting
Chapter Three: The Archaeology of Complex Societies and Ancient States
Chapter Four: Forms of Complexity in Southeast Asia
Chapter Five: War in the World, War in Southeast Asia
Chapter Six: Social Change and Emergent Complexity in Bac Bo
Chapter Seven: Previous Research for the Co Loa Site
Chapter Eight: Recent Field Investigations at Co Loa
Chapter Nine: An Ancient City
Chapter Ten: A Prehistoric State
Chapter Eleven: The Weight of the Past and the Pull of the Present
Chapter Twelve: A Prehistoric Civilization Found
Bibliography

Refiguring East Asian Religious Art: Buddhist Devotion and Funerary Practice

Editors:
Wu Hung & Paul Copp

Publication date:
2019

Publisher:
Chicago : Art Media Resources : The Center for the Art of East Asia, University of Chicago

Abstract:

Within the realm of Buddhist art, death is often portrayed not as the end but instead as a new beginning. Examining how pre-modern East Asians related to death as a broad concept is often just as impactful in the study of their culture and artwork as is the study of how they lived from day to day. This volume of twelve chapters is divided into four sections titled "Death of the Buddha and Buddhist Icons," "Kinship and Commemoration," "Filial Piety and Politics," and "Constructing Ritual Space." These chapters explore the powerful transformations that took place within ancient Buddhist societies when the life an individual came to an end and took on new life in unique forms of religious art and architecture. Dealing with concrete historical examples, these essays not only delve deep into the tightly woven interpersonal relationships, loyalties, and intense devotion that led to the creation of these religious and societal practices, they also challenge both the modern scholar and general reader to see with fresh eyes and refigure how we experience, conceptualize, and understand East Asian religious art.

Table of Contents:

Death of the Buddha and Buddhist icons

Strike a chord: the principle of resonance in early East Asian Buddhist reliquaries / Akiko Walley

"King Aśoka" reliquaries and stupa burials in medieval China / Katherine Tsiang 

Broken bodies: the death of Buddhist icons and their changing ontology tenth- through twelfth-century China / Wei-Cheng Lin

Kinship and commemoration

Kinship and the commemoration of the dead in medieval Chinese Buddhist monuments / Kate Lingley

Ancestors, politicians, and patrons: portraits of the dead in nights- and tenth-century Dunhuang Mogao Caves / Madeleine Boucher

Tomb and cave: reconstructing the commemorative space of the death of Cao Yijin / Liu Cong

Filial piety and politics

Rethinking patronage and filial piety at Sŏkkuram and Pulguksa in Kyŏngju, Korea / Sun-ah Choi

Pagodas for the deceased: the intersectionn of Buddhism and funerary art in unified Silla / Youn-mi Kim

Female bodily sacrifice and the absence of men: representing filial offspring in Song, Jin, and Liao tombs / Winston Kyan

Constructing ritual space 

A landscape fit for the great Buddhas: on cliff tombs and Buddhist cave temples in Leshan / Sonya S. Lee

Hall of the underground palace of the Tianfeng Pagoda: changing form, function, and meaning of reliquary space in southern Song China / Seunghye Lee

"How grand are the uses of texts!": visions of paperwork in the water-land retreat / Philip E. Bloom