Six Dynasties

This dissertation argues that early medieval Chinese poetry had a hermeneutical function and that by reconstructing the past within an aesthetic realm poetry played a role in the constitution of its own tradition. Imitative poetry from the Six Dynasties period provides a pertinent illustration of the self-referential nature of poetic discourse, and the dissertation examines the ways in which poetic imitation resembled other forms of textual commentary and collection.

Chapter One discusses relevant theoretical and historical perspectives on the practice of imitation in early medieval China and is divided into two parts. The first section examines poetic intertextuality in light of conceptual schemes developed both in theories on cultural memory and in the study of ritual and textual practice in ancient China. The second section places the practice of poetic imitation within the wider literary and historical scene of the Han and Six Dynasties and in relation to the development of other forms of written textual exegesis.

Chapters Two through Four provide analysis and discussion of Six Dynasties imitation poetry. Chapter Two considers the extent to which imitation poetry resembled textual commentary and exposes the reflexive nature of the poetry's rhetoric. Additionally, the chapter explores how the poetic models from the late Han themselves are likely imitative of even more ancient verse.

Chapter Three examines the correlation between imitation poetry and other forms of literary criticism, literary history and personality assessment. The chapter suggests that distinctions between lyrical and critical forms are often normative rather than descriptive. It also argues that reflexivity within poetry draws attention to literary parameters from the past and reveals the extent to which poets were shaped by earlier statements about literary value.

Chapter Four analyzes the ways in which poets used rhetoric to reorganize the past according to new aesthetic logic. Their efforts reflected the same drive toward order that governed the compilation of anthologies and typologies. To conclude, the chapter argues that poetic authority was shared and that poetic success depended not simply on individual literary talent, but on a moral commitment to transmit the values that embodied the Chinese cultural identity.

This article uses evidence from digital databases to re-examine two controversial issues regarding the “Six Criteria” (liufa 六法) of painting listed by Xie He 謝赫 (d. after 532) in the preface to his Gu huapin lu 古畫品錄: (1) their syntax and phrasing, and (2) the origin and connotations of qiyun 氣韻, the most famous of the six. Despite recent claims to the contrary, the series of six numbered clauses taking the form “X, Y shi ye 是也” is unremarkable for the language of the time; moreover, the application of the Six Criteria in the subsequent biographies discloses that they are listed in decreasing order of importance. While the meaning and connotations of qiyun are impossible to state succinctly because they vary from one source to another, it is used (like similar phrases, such as yayun 雅韻 and shenyun 神韻) both to praise people’s character and as an aesthetic quality pertaining to music, literature, and art.

This essay explores the notion of you in the Zhuangzi and Six Dynasties literati writing through a comparative reading. Used interchangeably with its variant you , you has various uses and meanings, from the more literal "swim in water", "move in an unobstructed way", "wander", and "travel afar", to its extended meanings including "ramble in a carefree way", "travel playfully", "travel into foreign or unknown space", or "enjoy a leisurely activity". You is also, significantly, combined with other characters to form compound expressions specifying different playful activities, e.g. youxi : "play and frolic", "amuse oneself", or "game"; youwan : "play outdoors" (with an emphasis on movement); and lüyou : "travelling for leisure", or "tourism"-which have very different connotations from lüxing , "journey", or "travel (the main purpose of which is not pleasure)". In these different uses and expressions of you, in both classical and modern Chinese, what we find in common is the connotation of an unhindered, playful movement that is closely connected to its spatial context. In the context of the Zhuangzi and Six Dynasties literature, therefore, can we find articulations of you as a playful activity? If yes, in what specific ways is you playful, especially in regard to the space and context in which it occurs? Finally, what do the differences and similarities between the Zhuangzi and Six Dynasties writing say about the evolution of the notion of you within the Daoist and Neo-Daoist discourse? for their suggestions and feedback on the draft of my manuscript. I also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and detailed comments, which have helped me complete my revision.

On July 13, 2008, the world's largest word emblazoned in landscape was revealed with great fanfare near Beijing. Carved into the cliff of Yunlongjian Peak, this word was the 2008 Olympic logo "Dancing Beijing," featuring the stylized calligraphic character jing 京 (capital). The carving project also included the Record of the Carving of the Olympic Logo, describing the circumstances under which it was produced. One may argue that the carving of the logo, so large and prominent that it is visible from miles away, is a product of modern commercialism. But in fact the simple concept of fixing memories and ideas on the surface of the earth through the carving of texts has deep roots in Chinese culture. This event illuminates the importance and relevance of Robert E. Harrist Jr. 's new book. The carved logo and the Record are recent additions to the centuries-old tradition of "polished-cliff carving" (moya 摩 崖), the subject of Harrist's study. Moya, or moya shike 摩崖石刻, are texts carved into granite boulders and cliffs that are part of the natural terrain. They began to appear in China during the first century C.E. Over the course of the two thousand years since then, they have been carved in all areas of the country, and have become one of the distinguishing features of Chinese civilization.

The paper intends to show that archaeological data may offer a glimpse beyond the historical facts known about Wang Xizhi and his kin. The discussion centers on the question of the location of Wang Xizhi's tomb. Comparing written sources with archaeological material, i.e. Jin Dynasty tombs excavated in what used to be Kuaiji and in the capital area of Jiankang (present-day northeastern Zhejiang and Nanjing respectively), It will argue that there is ample reason to believe that Wang Xizhi himself was, in contrast to what was passed down in tradition, not buried in the mountains of Kuaiji, but near the Eastern Jin capital Jiankang, maybe even next to his kin.

The fall of the uniWed empire of the Han (206/202 bc-ad 220) was one of the most momentous events in Chinese history. Its origins go back to the Wrst half of the second century ad, while its repercussions were being felt during the entire Six Dynasties period (220-589) and even beyond. If I had to choose just three events to highlight the main themes and images inXuential in the intellectual and religious developments in the centuries after the breakdown of the imperial order, I would suggest the following dates:

Early imperial and early medieval Chinese foreign relations have been mainly viewed through the prism of the so-called tributary system. Consequently, tribute relations with the Northern Wei court are either reduced to business ventures undertaken by foreign polities, or empty ideological exercises by the Tuoba emperors, who were only interested in having their worldview confirmed. Such views disregard the actual political and diplomatic value of tribute offerings to the Northern Wei. This article will provide a corrective through a close reading of diplomatic interactions recorded largely in the Wei shu that involved tribute offerings. Since these interactions sometimes also involved diplomatic hostages and marriage alliances, they will be briefly analyzed as well. I will show that tribute, in fact, was a political tool that was successfully utilized to meet various ends by both parties involved in bilateral exchanges. In the true sense of diplomatic interaction, tribute relations were highly effective means to negotiate peace.

In early medieval China (220–589 CE), the territory once ruled by the Han empire (206 BCE–220 CE) was divided into competing cultural, ethnic and political regions. The north, controlled by the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei tribe (fourth–sixth centuries), 1 and the south, governed by a series of Chinese dynasties headquartered in Jiankang (present-day Nanjing), had pronounced cultural differences that are discussed in the writings of the period. The heightened sense of regional difference and pride is exemplified in a clash between a northern princess and an elite southern lady documented in a peculiar entry found in the well-known sixth-century work A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Luoyang (Luoyang qielan ji 洛陽伽藍記). 2 Written around 547 CE by the northern official and Buddhist scholar Yang Xuanzhi 楊衒之 (fl. 528–547), the work lists some of the grandest Buddhist temples that once flourished in the Northern Wei (386–534) capital of Luoyang. 3 One finds among these entries on grand structures that of a modest nunnery in which an account of the aforementioned clash is relayed through the perspective of its northern author. While unremarkable at first glance, the entry reveals an intriguing tale of regional rivalry.

Questa tesina analizza la dimensione dei fantasmi nei testi letterari della Cina antica a partire dalle ossa oracolari di epoca Shang sino ai testi zhiguai 志怪 del periodo delle Sei Dinastie (ca. 220–589 d.C.). I testi di riferimento sono principalmente i Classici confuciani, i manoscritti della tomba numero 11 di Tianshui di epoca Qin (221 -206 a.C.), il Rishu 日書, i zhiguai dello Yiyuan 異苑 e lo Soushenji di Gan Bao 干寳. La ricerca si concentra prima sull'analisi del lessico scelto per la descrizione dei fantasmi, per poi soffermarsi sull'immagine del fantasma all’interno delle tradizioni confuciana, taoista e buddhista e la sua rielaborazione in ambito letterario, in particolar modo all'interno della letteratura zhiguai. Dall’analisi delle occorrenze lessicali emerge una trasformazione graduale del significato del termine fantasma sia attraverso il passaggio dall’utilizzo di termini monosillabici a termini bisillabici sia per mezzo di una diversificazione di accezioni nel tempo. Sul piano religioso, mentre il confucianesimo mantenne un atteggiamento di rispetto verso le credenze popolari sfruttandole per riaffermare i temi di umanità e moralità, il taoismo e il buddhismo intervennero in profondità nella definizione del rapporto tra i fedeli e il mondo dei fantasmi ponendosi come unici intermediari nelle pratiche di esorcismo e nei rituali di pacificazione. Si passò quindi da un concetto di fantasma semplice e privo di un profilo morale a un fantasma impregnato di significato sociale e intellettuale.

Dated to 524 CE, the lavishly carved stone sarcophagus for Prince Yuan Mi exemplifies an early Chinese method to use diagonal gaze as a rhetoric device to visually construct a three-dimensional space. On the exterior faces of the sarcophagus, the anonymous artist simulated a three-layer space, imagining the deceased’s wooden coffin (the inner layer) being contained in his burial chamber (middle layer), which is in turn embraced by a complex three-dimensional natural and supernatural world (the outer layer). In the middle layer, eight anthropomorphic figures cast the slant gaze from behind four windows at filial paragons dwelling in the outer layer. This gaze was used as a rhetorical device to bridge the physical and psychological gap between the gazer and the gazed at. Evoking the idiom of “watching the ancients as neighbors” in medieval Chinese texts, the artist defined the deceased as a neighbor of the ancient filial paragons, hiding in the ideal landscape as recluses.  Besides the visual analysis of the sarcophagus, this article also examines the epitaph buried with the sarcophagus. While the carving praises the private virtue of the dead, the text paints another rosy picture of the deceased prince as a good official. Eventually, the image and text were used in tandem with each other to create a perfect image of the deceased.

Tracing the life of Crown Prince Xiao Tong's (550-551) and the production, at his court, of the greatest medieval Chinese anthology, I present an extended discussion of _The Age of Courtly Writing_ by Wang Ping (Leiden: Brill, 2012) and, in counterpoint to this book, my own interpretation of important issues in this period of Chinese literary and cultural history.

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This article introduces the spirit path monuments and tombs of the Liang Dynasty built for members of the closer family of the founding Emperor Wu. Against the background of historical facts, the analysis of both statuary and tombs reveals that these monuments were all built during the lifetime and most probably by order of Emperor Wu himself. The resemblance of the columns in the spirit path to those erected by the Mauryan King Aśoka has already been pointed out by previous scholars. The author proposes that Emperor Wu not only emulated King Aśoka by erecting these columns, but by integrating them into the cemetery of his family, he moreover turned them into a truly Chinese monument of power.

The set of mold-impressed tiles bearing low-relief representations of the so-called Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (Zhulin qixian) and Rong Qiqi from the late fifth-century CE brick-structure burial at present-day Xishanqiao near Nanjing, Jiangsu province has been recognized as one of the most iconic works of ancient Chinese pictorial art. Whereas the previous scholarship has emphasized its Chinese style and iconography, this paper argues that the Xishanqiao master introduced hand gestures that originated and developed in Indo-Iranian art traditions to portray the Chinese heroes as unconventional, noble, wise, and respectful and to mark the deceased as socially and morally distinctive. It further demonstrates that the geographical and temporal gap between the Xishanqiao and West imagery could have been bridged by the transmission of Buddhist art via the Silk Road(s), the network of intercultural exchange. In doing so, the paper examines the forms of hand gestures of the Chinese sages at the site of Xishanqiao in comparison with earlier and contemporary gestures of veneration in Central and West Asia, as well as in Buddhist art. Ultimately,
this paper reveals how some traditionally praised “Chinese” artworks were actually the fruit of cross-cultural interaction yet to be further appreciated.

SAGES OF THE BAMBOO GROVE IN EARLY MEDIEVAL CHINESE TOMBS Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (zhulin qixian) and Rong Qiqi, generally dated from the fifth to sixth centuries, is a low-relief pictorial composition comprised of eight portraits of virtuous men assembled with a group of mold-impressed tiles. Since its first discovery in 1960 on two sides of the Xishanqiao tomb, Nanjing, Jiangsu, it has fascinated scholars with its new mode of representation in Chinese art history (see fig. 1 for line drawing of tiles). 1 Portrayed with fluid lines that give a feeling of three-dimensionality, the eight figures wear loose robes and sit barefoot on animal skins under trees. Some play the qin zither, some drink wine, some make gestures, and others appear lost in meditation. Thanks to cartouches, scholars securely identified the eight figures as Shan Tao (205-283), Ruan Ji (210-263), Liu Ling (ca. 221-300), Ji Kang (223-263), Xiang Xiu (ca. 227-272), Wang Rong (234-305), Ruan Xian (fl. 3rd C.), and Rong Qiqi. The first seven were later termed the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove after a bamboo garden in which they were said to have 1 Nanjing bowuyuan and Nanjing shi wenwu baoguan weiyuanhui, "Nanjing Xishanqiao Nanchao mu jiqi zhuanke bihua," Wenwu (August-September 1960): 37-42; and Alexander Coburn Soper, "A New Chinese Tomb Discovery: The Earliest Representation of a Famous Literary Theme," Artibus Asiae 24 (1961): 79-96. All dates are Common Era unless otherwise noted.

The present paper deals with Jinlouzi 金樓子, a collection of essays by Xiao Yi 蕭繹 (508–554), the Emperor Yuan 元 (r. 552–554) of the Liang 梁 Dynasty (502–557), focusing on the following aspects:
— where does the book title Jinlouzi ("A Golden Tower") comes from and how can it be understood against the background of the material culture of the Nanbeichao-Epoch?
— how does Jinlouzi reflect Xiao Yi's historical and bibliophile interests as well as his activities as a writer?
— which sources had he and his team used for compiling the „Xingwang“ 興王 ("Elevated to king") chapter, containing descriptions of selected exemplary rulers of the past?
— how this chapter legitimates and historically positions Xiao Yi's father Xiao Yan 蕭衍 (464–549), Emperor Wu 武 (r. 502–549), the founder of the Liang-Dynasty?

In Wenxin Diaolong’s “Elucidation of the Rhapsody” (Quan Fu) chapter, Liu Xie explores the meaning of fu and discusses its transformation from a type of expressive technique to an actual literary genre. He elaborates on canonical fu writers of the Chinese past, reveals his theory of the Han fu and also examines this literary genre from a historical perspective, referencing Ban Gu’s Han Shu (History of the Later Han) and his preface to the Liang Du Fu (Rhapsody on Dual Capitals). Furthermore, Liu Xie discusses the different types of fu and evaluates its unique characteristics, emphasizing that the fu must possess “exquisite words and elegant meaning” (li ci ya yi). Recent scholars have analyzed Liu Xie’s concept of the fu, focusing on the Quan Fu chapter in relation to the literary theory of Liu Xie’s text; however, scholars have not thoroughly explored the strong relationship between Liu Xie’s Confucian thinking and his evaluation of fu writers within the Quan Fu chapter. Therefore, this article aims to reevaluate Liu Xie’s exegesis of the fu, and through Wenxin Diaolong research, scholarly criticism of the fu literary genre, Chinese literary history and other fields, the author hopes to provide a greater understanding of this topic.

This paper is confined the ancient kamrupa and its different dynasties at different times. There were
many kingdoms in ancient Kamrupa which are elaborate in this paper. This paper contains different
kingdoms and their rulers’ tenure. Several monarchs rose and fell in ancient Assam throughout the
Dynastic period. The territory of Assam, formerly known as Kamrupa or Pragjyotishpur, had been
occupied by a variety of ancient kingdoms, including Varman, Mlechchha, and Pala, among others,
since the early stages around 350 AD.

Sun Chuo 孫綽 (ca. 314-ca. 371) was one of the most prominent and influential writers of the Eastern Jin 東晉 (317-420) period. 1 Together with Xu Xun 許詢 (300?-356?) he is considered a major exponent of the xuanyan 玄言 ("neo-daoist") poetry which extensively discoursed on Daoist concepts in diction close to philosophical texts. Flourishing during the Eastern Jin, this type of didactic verse has been held in very low esteem ever since the early 6th century. To later readers these poems sounded abstruse, "flat and insipid," "more philosophy than poetry". 2 Although Sun Chuo was a prolific author, very little of his works remains-only 37 poems shi 詩 and 45 pieces and fragments of prose wen 文 attributed to him survive. 3 The best known work among his corpus is "You Tiantai shan fu" 遊天台山賦 (Rhapsody on Roaming the Celestial Terrace Mountains). Its literary qualities were appreciated by Xiao Tong 蕭統 (501-531), who included it as the only composition by Sun Chuo in the Wenxuan 文選 (Selections of Refined Literature) anthology. Echoes of this composition are perceptible in later poetry and prose ac-__________________ * This article is part of the Research Project No. MSM0021620824, The Foundation of Modern World in the Mirror of Literature and Philosophy, a project of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. It evolved from the research for my PhD dissertation, Roaming into the Beyond-the Theme of Immortality (xian) in Early Medieval Chinese Verse (Charles University, Prague 2007). I gratefully acknowledge support by the Chiang Ching-kuo