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China's Local Elites in Transition: Seventh- to Twelfth-Century

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China's Local Elites in Transition: Seventh- to Twelfth-Century epitaphs excavated in luzhou man xu China’s Local Elites in Transition: Seventh- to Twelfth-Century Epitaphs Excavated in Luzhou n the past century, inspired by a number of Japanese scholars, his- I torians have taken up the study of the political, economic, social, and cultural transformations that occurred in medieval China.1 It is widely believed that Song society stood in stark contrast to that of the Tang in terms of its unprecedented commercialization, urbanization, technological innovation, and the laicization of religion, all of which set the tone for the societal developments of late-imperial China. “The most dramatic of the changes associated with this so-called Tang-Song transition,” according to Nicolas Tackett, was “the transformation in the nature and composition of the Chinese sociopolitical elite.”2 In this paper I will undertake a trans-dynastic comparative study to understand the substantial transformation of elites over six centuries, from the Sui- dynasty (589–618) era to the end of the Northern Song period. Instead of conducting a general survey of the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1276) elites, I focus on elite members at the local level. Tang local elites, labeled by historians as “provincial elites,” were members of prominent hereditary clans who resided in their home territories and spent most of their lives outside the capital regions.3 In contrast, during Song the singular development of local elites is considered to have been I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for Asia Major, as well as Peter Bol, Rob- ert Hymes, Valerie Hansen, and Nicolas Tackett for their very helpful comments and con- structive advice. 1 For a review of Japanese, American, and Chinese scholarship on the Tang-Song transition, see Nicolas Tackett, The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2014), pp. 3–4. 2 Tackett cites the general view of differences between Tang and Song elites — the Tang aristocracy “defined its status on the basis of blood,” while elite Song families “justified their dominance of society and politics on the basis of talent and education.” Ibid., p. 5. 3 Denis Twitchett, “The Composition of the T’ang Ruling Class: New Evidence from Tun- huang,” in Arthur Wright and Denis Twitchett, eds., Perspectives on the T’ang (New Haven: Yale U.P., 1979), pp. 56–57, 76; Tackett, Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy, pp. 72–82. 59 man xu an education- and culture-based self- (and mutual-) identity.4 By far, the study of Song elites outside the capital has been disproportionally focused on the economically and culturally more advanced districts in South China, such as Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Fujian.5 In general, the story of how elites changed at the local level over the course of the Tang-Song transition remains largely unexplored. When and how did the composition of local elites change? Does the periodization pertain- ing to cultural and structural changes in the local elites adhere to that in the capital elite? What sociopolitical issues did cause their trans- formation? Did the degree to which local elite culture was integrated with metropolitan culture change over time? To what extent were the experiences of local elites in North China diversified in middle-period China?6 Do empire-wide generalizations of shifting elite values apply to North China? To answer these questions, we need more cases from North China to examine that take in extended timeframes. At no time in Chinese history has there been a homogenous cat- egory of “local elite.” Scholars of medieval and late-imperial China have convinced us that it is vital that we investigate regional variation in elite types.7 This article homes in on local elites from the seventh to the twelfth centuries in the prefecture of Luzhou in southeast Shanxi 山西, roughly equidistant from the Tang’s eastern capital at Luoyang and the Song’s capital at Kaifeng.8 The prosperity, turmoil, and de- 4 Based on the rich scholarship in local studies, Robert Hymes proposes that during the Northern-Southern Song transition “shih-oriented culture” gradually overrode the “court-ori- ented culture.” Robert Hymes, “Sung Society and Social Change,” in John Chaffee and Denis Twitchett, eds., The Cambridge History of China, Volume 5, Part Two: The Five Dynasties and Sung China (960–1279) AD (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 2015), pp. 627–50. 5 For instance, see Robert P. Hymes, Statesmen and Gentlemen: The Elite of Fu-chou, Chiang- hsi, in Northern and Southern Sung (New York: Cambridge U.P., 1986); Beverly J. Bossler, Powerful Relations: Kinship, Status, and the State in Sung China (960–1279) (Cambridge, Mass.: Council on East Asian Studies, 1998); Peter Bol, “The Rise of Local History: History, Geography, and Culture in Southern Song and Yuan Wuzhou,” H JAS 61 (2001), pp. 37–76; and Hugh Clark, Portrait of a Community (Hong Kong: The Chinese U.P., 2007). 6 Chang Woei Ong’s and Tackett’s studies of local elites in Guanzhong and Hebei in the Northern Song have suggested the diversity of the characteristics of local elites in North Chi- na. Ong, Men of Letters within the Passes: Guanzhong Literati in Chinese History, 907–1911 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2008); Tackett, “Wan Tang Hebeiren dui Song chu wenhua de yingxiang: yi sangzang wenhua, yuyin, yiji xinxing jingying fengmao weili” 晚唐河北人對宋初文化的影響, 以喪葬文化、語音、以及新興精英風貌為例, Tang yanjiu 唐研究 19 (2013), pp. 251–81. 7 For example, Tackett argues “it is essential to distinguish the capital region” “from the provinces in general” in the study of the Tang elite culture; Destruction of the Medieval Chi- nese Aristocracy, p. 10. Robert Hymes and Beverly Bossler study the Song elites in Fuzhou and Wuzhou, and reveal their different career approaches and marriage patterns. Hymes, States- men and Gentlemen; Powerful Relations. On elites in late-imperial China, Joseph Esherick and Mary Rankin point out that “because the available resources and social environments of local arenas differ markedly across China, we would expect corresponding differences among local 60 epitaphs excavated in luzhou cline that Luzhou experienced in the Tang, Five Dynasties, and Song periods were not uncommon among northern prefectures. Although its downward trajectory made its elites less powerful and prominent in the empire’s political landscape, it, interestingly, gave rise to a low- end elite culture that preserved an old aristocratic heritage that Song historians rarely see in South China.9 Sources This study of local elites is based on epitaphs inscribed on stone that were excavated in Luzhou and date from the seventh to the twelfth centuries. Scholars have different opinions regarding the origin of epi- taphs in Chinese history.10 Although the earliest tomb inscriptions can be traced to the Han dynasty, the real boom in epitaphs did not occur until the Tang era.11 The vast majority of Tang epitaphs was excavated in the capital regions, but a fair number were discovered in several provincial centers. Besides Xi’an and Luoyang, Luzhou is unmatched in terms of the number of epitaphs published in the last two decades. Sui Tang Wudai muzhi huibian 隋唐五代墓誌彙編 reproduces about 100 rubbings of Tang-period Luzhou epitaphs. Others are available in Tang- dai muzhi huibian 唐代墓誌彙編 (1992),12 and Tangdai muzhi huibian xuji 唐代墓誌彙編續集 (2001),13 which together transcribe seventy-four Lu- zhou epitaphs. In 2005, the Xi’an Stele Museum collected more than 150 Tang epitaphs from Luzhou, and compiled them into the volume Xi’an beilin bowuguan xincang muzhi huibian 西安碑林博物館新藏墓誌彙 elites”; Joseph Esherick, and Mary Rankin, eds., Chinese Local Elites and Patterns of Domi- nance (Berkeley: U. California P., 1990), p. 11. 8 Concerning transportation from Kaifeng to Luzhou in the Song, see Aoyama Sadao 青山 定雄, T± S± jidai no k±tsˆ to chishi chizu no kenkyˆ 唐宋時代の交通と地誌地圖の研究 (Tokyo: Yoshikawa k±bunkan, 1969), p. 32. 9 The study of local elites should include elite women, who were wives and daughters of male elites. In this article, one of the key questions relates to the frequency of office holding among the Luzhou elites. Because women were not officials, I do not deal with women’s epi- taphs excavated in Luzhou. 10 Zhao Chao 趙超, Gudai muzhi tonglun 古代墓誌通論 (Beijing: Zijingcheng chubanshe, 2003), pp. 32–52, understands epitaphs as first flourishing during the Period of Division, but with earlier roots in the Eastern Han; Zhao Chao, Shike shihua 石刻史話 (Beijing: Shehui ke- xue wenxian chubanshe, 2011), pp. 84–92. 11 Many Tang epitaphs survive in the collected works of their authors. In addition, thou- sands of epitaphs have been excavated and become the major primary sources that historians have employed to understand Tang society. See Tackett, Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy, p. 13. 12 Zhou Shaoliang 周紹良 and Zhao Chao, eds., Tangdai muzhi huibian 唐代墓誌彙編 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1992). 13 Zhou Shaoliang and Zhao Chao, eds., Tangdai muzhi huibian xuji 唐代墓誌彙編續集 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2001; hereafter, Xuji). 61 man xu 編. In total, the Luzhou epitaphs add up to roughly 300. In spite of the chaos across North China in the Five Dynasties, twelve recovered Lu- zhou epitaphs provide us with precious information by which we can begin to understand the impact that frequent dynastic transitions had on local elites.14 Song tombs containing epitaphs continue to be discovered through- out China in recent decades. Nevertheless, the overall number of Song- era excavated epitaphs is small in comparison to the Tang.15 And the extant examples are quite scattered geographically. Therefore, the epi- taphs that Song historians have examined come mostly from collected works (wenji 文集), which have preserved a substantial number of epi- taph transcriptions.16 More than 400 Song authors produced about 700 of these literary collections,17 however, taking into account the high level of literacy in the Song,18 it seems reasonable to assume they con- stituted a very small number of the total epitaph writers.
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