A Study Of Dated Tombs In Southern Hebei Dao Of Tang Dynasty

This paper takes dated tombs of Sui and Tang Dynasties in the region which is surrounded by Yanshan Mountains in the north, the Yellow River in the south, Taihang Mountains in the west, and the sea in the east, as studying objects. This region is roughly equivalent to the south of Hebei Dao in Tang Dynasty. This paper is divided into six parts:The first part of the paper is Preface. First, the purpose of the using of the concept"the south of Hebei Dao in Tang Dynasty"is to describe the region that is surrounded by Yanshan Mountains in the north, the Yellow River in the south, Taihang Mountains in the west, and the sea in the east more accuratly. Secondly, it recalled the background of the time of this region and the main results of the study of tombs. Before the An-Shih Rebellion, Hebei was a region which's "not affected by the Han culture". After the An-Shih Rebellion, Hebei became an independent region that is not under the control of the central government. In that case, tombs in this region are bound to be different. In recent years, with the accumulation of materials of tombs , tombs of Sui and Tang in Hebei region have been focused by many scholars. So far, we have a lot of relevant research results. On the basis of these study results, this thesis take dated tombs which have not been specifically studied, as the main studying objects.The second part of the paper is Chapter 1,"The discovery of tombs". This chapter reviewed the main discoveries of Sui and Tang dynasties's tombs in this region. We divided it into three main parts: Beijing area, Tianjin area and Hebei area."Hebei area"includes the northern parts of Henan and Shandong provinces also. Most tombs found in Beijing area dated middle and late Tang Dynasty. The number of tombs found in Tianjin area is less than the other two areas. Tombs found in Hebei area almost cover all phases of Sui and Tang dynasties. However, most of them belong to the flourishing period of Tang and late Tang Dynasty. Tombs of Sui were mainly discovered in Anyang which is in the north of Henan province. The third part of the paper is Chapter 2,"Typological analysis of dated tombs". It maily covers three aspects: the shape and structure of dated tombs, the composition and characteristic of Shensha figurines and patterns of epitaph'covers. 66 tombs discussed in this paper are tombs with conventional shape. Circular and square brick single-chamber tombs are the main parts of dated tombs in this region. Shensha figurines are common funerary objects of tombs during the period from Sui to the flourishing period of Tang. Monster figurines concentrated in the flourishing period of Tang. The size, decoration or ornamentation of epitaph's cover vary for different ranks of their owners, different regions or times they belong to. In the previous study of periodization of tombs, they were often ignored. This chapter discussed the types of epitaph'cover. After middle Tang , epitaph's covers with decoration of the Chinese zodiac are popular. This type of epitaph'cover can generally be divided into two groups which belong to two different phases——before and after the early years of the 9th century. The early years of the 9th century may be the boundary between the middle and late Tang Dynasty.The fourth part of of the paper is Chapter 3,"the characteristics of tombs of different stages". Based on previous chapter, with the combination of study results we have now at the same time, we summarized the characteristics of tombs of four periods: Sui, Early Tang, the flourishing period of Tang, Middle and Late Tang. Overall, there are both differences and personalities between tombs of this area and those of Liangjing area. However, the differences and personalities coexist at different historical periods, because of the strength of the central control over its volatile and other reasons. Tombs of Sui are directly inherited from tombs of the Northern Qi Dynasty. They are lack of distinctive characteristics. Although there are only a small number of tombs of Early Tang Dynasty discovered in this area, we can still find some new characteristics emerging in tombs of this stage in this region. At the late years of the reign of Emperor Taizong, typical characteristics of tombs in Liangjing area have appeared in this area. Tombs in the reign of Empress Wu are the most standardized. This situation can serve as a footnote of the strict system of tombs in the flourishing period of Tang. Square brick single-chamber tombs are popular. Figurines are the main part of burial artifacts. The basic compositions are the same. The emergence and use of monster figurines in this period are different from Liangjing Areas. During this period,Zhenmu figurines have some new characteristics, that is, being stranger and more ferocious. It should be subject to the impact of the local monster figurines. It can be seen as a transformation of official figurines. An-Shih Rebellion is a turning point in the evolution of the Sui and Tang tombs in the northern region. Tombs in Hebei area could not from this great historical background. Enormous changes have taken place at the late years of Kaiyuan period. The early years of the 9th century. may be the boundary between the middle and late Tang Dynasty.The fifth part of the paper is Chapter 4,"Related questions". This chapter discussed three questions: circular tombs, Shensha figurines and ranks of dated tombs. Circular tomb came into being in the flourishing period of Tang, and occasionally seen in the mid-Tang period. The number of circular tombs increase in the late Tang period. However, circular tombs have never been the main parts of tombs in this area. With comparison to other surrounding areas, the appearance of circular tombs in this area may be the results of impact from Chaoyang region. The use of circular tombs is a local tradition of Hebei area. The rejuvenation of circular tombs in the Middle and Late Tang period should be a result of the weakening control of centrol government over this area. Figurines from tombs of Sui and Early Tang period are similar to other areas. However, the placing of samurai figurines seem to have their own characteristics, that is, paying more attention to the warrior figurines, and often placed them in front of the whole group of figurines. Moreover, zhenmu figurines became stranger and more ferocious in the flourishing period of Tang. This should be subject to the impact of the local monster figurines. It can be seen as a transformation of official figurines. Monster figurines are popular in Shanxi, Hebei and Chaoyang areas. Monster figurines are mainly found in tombs of the flourishing period of Tang in Hebei area. They are mainly distributed in the central and southern parts of Hebei. Typological analysis of these figurines showed that they can be divided into two groups. With comparison to other surrounding areas, we believed that the appearance of monster figurines in this area may be the results of impact from Shanxi region. Dated tombs are important to study the hierarchy of tombs. Based on the materils published so far ,it is hard to build sequence of ranks of tomb in this area. In this chapter, this quesyion has only be briefly discussed.The sixth part of the paper is the conclusion. It summarizes the main research results of this paper, and points out existing questions.