The evolution of the belief of afterlife in the Han dynasty and the rise of Han pictorial carvings

Abstract

The Han dynasty pictorial carvings underwent an evolution of more than three hundred years, and its rise was directly related to the Han belief in afterlife and deities. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Former Han dynasty, the cult of immortals escalated, along with the rise of the pictorial carving in tombs and temples. From the late period of Former Han to the second half of the Later Han, the sustained evolution of the belief of deities precipitated the formation of early religious Daoism. Almost simultaneously, the pictorial carvings in tombs and temples witnessed a process of upgrading from simplistic patterns, styles, and engraving techniques to sophisticated ones. As an innovative artistic form, Han pictorial carvings reflected the change of the contemporaneous belief in the after world. It is arguable that the evolution of religious belief in the Han dynasty was the main driving force of its pictorial carvings.