“On Commemorative Inscription”: Fourth Workshop of the New Frontiers in the Study of Medieval China, Reed College, May 17—19, 2018

Abstract

REPORT “ON COMMEMORATIVE INSCRIPTION”: FOURTH WORKSHOP OF THE NEW FRONTIERS IN THE STUDY OF MEDIEVAL CHINA, REED COLLEGE, MAY 17–19, 2018 JESSEY CHOO AND ALEXEI DITTER The fourth workshop of the New Frontiers in the Study of Medieval China series was held on May 17–19, 2018, at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. The three-day workshop was organized by Jessey Choo (Rutgers University), Alexei Ditter (Reed College), and Yang LU (Peking University), and funded by the Tang Research Foundation , with additional assistance provided by the Office of the Dean of Faculty and the Chinese Department of Reed College. The workshop brought together sixteen U.S. and international scholars studying medieval China and representing various disciplines: Sarah M. Allen (Williams College), Stephen Bokenkamp (Arizona State University), Peter Bol (Harvard University ), K.E. Brashier (Reed College), Jessey Choo (Rutgers University-New Brunswick ), Timothy Davis (Brigham Young University), Alexei Ditter (Reed College), Patricia Ebrey (University of Washington), Michael Hoeckelmann (University of Manchester; now University of Edinburgh), Terry Kleeman (University of Colorado, Boulder), Wei-cheng Lin (University of Chicago), Houbin Liu (Renmin University, China), Jenny Chao-Hui Liu (Princeton University), Yang LU (Peking University), Christopher Nugent (Williams College), Gil Raz (Dartmouth College), Hyong Rhew (Reed College), James Robson (Harvard University), Rui SHI (Peking University ), Jonathan Skaff (Shippensburg University), and Xin WEN (Princeton University ). In addition, four graduate students received travel awards to attend—Shan (Zoe) Lin (UC-Davis), Lance Pursey (University of Birmingham), Wei Wu (Arizona State University), and Dongshan Zhang (University of Chicago). The fourth workshop continued discussions begun during the 2017 Symposium in Beijing of textuality and materiality of manuscripts and inscriptions produced between the 5th through 10th centuries. It opened with Yang LU’s presentation, titled “Textuality and Materiality in Medieval Chinese Studies: Reflections on its Conceptual Framework,” which expanded upon the workshop’s focus on the textual, material, and environmental contexts for production and consumption of these materials. Within the context of studying medieval inscriptions, Lu defined “textuality” as how texts are constructed to convey particular sets of meanings and “materiality” as the physical expression of the text. He asserted that textuality and materiality are interrelated: when interpreting the text and the object on which it was inscribed, aspects such as the positioning of the text within its physical environment and how the text exists as a material object (regardless of its original intent and Tang Studies, 36. 1, 150–154, 2018© T’ang Studies Society 2018 DOI 10.1080/07375034.2018.1535238 meaning) are significant. He urged participants to pay more attention to the processes by which medieval inscriptions were produced and consumed, especially the background and self-reproduction of communities of producers and viewers. Finally, he suggested that scholars consider how changes in the cultural and terrestrial landscape of which inscriptions were a part alter what they convey and how they have been interpreted. Two panels of papers followed Yang LU’s presentation. The first panel featured papers by Gil Raz, Houbin Liu, and Christopher Nugent, the second by Sarah Allen, Wei-cheng Lin, and Jonathan Skaff. James Robson and Stephen Bokenkamp served as co-discussants for both. In “‘True Forms’ and ‘True Faces’: Daoist and Buddhist Discourse on Images,” Gil Raz examined several stelae featuring combinations of Daoist and Buddhist images. Together with the accompanying inscriptions, these images (which appear on different faces of the stele or sometimes side by side) reveal Daoist and Buddhist deliberations on the meaning of and ways to materialize or visualize a form (xing 形) that truly (zhen 真) captures the image (xiang 象) of the Buddha’s and Lord Lao’s faces (rong 容). Raz argued that Daoist iconographic practice first emerged within local communities where the donors were aware of Buddhist discussions on imagemaking , and that the terms used by inscriptions to refer to the images in turn demonstrate Daoist influences on Buddhist discussions. Christopher Nugent’s “Layered Learning in a Children’s Primer Found at Dunhuang ,” focused on one Dunhuang manuscript text, P. 2578, of the early 6th c. Kaimeng yaoxun 開蒙要訓. Nugent identified three distinct stages and hands in the manuscript’s production: initial copying of the text by one individual and the addition of homophones and punctuation (the latter often...