Modeling Peace: Royal Tombs and Political Ideology in Early China by Jie Shi (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Modeling Peace: Royal Tombs and Political Ideology in Early China by Jie Shi Armin Selbitschka Jie Shi, Modeling Peace: Royal Tombs and Political Ideology in Early China. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020. ix, 358 pp. US$60 (hb). ISBN 978-0-231-19102-9 Jie Shi (or Shi Jie 施傑 in the Chinese reading) has been a prominent and prolific scholar in the fields of Early China and Early Medieval China studies ever since he published the first of numerous articles in 2012.1 The book under review (hereafter Modeling Peace) is his first monograph and it is the first title from the recently established Tang Center Series in Early China at Columbia University. Modeling Peace seeks to unravel the social and political significance of royal burials during the Western Han period (206 BCE–9 CE). The author asserts that although "tombs were associated with the afterlife, it is more important to realize that the purpose of a tomb varied with the tomb occupant's status" (p. 10). In other words, a royal tomb can never be just a tomb; it is always also a political statement. Modeling Peace's introduction indicates that the book takes the author's doctoral dissertation as its template in as much as it presents an in-depth analysis of Tombs No. 1 and 2 at Mancheng 滿城 in Hebei province.2 These two multi-chambered structures were hewn into the face of a mountain almost as mirror images right next to each other, and once housed the remains of Liu Sheng 劉勝, King Jing 靖 of Zhongshan 中山 (r. 154–113 BCE; Tomb No. 1), and his queen Dou Wan 竇綰 (Tomb No. 2). Their bodies have long since decayed, but their tombs and burial goods have largely survived. Due to the immense labor necessary to build such elaborate rock-cut tombs in addition to the extraordinary quality and quantity of finds they have yielded, the author counts them "among the most important material remains of Early Chinese civilization" (p. 1). Moreover, he argues that they "set the highest standards for the lower classes" and can thus be properly understood only if they are distinguished from "lesser tombs" (p. 1). Yet, scholarship, so far, has mainly viewed such tombs as structures that either were intended to guarantee the personal welfare of the deceased in the afterlife, or to facilitate their immortality. Past discussions have failed to realize that differences in size and quality were imbued with deeper meanings. Since Western Han kings wielded actual power over people, their tombs needed to reflect the political and social importance of their occupants as well as fulfill their religious needs. In Liu Sheng's particular case, the goal was to present him and his wife [End Page 166] as virtuous and well-adjusted rulers of the newly established Zhongshan kingdom in an area whose cultural traditions still differed considerably from those of the Central Plains. Chapter 1 traces the trajectory of the development of early imperial Chinese tombs from vertical shaft pits to horizontal multi-chambered structures. Shi contends that the spatial arrangement of personal attire and burial goods in both Mancheng tombs symbolizes the postmortem transformation of Liu Sheng and Dou Wan from human beings with bodies into spirits without physical form. For instance, jade suits (yuyi 玉衣) for both occupants and additional sets of clothing that were deposited in and around the coffins of both deceased represent the bodies and souls of the deceased. The latter, in turn, were sustained in perpetuity in order "to secure a postmortem immortality" (p. 60) not only by materials with close links to immortality such as jade, but also by the intentional placement of food and drink throughout various chambers of both tombs. The respective containers and their edible contents symbolize kitchens, banquets, and sacrifices that were catering to the souls of the occupants.3 Shi strongly emphasizes that the desire for the longevity of Western Han rulers in this life and the next was not, however, rooted in personal vanity, but rather in a sense of responsibility. After all, the stability of the world depended on the fact that virtuous regents were around long enough to guide their realms. Chapter...