Where Are They Going? Where Did They Come From? - Hearse and 'Soul-carriage' in Han Dynasty Tomb Art

Wu Hung

mages of chariots are abundant in Han period (206 BCE-CE corresponding section of the inscription reads: I 220) tombs and serve ditJerent purposes. Some indicate the official rank of the tomb occupant or pertain to events in his Ascending the bridge over the Wei river, life, while others depict funerary processions as well as imagi­ Here appear ofticial chariots and horsemen. nary tours taken by the souL This paper focllses on chariot The Head Clerk is in front, images of the second kind. Because of their dual function of And the Master of Records is behind. representing actual ritual events and a fictional time/space after Together with th em are the Chief of a Commune, death, these images link life and afterlife into a continuous The Assistant Commandant of Cavalry, metaphorical journey, in which death is conceived as a liminal And a barbarian drawing his cross-bow. experience. Instead of elaborating on the already rich scholar­ Water !lows under the bridge; ship on the nomenclature of ancient chariots, therefore, this A crowd of people arc fishing. essay aims to uncover the logic of funerary ritual and ritual art. Servant boys are paddling a boat, In particular, I want to explore the role of chariot images in Ferrying Iyour] wives across the river. signifying movement and time. Moreover, by tracing the devel­ opment in burial practices from the interment of actual chariots The Wei river was famous during the Han period. Flowing north i.n the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE-CE 9) to the substitution of the Western Han capital Chang'an (present-day Xj'an in of pictorial images during the Eastern Han (25-220), we can Shaanxi province), it separated the city from the royal mausolea better understand an important mechanjsm of aI1istic creation on the river's north bank. Several Han emperors built bridges in Han art. across this river to link the capital with their own tombs, and The most explicit representation ofa bipartite journey - first imperial gUaI'ds and hundreds of officials accompanied their a funerary procession to the grave and then an imaginary tour departed lords across these bridges. The Wei river, then, must in the afterlife - is seen in an Eastern Han tomb located at have become a general symbol of death, and thus it is not Cangshan in southeastern Shandong province, which is se­ surplising to find reculTing images of a Wei river bridge (Wei curely dated by an inscription in the tomb to 151 . Amazingly, Qiao or Weishui Qiao) in Han dynasty burials. ln the enormous this inscription also explains the tomb's carvings in a coherent Helingeer tomb in Inner Mongolia (c. late 2nd century), a narrative (Wu, 1994). To summarize, the writer of the inscrip­ depiction of such a bridge appears above the passageway lead­ tion, who was most probably the designer of the tomb, begins ing from the middle to the rear chamber. Most of the pictures his description in the rear chamber where the coffin lay. Images in the middle chamber illustrate the cities and towns where the in this section are all mystical in nature and include heavenly deceased held office during his career; the rear chamber has no beasts and intertwining dragons. He then moves on to identify such scenes but is embellished with images of an ideal afterlife, the pictures in the main ohamber. Here, human figures become which include a large estate and an immortal 'moon place' . The the principal subject, and one finds a funerary journey repre­ Wei river bridge painted over the entrance to the rear chamber sented in two horizontal compositions on the east and west thus both separates and connects life and the afterlife. A chariot walls above two niches. The first picture, on the west wall, procession depicted crossing the bridge further supplies a sense shows a chariot procession crossing a river (Fig. I a). The of movement from the former to the latter.

(Fig. I a) Rubbing of mural showing the crossing of the Wei river bridge Main chamber, west wall , Cungshan, Shandong province Eastern Han period, 151 Stone carving Height 51 em. width 169 em (After Wu. 1995. tig. 4.49)

22 (Fig. I b) Rubbing of mural showing rhe greeting of rhe funerary procession Main chamber, easr wall, Cangshan. Shundong province Eastern Han period. 151 Heighr 30 cm, widrh 146 em (After Wu. 1995, fig. 4.50)

In the Cangshan tomb, the chariot procession crossing the a hearse. This distinction is confirmed by a scene in the Hel­ bridge consists of male officials, while the wives of the de­ ingeer tomb, which also depicts the deceased being accompa­ ceased are taking a boat across the river, shown flowing under nied by his wives during a funerary journey. Here, however, the the bridge. (Perhaps the reason for this aITangement is that yin chariot following the wives' ping-can-iage is a long wagon [female] has to be separated from yang [male], and water covered with a vaulted awning. As I will demonstrate later, this embodies the yin principle.) As the funerary journey continues is a typical image of a hearse in Han art. onto the east wall, however, it becomes more private, and the The funerary journey in the Cangshan tomb ends at a wives take over the main role in the ritual practice, accompa­ ling-station (see Fig. Ib), which, in earthly life, was a guest nying their husband to the burial ground (Fig. I b) : house for travellers, but is depicted here to symbolize a tomb. Entering the station signifies burial: the deceased will live in [The women] ihen sit in a small ping-carriage; his underground home for eternity. This is why. up to this point, Following a horseman, they gallop to a ling-station. the deceased is represented only by symbols. In the next picture, The awaiting oUker youxi [patrolman [ pays them an audience, however, he is portrayed in his human form. The following And Ihen apologizes for his departure. scenes represent an idealized underworld: the deceased is At the rear [of the chariot procession I, shown accompanied by immortal 'jade maidens' , enjoying Ayong che [ram carriage[ symbolizes a hearse; musical and dance pelfonnances, and he takes a grand outdoor Above, divine birds are tlying among drifting clouds. tour. This last scene on the tomb's fas:ade (Fig. Ic) is described in the inscription: This passage identifies three components of the funerary pro­ cession represented in the picture: a horseman who guides the The face of the door lintel: procession, a ping-carriage for the wives and a ram-drawn You are now taking a tour. carriage for the dead. Both types of carriage are recorded in Chariots are guiding the retinue out, transmitted texts. Aping-carriage is identified in the Han period While horsemen remain at home. dictionary Shi Ming as a covered sedan for women. The term The dudu flow-ranking military official] is in front. yang che is a pun on xiang che ('auspicious carriage' ), because And the zeicoo [policeman1is at the rear. yang Cram' ) and xian,r;: ('auspiciousness' ) are homonyms. Above. tigers and dragons arrive with good f0l1une ; (This is why so many Han tombs include ram images as lucky A hundred birds tly over bringing abundant wealth. symbols.) A xiang che is recorded in the early Han period text Li Ji as a carriage whose 'seat should be left empty ' during a This chariot procession differs fundamentaUy from the pre­ funeral (Ruan, camp., p. 1,253). The commentaries explain that vious ones in the main chamber: instead of representing a this is because the carriage was used by the deceased when he funerary ritual. it depicts ajourney taken by the deceased's soul was alive, but as a hun che - a vehicle to transport his invisible after the funeral. Not coincidentally, this joumey reverses the soul - in his funeral procession. This 'soul-carriage', then, is orientation of the funerary procession; running left to right not a hearse: its image in the Cangshan mural only 'symbolizes' instead of right to left, it is directed towards the Queen Mother

(Fig. I c) Rubbing of mural showing the posthumous journey of the soul Linlel fa~ade , Cangshan, Shandong province Height 51 cm. width 246 cm Easrern Han period, 151 IAfter Wu, 1995. tig. 4 .52)

23 (Fi g. 2a ) Rubbing of mural showing funerary rituals Sarcophagus, Weishan, ShJndong province Han period, lale 1,1 l:cntury BCE-CE earl y I sl century Sl ll nc carving Heighl SI cm. wi dth 252 em (A fter Wang el aI. , fi g. 3) of the West (Xiwangmu), a principal immOI1al in Han mythol­ during which guests visited the deceased's home and offered ogy, whose image appears on a column supporting the door gifts to his descendants. Interpreted in this way, this scene leads lintel. logically to the next, which illustrates a funerary procession centred on a large, four-wheeled hearse. The ten people pulling f thc funerary procession is represented symbolically in the the hearse are most Iikely acquaintances of th e deceased, while I Cangshan tomb, it is rendered in more realistic form in other the four men and four women following it may be his family burials. An early example of such realistic representations is members (Wang et al., p. 7(7). The procession moves toward a found on a stone sarcophagus from Wei shan in Shandong graveyard, shown in the third composition, in which a burial province. Dating from the late Western or early Eastern Han pit , perfectly rectangular in shape, has been prepared in front of period, this and other stone sarcophagi discovered in recent three triangular tumuli, probably belonging to the ancestors of archaeological excavations have provided new evidence forthe the family. Groups of gentlemen are sitting or standing next to early development of funerary stone carvings. One of the long the grave, either paying homage or offering libations. sjdes of this sarcophagus is carved with three rectangular com­ positions separated by wide frames (Figs 2a and b). The left (Fi g. 3a) Runbing of Illural showing funerary proceSS ion picture shows a tall figure presenting a roll of silk to a child. Middle chamber, north wall, Yi ' nan, Shandong prov ince Although this scene bears some resemblance to the popular Eastern Han period, lale 2nd cClllury motif of Confucius paying respect to t.he 'boy genius' Xiang Slone carving (After Nanjing Bowuguan , Y; '/lal1 Gil HttOX;£I111j Tuo, it more likely represents an important funerary ritual Sit; Mil Faille B{/og£lo. 1956, pI. 50, nl>. 39)

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(Fig. 2b) Line drawing of the mural in Figure 2a (After Wang et aI. , fig. 10) Created during the early phase of pictorial carvings and in retinue are three chariots of different typologies: the first is a a remote area, this sarcophagus is na"ive both in carving tech­ dao che, or a canopied 'leading carriage'; it is followed by a nique and pictoIial style, but the artist's intention to represent windowless sedan with a sloping roof and then by a covered actual funerary rites is unmistakable. The juxtaposition of the wagon, whose long and nalTOW carriage has a vaulted awning. three scenes also implies a temporal sequence from the world Based on the carvings found in the Cangshan tomb, I previously of the living to the world ofthe dead, with the transition between identified the second chariot as a ping-carriage and the third as the two realms being established by the funerary procession. a hearse. I would like to revise this identification and propose About two centuries later, a set of much more sophisticated a more likely possibility - the last two chariots are both for the representations of funerary rituals was created for a large tomb dead, the difference between them being that one carries the at Yi' nan in southeast Shandong, not far from Cangshan. I have body of the deceased and the other transports his soul. contended previously that many pictures in the front and middle According to the Yt Li, a series of rites was conducted in the chambers of t.his tomb depict mortuary rites based on descrip­ ancestral temple of the deceased's family on the day before the tions in the Eastern Zhou period (770-221 BeE) text }i Li and burial. Two types of carriages were displayed in the temple that the various buildings at the foci of these scenes are likely eoul1yard: a hearse and one or more chariots used by lhe ritual structures, such as an ancestral temple, funerary shrine deceased when he was alive. The Eastern Han author Zheng and tomb. This theory has been greatly developed by Lydia Xuan (127-200) explained the use of the second type: '[The Thompson, whose doctoral dissertation provides the first com­ ritual of displaying it in the templeJ is modelled on the custom prehensive reading of the pictures in this extraordinary tomb ofa living person displaying his chariot before taking ajoumey. (Thompson, 1<)98). The present discussion on Yi' nan chariot Nowadays, people call it a "soul-caITiage" [hun che1.' This images supplies fU11her evidence for her general interpretation chariot is therefore identical to the 'auspicious chariot' recorded of the tomb's decorative programme. in the Li Ji and depicted in the Cangshan tomb (see Fig. I b). On the nOl1h wall of the middle chamber. horses gallop and The li Li also stipulates that when the hearse delivers the coffin a chariot procession moves swiftly leftward (Fig. 3a). Their of the deceased to the graveyard the following day, it should be destination is a que-pillar gate, in front of which two officials accompanied by the soul-carriage, which should travel to the greet the procession. Thompson's idea that this gate marks the tomb with its seat unoccupied (Ruan, comp., pp. 1,147-49). entrance to a graveyard can be sustained by an additional piece The connection between this record in the }i Li and lhe of evidence: on top of each pillar stands a pole bearing a cross Yi' nan procession scene is established by another picture in the called a biao - a funerary symbol. This image appears in an early sixth century stone carving which depicts a filial son (Fig. 3b) Rubbing of mural showing rituals inlhe anccstraltempie kneeling between two such crosses while paying homage to a Fronl chamber, south wall, Yi'nan. Shandong province tomb mound (Wu, I <)<)5, fig. 5.8) . The scene in the Yi 'nan tomb Easlern Han period, latc 2nd cCn!ury must therefore illustrate a funerary procession. Included in the (After Nanjing Bowuguan, Yi'1l111l GI/ HuC/xillllg Sili -"viti Fl1jlle Baogao, 1956, pI. 29. no. 7)

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• (Fig. 4) Rubbing of l11ural , how ing fun erary procession Linyi. Shandong province Eastern Han period, l11id - 10 laic 2nd century Slone carvi ng Height 26 ('111 , widlh 248 e l11 (After Shandong Sheng Bowuguan and Shandong Sheng Wenwu Kaogu Yanjiusu(). Shallc/ollg HIlCixiallgsiJi XU((lIji, Jinan. 1980. fig. 3(6) tomb: a large, horizontal composition on the south wall of tbe opinion, however, ignores the pictorial context of these images, front chamber depicting ritual events taking place around a which always occupy important positions in a tomb and some­ two-storeyed building (Fig. 3b). Robed gentlemen, either times even define the focus of a composition, as seen, for kneeling or bowing, arc paying homage in the direction of the example, in the Eastem Han period carving in Figure 6. Archae­ building, while on the ground have been placed wine jars, sacks ological excavations of certain imp0!1ant Western Han tombs of grain and a number of boxes. Thompson identifies these containing remains of actual calTiages provide additional evi­ objects as mortuary gifts offered to the deceased's family and dence for identifying this chariot as a hearse. the occasion as Mourning Procedures Before the Burial, held One such burial is the famous Mancheng Tomb No. I of in the ancestral temple the day before the burial. This identifi­ Prince Liu Sheng, who ruled the Zhongshan principality (in cation can be fUlther suppol1ed by the two groups of chariots present-day Hebei province) from 154 to 113 BeE. As shown stationed on either side of the building. Tbe group to the right in a tentative reconstruction illustrated in Figure 7a, the tomb includes a roofed sedan and the group to the left a wagon with consists of three main sections: the first includes two side a vaulted awning. This picture cOlTesponds to the specification chambers, a storage room and a stable, located near the en­ in the Yt Li that the soul-carriage and the hearse be displayed in trance. The main chamber was fashioned into a reception hall different places in the temple compound. As we have seen, these centred on two covered scats, around which vessels, lamps and two chariots reappear in the funerary procession represented in tigurines were amll1ged in rows, suggesting a banquet or sacri­ the middle chamber, but in that depiction, the sedan is covered fice. Separated from this central hall by a stone gate were the with curtains on four sides (see Fig. 3a). The temple ritual scene private qUaJters of the deceased prince. His body disintegrated in the front chamber thus confirms the identity of the three long ago; what has survived is a 'jade body' which originally chariots in the funerary procession as a leading calTiage, a encased the corpse. I have written about this 'jade body' and soul-calTiage and a hearse. It should be noted that procession the tomb's architectural symbolism (Wu, 1997), but that discus­ scenes consisting of these three types are frequently found in sion does not address a very important component of the tomb: Han period funerary carvings, such as those from Linyi and the two horse-drawn chariots in the vestibule before the main Fushan (both in Shandong province) illustrated in Figures 4 and chamber. The excavators noticed that by being placed in this 5. The scene in the Yi ' nan tomb, however, is the only such position, these two chariots seem to have been deliberately example I know which shows the c3tTiages in the context of a distinguished from those in the stable (Zhongguo Shehui temple ritual. Because of this scene, we are able to understand Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo and Hebei Sheng Wenwu Guan­ the procession as an integral component of the funerary ritual, Iichu, p. 179). The excavation report includes a drawing of the conveying the body and soul of the deceased from the ancestral remains of the disintegrated chariots, but the authors did not temple to his tomb. attempt to reconsUl.tct or identify the carriages. Still, the draw­ ing is quite useful, yielding to a careful observer invaluable conventional view of the chariot with a vaulted awning ­ information about the form of the chariots (Fig. 7b). Of particu­ A identified here as a hearse - is that it represents a freight lar importance are the small metal fittings which would have wagon for transporting heavy goods (Zhao, pp. 79-80). This originally embellished the wooden fram ework of the roof or

(Fig. 5) Ruhbing of Illural showing funerary procession Fu,han, Shanciong province Eastern Han period, mid- to latc 2nd century Slone carvi ng Height 49 elll, width 19X em (Afre r Shanciong Sheng BOlVuguan and Shandong Sheng WenlVu Kaogu Yanjiusuo. S/wlldong HlI(lxiollgshi Xl/lInji. Jinan. 19S0. pI. 240. jig. 5X5)

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(Fig. 6) Rubbing of mural showing a he~rse and a rider ZOllxi~n. Shandong province Eastern H~n period. 2nd century Slone carving Hcight 60 Cill. width 233 ern (A ftcr Shandong Sheng Bowuguan ..md -" Shandong Sheng WenwlI Kaogll Yanjiusuo. Shalldollg Tomb of Liu Sheng HI/(/xiclIIgshi Xl/ullji. , 10mb passage filled Wilh rubble Jinan. J980. fig. ~8) , 2 entrance hall ~ 3 storage area 4 slable 5 central chamber 6 burial chamber 7 bathroom 8 encircling corridor

canopy. Though found on the ground in a (Fig. 7a) Reconstruction of the seemingly chaotic jumble, these metal Tomb of Prince Liu Sheng pieces outlined distinct enough shapes (Manchcng Tomb No.1), (marked with dotted lines in the drawing) to Hebei province Western Han period, 11 3 BeE indicate the typology of each chariot. Fif­ (After Wen Fong, cd., The teen such fittings from the first chariot form Creal Bral1~e Age ojChina, a rough circle: clearly, they decorated the New York, 1980, fig. 11 2) spokes of an umbrella whieh originally stood on a chariot that must have resembled ...... the leading caniage in the Yi'nan funerary 1c1:. ­ procession scene (see Fig. 3a). Only eleven 'T. fittings remain from the second chariot. In­ 'V ..]rG1C~ stead of forming a circle, they outline a curved contour which suggests the (ront (Fig. 7b) Remains of two \ hOf';e,drawn chariots in the opening of the vaulted awning on a wagon. r.;:> ,-t------"W "~1: Again, we tind an image of this wagon in the 1ii" i ..,< of, /f'-' Tornb of Prince Liu Sheng ' r.- ~/ "- " I (lvlancheng Tomb No.1) Yi ' nan picture. (After Zhongguo Shehui Another group of chariots \.... as found in Kexueyuan Kaogll Dabaotai Tomb No. I near Beijing, probably ... Yanjiusuo and Hcbei Sheng belonging toPrince Liu Jian, who died in 45 "• J ~ ,. Wenwu GU.anlichu, fig . 125) .#< A =,. BeE. Unlike the earlier Mancheng tomb, - iir • which was buiJt inside a mountain cliff, this ••'c: ~ C;~ \I tomb was constructed entirely of thick tim­ , ";~~ g ber. Another ditlerence to the Mancheng 11: .I': ,.:." .~~ I ~, ~ W"!!' tomb is that not two, but three chariots were . · :o· ~ } bUlied in front of the main chamber (Fig. 8a). The first and third chariots in this group are identical in typology to the two Maneheng chariots. The first had an um­ I ~-~_...J,. r brella standing on a very shallow caniage

27 (Fig. 8b). Although the third chariot can not be reconstructed The two groups of chariots in the Mancheng and Dabaotai because of insufficient data, enough remained to allow the tombs share a peculiar feature: th ey were placed facing out­ excavators to describe it as 'a large wagon with a vaulted ward, not inward. In other words, it seems thaI after the de­ awning, larger than the two chariots in front of it, [with a] ceased had been sent from the ancestral temple to his grave, the carriage that was especially narrow and deep' (Dabao Hanmu chariot procession was tumed around to face the outside before Fajue Zu, p. 85). In their opinion, it was very likely a hearse, the tomb was sealed. This tinal position, therefore, implies an while the first chariot probably served to guide a funerary orientation opposite to that of the funerary procession. If this procession. Their reconstruction of the second chariot shows a orientatjon indicates a joumey, its destination could not possi­ roofed seda~ , which they tentatively identified as the main bly be the tomb, now behind the chariots. Having answered the vehicle of the tomb occupant (Fig. 8c). These three chariots are question about where these chariots came from , we now face almost identical to those depicted in the funerary procession another question: Where are they going? scenes from Yi ' nan and other tombs (see Figs 3a, 4 and 5). Since This question has been paJ1ially answered by the Cangshan the Mancheng tomb lacked th e second chariot, it is possible that inscripti()l1 ci ted at the beginning of this essay: the chariot a 'tripartite' procession consisting of a leading carriage, a procession carved above the tomb's entrance represents an soul-carriage and a hearse was not introduced until the late imaginary tour taken by the deceased's soul. This procession, Western Han and was then represented pictorially in funerary in fact, has nothing to do with a funerary ritual, but, as stated art during the Eastern Han. earlier, depicts the fUl1her transformation of the soul in the

--+-~

~; .. .,.', . c::;~ :;~t~:.~<- i; '" ~ M:

(Fig. 8a) Remains of three horse-drawn chariots in Dabaotai Tomb No.1 Westcm Han period, c. 45 BeE (After Dabaotai Hanmu Fajue Zu. tigs 71 a and b)

(Fig. 8b) ReconSLruction of the firsL charioL in Dabaotai Tomb No. I (After DabaoLai Hanmu Fajue Zu, tig. 72)

(Fig. 8e) Reconstruction of the second chariot in Dabaotai Tomb No. I (AfLer DabaoLai Hanmu Fajue Zu, iig. 70)

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~ (Fig. t)a) Ruhhing of a ceiling Slone of a funerary shrine showing mOllrner~ and the journey of the soul Wu family cemetery, Jiaxiang, Shandong province Eastern Han period, mid-2nd century Stone carving (After Edouard Chavannes, Missioll lIrciJeologique dOlls /0 Chine sepfel1lriona/e, Paris, I t)Ot) , tome 2, vol I, pi (31)

(Fig. 9h) Line drawing of the scene shown on the ceiling SlOne in Figure 9a

afterlife, While the inscription does not specify the end-point probably belonging to the dead husband, stops next to a male of the journey, the procession clearly moves toward the Queen deity, the King Father of the East (Dongwanggong), Mother of the West portrayed on the right door column, This The two vehicles undertaking this heavenly journey resem­ reading is confirmed by another second century carving, origi­ ble the second chariot in the Yi' nan procession scene and are nally a ceiling stone from a funerary shrine in Jiaxiang, Shan­ clearly the soul-carriages 01' a deceased couple, However, in dong province (Figs 9a and b), A masterpiece of Han funerary some cases, especially in remote regions in Shaanxi and art. this carving vi vidly represents the soul's journey after death. Sichuan provinces, a hearse with a vaulted awning is sometimes At thc bollom of the composition, three men have just descend­ shown about to approach the Queen Mother or to enter the Gate ed from their chariot and horses, They are mourners who carry to Hcaven, as in the depiction on a sarcophagus from Leshan funerary banners, and they are depicted slowly approaching a (Sichuan province) in Figure 10, This is understandable: just as group of mOltuary structures which include a shrine, a que-pil­ at Cangshan a ~oul-carriage could symbolize a hearse, here the lar gate and a tomb mound, Thcir leader raises his head and left hearse assumes a double role, acting also as a soul-carriage, The arm, and following his motion, we find a thread of cloud rising real importance of all these carvings, however, is that as picto­ upward from the tumulus, Along the cloud's swirling path, two rial images they gave concrete form to ideas that were only covered sedans pulled by winged horses are ascending, greeted vaguely implied by the chmiots buried in the Mancheng and by fairies and immortals. The chariot with a female driver, most Dabaotai tombs, In those earlier tombs, a single group of likely belonging to a deceased wife, halts in front of the Queen chariots pertained to two stages of a posthumous journey - the Mother of the West, while the chariot with a male driver, first starting from the ancestral temple and ending at the tomb,

29 . . , , "

(Fig. 10) Rubbing of mural showing the soul's heavenly journey Sar~l>phagu~. Leshan, Sichuan province Eastern H~n period. 2nd century Stone carving Height 77 Col, width 2 13 Col (After Gao Wen and Gao Chenggang, ZhonggLio HuC/xiong Shiguoll Yis/w , Taiyuan, 1996, fig, 45, I) ·.:.

" , ' and the second beginning at the tomb and reaching, it was II a). Three vaulted chambers of this tomb are built as a con­ hoped, immortal paradise, The shift between the two stages was tinuous tunnel, and pictorial tiles and slone carvings decorate realized by changing the chariots' orientation from facing inside the antechamber and main chamber in two hOlizontal bands to facing outside the tomb. (Fig. II b). Entering the tomb, images of que-pillars on the two This bipartite journey was not only given explicit pictorial walls fonTI a symbolic gateway. Each wall of the main chamber form during the Eastern Han period, but actually became a bears a depiction of a chaliot procession, but the two proces­ powerful impulse towards artistic creation, inspiring altists to sions move in opposite directions. To the right as one enters, a invenl various ways of representing it. Several examples dis­ group of horses and chariots is shown having passed the que­ cussed earlier, including the Cangshan carvings and the gate and moving toward an elaborate banquet inside the tomb; Jiaxiang ceiling stone, are the result of such invention. A tomb to the left, a much grander procession occupies the entire length at Yangzishan ncar Chengdu in Sichuan province introduced of the wall and is depicted leaving the tomb. another pictorial formula for representing this journey (Fig. This pictorial programme, which graphically conveys the

(Fig. Ila) Model of Yangzishan Tomb No, Near Chengdu. Sichuan province Eastern Han period, 2nd century (After Lucy Lim. ed" Stories ji'OI1l China:­ Past , San Francisco, 1987, p, 191 )

(Fig. lib) Interior of Yangzi~h a n Tomb No, (After Lucy Lim, ed" SlOriesji'olll Chino:­ Past, San Francisco, 1987, pp. 192-93)

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41 (Fig. 12a) Mural showing riders entering the IOmh Entryway, east wall, tomb of Lou Rui, Taiyuan, Shanxi province Northern Qi period, late 6th century (After ZllOlIggu() Yishu, Beijing, no. I. pp. 28-29)

(Fig. 12h) Mural showing riders departing the IOmh Entryway, west wall, tomb of Lou Rui, Taiyuan, Shanxi province NOl1hem Qi period, late 6th century (After Zhongguo Yishu, Beijing, no.!, pp. 12- 13) idea of a bipartite posthu­ mous journey, provided a blueprint for some of the great tombs built after the Han period. Amongthese later tombs, that of Lou Rui, a high official of the Northern Qi dynasty (550-77), is an outstand­ ing example. Possibly decorated by famous court painters such as Yang Zihua (6th century), its 21-metre long entry­ way appears as a painting gallery. 71 scenes are or­ ganized into two enor­ mous compositions on the two walls. On the right wall, as one faces inside the tomb, horsemen have dismounted and are enter­ ing the tomb (Fig. 12a), but on the left, they are galloping on horseback toward the tomb's en­ trance, about to enter the vast space beyond the dark grave (Fig. 12b).

Wu Hung is Harrie A. Vanderstappcn Distinguished Service Professor in Province', in Kaogu 1989:8, pp. 699-709. Chinese Art at the University of Chicago. Wu Hung, 'Beyond the Great Boundary: Funerary Narrative in Early CJline,e Art' , in John Hay, cd., Boundaries in Chino, London, 1994, pp. 81-104. Selected bibliography -, MOllumentaliTy in Early Chinese Art and Architecture, Stanford. 1995. Dabaotai Hanmu Fajue Zu, Beijing Dobaotai Hanml/, Beijing, 1989. -, 'The Prince of Jade Revisited: Material Symbolism of Jade as Observed Ruan Yuan. comp., Shisan Jing ZhllShu, Beijing, 1980. in the Maneheng Tombs', in Rosemary E. Scott, ed., Chinese Jades. Lydia D. Thompson, The Yi 'nan Tom": Narrative and Ritual in Pictorial Art of Colloquies on !l.rt and Archaeology in Asia 18, London, 1997, pp. 147-70. the Eastern Hall (25-220 c.E.), PhD dissertation, New York University, Zhao HuaciJeng, 'An Examination of the Nomenclature of Chariots as in Han 1998. Pictorial Art'. in Wenwu 1979:3, pp. 76-82. Wang Sili, Lai Fei, Ding Chong and Wan Liang, 'An Investigation Rep0I1 on Zhongguo Shekui Kcxucyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo and Hebei Sheng Wenwu the Han Dynasty Picrorial Carvings from Weishan County, Shandong Guanlichu, Mancheng Hanlnu Fajuc BaogClo, Beijing, 1980.

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