Study Of Epitaphs'"Yili" In Tang Dynasty

"Li(例)"is usually defined as a recording system for the same events with the same skill,usually there are some implications behind it, so it gets another term "Yili(义例)"In view of the fact that some scholars of that time neglected the normal conventions when composing tomb inscription/epitaphs, Pan Ang-xiao of Yuan Dynasty wrote a book entitled Jinshili (《金石例》), followed by two books as the supplement to it. They were Wang Hang's Muming Juli(《墓铭举例》)in Ming Dynasty and Huang Tsunghsi's Jinshi Yaoli(《金石要例》)in Qing Dynasty. The publication of these books laid a foundation of Sphragistics. The compilation and publication of the books like Jinshi Yili was intended to guide to writing, but along with the collapse of the empire, writing of epitaphs lost the practical significance, so Sphragistics crumpled since then. In recent years, with more and more Stone Inscription unearthed and flourishing of stylistics, more and more scholars began devoting to the study of Sphragistics.This dissertation consists of five chapters:Chapter One The study on the title of epitaphs in Tang Dynasty. Complying with the laws and decrees, the Shou-ti in the epitaph of an official at Tang Dynasty usually mention the subject's last title in his political career, but if there was a chance the composer was intended to mention his highest one, displaying a strong tendency of honor. If the couples were buried together, the epitaphs usually mentioned the male subject, aiming at holding out the righteousness of wife subordination to husband. This was a usual practice in Tang Dynasty. It was a rare case to mention the wife in the epitaph. The appearance of the special cases left a cause for gossip to the composers to come, resulting in more similar cases. In the epitaphs at Wei Jin,Nan and North dynasties, it was rare to mention of subject's Jun-wang. The cases with the mention of the subject's Jun-wang accounted for10percent low before Tang Dynasty, following a clear increase at Kai-yuan period and reaching to50percent before and after Tian-bao period. This became a usual practice at Mid-Post-Tang dynasty. This phenomenon was closely correlated with the changes in the social morality that intelligentsias are more likely to choose his cemetery at the place where he lived and worked in stead of his birthplace. It is because that it needs to mention the origin of his surname.Chapter Two The study on the composers It was rare to see the mention of signature of author at the early Tang dynasty. The situation changed after Kai-yuan period and this became a usual practice mention author's name in an epitaph after Mid-Tang Dynasty. It was correlated with the people's sense that they paid importance to collect and compiled their works so that they could be passed down. In the early period of Tang Dynasty, following the traditions, for most epitaphs, there were no author's signatures. Even though there was, it did not have fixed position in an epitaph. In the prosperous period of Tang Dynasty, the cases that author left his signature before the body of the epitaphs clearly increased, and entering the Mid-and-Later Tang Dynasty, it occupied a leading position. Where to leave his signature? It was a question of etiquette as well as a format of writing for authors of epitaphs. Tang Dynasty witnessed the changes in writing format of epitaphs:from etiquette writing to format writing. With the increases of the cases, there were more and more epitaphs in which the authors themselves frequently appeared, explaining the reasons of writing, providing the aims of writing, or expressing a sentiment. And if they did, they always appeared in the first person "I" or "Me". This practice is summarized in this dissertation as a self-expression of the author. In their self-expressions, the authors at Tang Dynasty paid importance to the "principles of faithfulness". However, overdoing it to a large extent formed a obstacle to the course of development in stylistic consciousness. For the consideration of faithfulness and avoiding suspicions, more epitaphs were written by agents. This became a common practice for a time. And consequently, numbers of epitaphs written by relatives increased slowly. However, with the changes in situation, notion, etc, it finally became a social trend for relatives to write epitaphs by themselves. Objectively, epitaphs written by relatives strengthened the function of expressions of feeling and casted the light on the characteristic of the subject. Briefness is the soul of historical works while expression of emotion and description in details is the strongpoint of fiction. Relatives writing epitaphs for the dead objectively promoted the changes in style from historical writing to literature expression.Chapter Three Text Study The development of epitaphs before Tang Dynasty emphasized the completeness of the key elements and the tightness of structure, achieving a complete, orderly and balanced text. This style exerted a decisive influence on characteristic of epitaphs at Tang Dynasty. In the courses of improvement, such elements like kinship origin, wife and offspring, etc, were unusually active ones. Epitaphs for couples burring together could be seen as a fixed model since North-wei Dynasty. It was a rare case for living wife to see her dead husband's epitaph from Han to early Tang Dynasty; however, it became more and more usual since Mid-and-Post Tang Dynasty and slowly became a common practice. This case at Tang Dynasty was closely correlated with the centralization of intelligentsias. Migrant intelligentsias lost contact with their relatives, and in case of no offspring after death, his wife was forced to take charge of the funeral and burial services. And with increase of the cases, there were no surprise to see wife's appearance in the epitaph of her husband at a high ratio. Before Kaiyuan period, following the tradition of North Dynasty and Sui dynasty, epitaphs did mention names of every son of the subject. However, it was another story in the period of Kai-yuan, numbers of epitaphs in which the names of every son were mentioned increased to a large degree. The changes continued since then. There were at least two factors accounting for the trend:one was reform in the system official examinations; another one was the neglect of the funeral system itself. At the whole Tang Dynasty, epitaphs in the early period followed the tradition of North Dynasty, pursuing the grand beauty, while those at the later period emphasized the realization of the characteristic of the subject. There were profound social and cultural reasons for the great changes. But referring to the specific element, narrative skill like "flash back" provided an effective one for the creation of a character. With the adoption of new skills, the tradition was surpassed.Chapter Four The study of the stylistics Tightness in structure and completeness in content were two characteristic of the epitaphs at the early Tang Dynasty. Epitaphs in which those elements like origin of surname, personalities, etc. were omitted were secondary types of writing in the early period of Tang Dynasty, and became a mainstream at Mid-Tang Dynasty. The changes in style of epitaphs at early Tang Dynasty reflected the fall in the position of body, the strengthening of function expression of emotion and clear classification in function between the preface and the body. These changes could be seen in style:epitaphs wrote in the style of "Saoti" outnumbered those of "Verse"(four characters), leading to fall of the tradition in which the "four-character" ones occupied a leading position. The result was that the epitaphs became colorful in style. By asking capable scholar-agents to write it, the relatives had two purposes:to honor his family and to make it a classic so as to be passed down. Besides, avoiding suspicion was a worthwhile consideration in some cases. The numbers that one author wrote the preface and the other wrote the body decreased and the change reflected the fact that people paid less and less importance to the matter of suspicion-avoiding.Chapter Five The study of writing process and the formation of the Ylli The sources of writing epitaphs were various, and variety would change with the changes of the times and changes in subjects. There were some holding the idea that when scholar-agent writing epitaphs and relatives providing the composer with the sources of the subject, the relatives were most likely to choose Hsing-chuang. This was an one-side view. The Yili of epitaphs were decided together by the author and the relatives, reflecting the shared Knowledge of the two in Yili. The researches that overemphasized the creativity of the master author were worth discussing.Through the study of the Yili in the epitaphs, it could be seen that the change in style from Pan to San is just a facial phenomenon, while practical significance lies in the research on the change in deep structure which leads to the change in appreciation of the beauty.