Chinese Funerary Biographies

An Anthology of Remembered Lives

Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Ping Yao, Cong Ellen Zhang, Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Ping Yao, Cong Ellen Zhang

• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780295746425
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia de China

Tens of thousands of epitaphs, or funerary biographies, survive from imperial China. Engraved on stone and placed in a grave, they typically focus on the deceased's biography and exemplary words and deeds, expressing the survivors' longing for the dead. These epitaphs provide glimpses of the lives of women, men who did not leave a mark politically, and children—people who are not well documented in more conventional sources such as dynastic histories and local gazetteers. This anthology of translations makes available funerary biographies covering nearly two thousand years, from the Han dynasty through the nineteenth century, selected for their value as teaching material for courses in Chinese history, literature, and women's studies as well as world history. Because they include revealing details about personal conduct, families, local conditions, and social, cultural, and religious practices, these epitaphs illustrate ways of thinking and the realities of daily life. Most can be read and analyzed on multiple levels, and they stimulate investigation of topics such as the emotional tenor of family relations, rituals associated with death, Confucian values, women's lives as written about by men, and the use of sources assumed to be biased. These biographies will be especially effective when combined with more readily available primary sources such as official documents, religious and intellectual discourses, and anecdotal stories, promising to generate provocative discussion of literary genre, the ways historians use sources, and how writers shape their accounts.

1

Three Short Eastern Han Funerary Biographies

Epitaphs for Ma Jiang 馬姜 (34–106), Wu Zhongshan 吳仲山 (ca. 92–172), and Kong Dan 孔耽 (fl. 182)

TRANSLATED BY PING YAO AND PATRICIA BUCKLEY EBREY

These epitaphs, among the earliest to survive, were not for people of national significance and include one woman. They concentrate on sketching the deceased’s character while also providing basic data on death and burial.

THE EARLIEST SURVIVING INTERRED INSCRIPTION IS “FUNERARY Biography for Madam Ma Jiang,” dated 106 CE. Discovered in 1929 in Luoyang, the epitaph not only provides biographical information about Madam Ma, but also praises her virtue. Although relatively short, it contains all of the most basic elements of muzhiming: biographical information about the deceased, her achievements and virtues, her relatives, a description of the funeral arrangements, the name of the author of the epitaph, and the family member who commissioned the epitaph.

Modern archeologists were not the first to record the texts of accidentally discovered stone inscriptions. By the Song dynasty, many educated men made rubbings of stones that they found bearing inscriptions dating back to the Han period. They also began publishing notes on the rubbings in their collections. One such collector, Hong Kuo (1117–1184), recorded the full text of 185 inscriptions along with his notes on them, including not just inscriptions to mark graves, but also many other kinds, such as inscriptions for temples, road-building projects, or to commemorate an especially admired local official. The second and third pieces included in this selection are from his Explications of Works in Clerical Script (Li shi). From Hong Kuo’s time on, scholars with antiquarian interests published inscriptions dating from earlier dynasties.

Most of the epitaphs that survive from the Han period were inscribed not on stones that were buried with the coffin, but on standing stones erected above the grave. In that period, the texts on the stones were often relatively brief. The funerary biography for Wu Zhongshan, the second given below, is unusual in that no one in the subject’s family seems to have held government office. It also has a high proportion of borrowed or otherwise unusual characters. The last of the three funerary biographies here, for Kong Dan, is for a man who served in local government at a subordinate level, though it explains that for a while he filled in for a regular official who was ill. However, like Mr. Wu’s, his biography focuses mostly on his personal character. What makes him stand out is that he wrote his own funerary biography and had a funerary shrine built while he was still living. The inscription even mentions how much he paid for the construction.

Funerary Biography for Madam Ma Jiang

On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, in the seventh year of the Yongping reign period [64 CE], Jia Wuzhong, the fifth son of [Jia Fu], General of the Left and Specially Advanced Duke of Jiaodong of the Han dynasty, died. He was then twenty-nine years of age. His wife, Ma Jiang, was the daughter of [Ma Yuan], the Wave Breaking General, who was also the Duke of Xinxi and Zhongcheng, and the elder sister of the Brilliant Virtue Empress [39–79, consort of Emperor Ming, r. 57–75]. She gave birth to four daughters. At the age of twenty-three, her husband, Mr. Jia, died. Madam Ma resolutely held to the lofty principle of chastity and toiled diligently for years. She raised her daughters well and glorified the ancestors. Two daughters were elevated to be consorts in the Xian [illegible] Jie Palace; another was married to the Duke of Ting, surnamed Zhu; and yet another was married to the Duke of Yanggao, surnamed Liu. Her home was full of those wearing red and purple [robes of high office] and recipients of royal favors and ranks. This was all because of Madam [illegible]. With her motherly virtues, Madam [illegible] protected the entire clan. At the age of seventy-three, [she passed away] on the [illegible] day of the seventh month, the first year of the Yanping reign period [106]. The emperor paid his condolences, and the Two Palaces¹ [illegible] provided imperial items [to be used for the funeral] in accordance with the rites. She was then buried on the tenth day of the ninth month at the old cemetery in Mangmen [illegible]. Her descendants feared not being able to make her virtues known and thus carved this on the stone to record [broken here].

Source: Zhao Chao 趙超, Han Wei Nan Bei chao muzhi huibian 漢魏南北朝墓誌彙編 (Tianjin: Tianjin guji chubanshe, 1992), 1.

Stele for the Deceased Commoner Wu Zhongshan

Dated early in the twelfth month of the first year of the Xiping reign period [172].

Mr. Wu Zhongshan when young established a name for good deeds. He would take on any sacrifice himself and in frugality had no equal. He did not covet official advancement but hid away in the world of men. The commandery and county requested his services, but he never even went close enough to see the city walls. He persisted in his life of poverty and hardship, having no aspirations for fame and glory.

Mr. Wu was the second among three brothers. He deferred to the elder and guided the younger, and the three of them went around together. The eldest and the youngest unfortunately died young. As the seasons passed, Mr. Wu’s years exceeded eighty. Before his lifetime was exhausted, he met misfortune [and died]. His sons and grandsons, swallowing their tears, called his soul back but to no avail, as he was far from the world. How bitter it is!

Mr. Wu’s virtue was exceptional. He extended kindnesses to his local community. When people far and near would ask him for things, he would not tell them that he had nothing himself. In the spring and fall, he would take loans so that he could give to the needy.

Without going contrary to people’s intentions, he would guide them using reason. In the markets and courtyards, he would provide food to those who were starving. He also gathered food for orphans under his care. For those who died, he would arrange burials. For the orphans, he would arrange marriages. When those with debts were unable to repay them, he would not merely lament it but would repay them on their behalf. How could people know of all his kind acts of generosity!

Mr. Wu had three children, two of them grown men when he died. They inherited very little because, when he had any surplus, it went in all directions. Not only were they unable to construct [an elaborate tomb with] colorfully painted towers, halls, and viewing pavilions, but it was even difficult for them to deal with their relatives or provide more than a thin coffin and a slight outer coffin, of modest size.

The orphans grieved for their departed father, distraught day and night, feeling as though something was missing. They decided to build a cover so that, if the spirits have consciousness, they will enjoy the flourishing rivers and hills. How beautiful! May his descendants have ten thousand years.

Source: Hong Kuo 洪适, Li shi 隸釋, Shike shiliao xinbian edition, 9.3a–4a, with readings from Huang Gongzhu, Liang Han jinshi wenxuan pingzhu (Hong Kong: Taiping shuju, 1966), 143–45.

Stele for the Spirit Shrine of Kong Dan (fl. 182), Administrator of Liang

Mr. Kong’s name was Dan, and he was the oldest of three brothers. His forebears have flourished since the Yin dynasty [i.e., Shang dynasty, 16th c. to 1045 BCE]. Since the Yin house placed its emphasis on inner substance, Mr. Kong took as his courtesy name Boben, “Elder Brother Basic.” At first, when the region of Lu suffered the collapse of [Wang Mang’s] Xin state, the descendants scattered; since [ancestor] Shuyang, they have been settled here.

When Mr. Kong was young, he studied The Classics of Ritual [Liji]. During a period of general hardship when people took to eating human flesh, he made a hut of dirt and thatch and wore himself out gathering wild vegetables to feed his parents. Kind, honest, quiet, and faithful—such traits came to him naturally and did not have to be learned.

Once Mr. Kong’s income had improved a little, he remembered with regret his deceased grandmother and so decided to honor her with a shrine. He expressed his filial sadness and regret as in the “Gentle Wind” and “Smartweed” [poems in The Book of Songs (Shijing)]. He erected a building and planted cypress trees around it. His filial sentiment was so sincere that it moved the spirits: a large snake appeared on the stone, disappearing later. Mr. Kong also set free caged birds and released trapped animals.

Mr. Wu’s younger brother had a lofty spirit, but what he accumulated was virtue, not property. Mr. Kong invited him to live with him for decades. Even if his brother made unreasonable requests, he would respond to him generously. Therefore, Heaven was moved and gave evidence of it by the [auspicious sign of the] interlocking of the branches of trees.

Because Mr. Kong was generous with other people and was very talented, his fame spread widely. The county asked him to serve as a clerk of the registrar, and the commandery requested his advice. When the head of the commandery, Mr. Shen of Wucheng, became ill, he delegated his responsibilities to Mr. Kong, who administered all of the civil affairs under the seal of the magistrate of Gushu County.

As the years passed and he grew old, Mr. Kong returned home. With the yellow hair of old age, bent shoulders, and handsome grandchildren, he enjoyed a happy old age. Observing the deterioration of metal and stone, he came to realize that everything has its beginning and its end. Thus [he built this shrine] in order to make plans to obtain blessings for thousands of years and the favor of Heaven.

Watching the craftsmen build the shrine gave him great satisfaction. The inner room of...