A Study On The Evolution Of The Identity Of The Xing Zhuang Author In The Tang And Song Dynasties

The posthumous biography is the applied style,subordinate to biographical literature,whose first basic function is to confer posthumous name on officials.In the Tang Dynasty,the basic functions of posthumous biography were determined,which were to request posthumous name for officials,compile the history of the country,and ask others to write epitaphs.At present,most of the academic researches on posthumous biography start from the perspective of its style and function,and carry out researches by means of tracing to the source of style,functional development and comparison of similar styles.From the perspective of authors,most of the studies are case studies.So the problems related to the group evolution of writers need to be solved,especially in the crucial period of the Tang and Song Dynasties which has important revolution.The evolution from official writing to private writing is the trend changes with the development of The Times and the major premise of the evolution of posthumous biography writers’ identity,which mainly involves the posthumous biography of requesting posthumous name for officials and of not requesting posthumous name for officials.From the vertical perspective,posthumous biography authors evolved from“Zhongzheng” designated by the government to three private relationship: protege,former subordinate,relatives and close friends.It is an evolution symbol in changing official writing to private writing.Firstly,it’s means the decline of “Zhongzheng”;secondly,the relatives and subordinates of the deceased had strong motives for creation;thirdly,the awareness of reviewing the biography of posthumous officials was strengthened in the process of requesting posthumous name.These three reasons contributed to the development of posthumous biography in the direction of private writing.From a horizontal perspective,people in Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty have different preferences on the identity of the writer under the three purposes of writing posthumous titles for officials,compiling national history and asking others to write epitaphs.For the purpose of granting official posthumous titles,the evolution of posthumous biography is divided into two stages: from the early Tang Dynasty to the middle and late Tang Dynasty,officials’ in-service subordinates evolved into former subordinates.The official’s assisting subordinate who wrote the posthumous biography was influenced by the official assessment system and his own job responsibilities.The rise of local shogunate led to the rapid expansion of former subordinate in the middle and late Tang dynasties.Based on the close relationship between officials’ former subordinates and officials,and the establishment of the posthumous biography censor institution,former subordinate gradually replaced assisting subordinates of the deceased in office as the mainstream of posthumous biography writers.From the middle and late Tang Dynasties to the Song Dynasty,former subordinates evolved into colleague.In the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty,the difference between the system of selecting officials and the system of appointing officials led to the decline of the former subordinate groups in the Song Dynasty.The bureaucratic system established by the imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty gave birth to a large group of colleagues.At the same time,people in the Song Dynasty attached great importance to the relationship with colleague,and the families of the deceased had requirement to writer who should be familiar with the deceased,good at writing history and skilled in literature.All of them contributed to the evolution of the author of posthumous biography from former subordinate to colleague.When the purpose of the creation is not to request a posthumous name for an official,in the posthumous biography,which was written for the compilation of national history,people in the Song Dynasty tended to choose colleagues or relatives who had experience in writing national history.It is influenced by several factors,such as the system and concept of compiling national history,the influence of the posthumous biography in which officials were asked for posthumous name,and the change of marriage concept.The social atmosphere of relatives writing was formed in the Tang Dynasty and became popular in the Song Dynasty.The number of posthumous biography that relatives asked others to write epitaphs was more in Song Dynasty,which was mainly influenced by many factors,such as the development of imperial examinations and education,the increase in the number of middle and lower class officials,the high cost of remuneration for a writer on epitaphs,and relatives’ desire to be filial to the deceased.The posthumous biography,which was written by a byline in place of the original author,is a special result of the evolution of the posthumous biography as an author from official to private writing.In this condition,authors’ identity transformation are complicated with the most common phenomenon is that the author was unable to create a biography for some reason and replaced by other finally,who wrote a posthumous biography from the perspective of the original author.The phenomenon was influenced by some reasons like the general mood of society and the lack of conditions for the author to write a biography.There are three main differences between the Tang and Song dynasties in creating a posthumous biography in place of the original authors: the main purpose was change from requesting posthumous name for officials to editing the history of the country,the author for writing epitaphs was other people,the identity of the deceased character tended to be diversified,and the identity of the author changed from protege and former subordinate to relatives and friends.