Wei Dynasty Research Articles

Research on the Wanfotang Cave Temple of the Northern Wei Dynasty at Yixian County

Research on the Wanfotang Cave Temple of the Northern Wei Dynasty at Yixian County

The Order of the Bazhuguo 八柱国 under the Western Wei Dynasty : An Examination of Narrative Style Concerning the Tang Imperial Ancestor in its Official Compilations

The Order of the Bazhuguo 八柱国 under the Western Wei Dynasty : An Examination of Narrative Style Concerning the Tang Imperial Ancestor in its Official Compilations

The Edict of 495 Reconsidered

AbstractEmperor Hsiao-wen of the Northern Wei dynasty issued an edict in the year 495 which established a procedure for defining, classifying, and ranking T'o-pa lineages. This procedure would be carried out once, and the resulting ranks would be hereditary thereafter. The intention was to create a hereditary aristocracy among the T'o-pa which would be similar to that which already existed among the Chinese, so that both the T'o-pa and the Chinese could be considered for bureaucratic office on a comparable basis. This was one of a number of edicts issued around this time which sought to make T'o-pa customs and practices more similar to Chinese ones.

BEYOND ARCHAISM: WANG SHIZHEN AND THE LEGACY OF THE NORTHERN SONG

AbstractIn Five Hundred Years of Chinese Poetry Yoshikawa Kojiro writes:Sixteenth century China was dominated by an archaist literary movement called Old Phraseology… The movement advocated the use of models to recapture the intensity and strength of past literature… Specifically, writings of the Qin and Han dynasties were deemed the proper model for prose writing…For poetry eighth-century High Tang verse was the ideal… [A]lso acceptable as a model, but only secondarily so, was second- and third-century Han and Wei dynasty verse

A Technical Examination of the Chinese Buddhist Bronzes in the Freer Gallery of Art, Part B: Stable Lead Isotope Analysis

ABSTRACTStable lead isotope ratios were determined on sixty-four samples taken from sixty of the Buddhist bronze images which were examined and chemically analyzed by Jett and Douglas [preceding paper]. The data were grouped using multivariate techniques and were compared with an accumulated data base of lead isotope measurements on more than 700 ancient Chinese artifacts and more than 200 Chinese and Korean ores. One group of ten images which were all datable to a period of less than one century, Eastern Wei through Sui dynasties, form a nearly unique isotopic group which coincides only with an unusual group of Lengshuichong bronze drums. A second large group of thirty-two isotopically matching images contains almost all, fifteen out of sixteen, of the images attributed to the Northern Wei dynasty. The remaining members of this group are of later date, extending into the Tang dynasty, or are animal figures attributed more generally to the Six Dynasties. This group partially overlaps somewhat the isotope fields of some Western and Eastern Han mirrors and some of the Sackler ritual bronze vessels of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, but appears to have been derived from a different ore source from them. The remaining specimens break up into some very tentatively defined small groups of two to four specimens each and a small residue of four unique, unmatched specimens.

From Temple to Tomb: Ancient Chinese Art and Religion in Transition

By exploring the shift of ancestral worship centers in ancient China and its impact on art, the author argues that the genealogical/political structure of the Three Dynasties found its religious form in temple worship; however, following the decline of this system during the Eastern Zhou and the Qin, the tomb of an individual increased in importance. This process culminated during the Eastern Han: Problems in dynastic succession forced the Eastern Han rulers to abandon temple ceremonies and transfer them to graveyards. But this new system was again renounced by the following Wei dynasty, and many funerary structures were destroyed in an “iconoclastic” movement. The author contends that this complex development in religion strongly influenced and even governed the course of ancient Chinese art: Corresponding to the shift in religious center, the tomb assumed new symbolic imagery, and pictorial funerary art replaced ritual vessels to become the dominant artistic genre of early imperial China.

The Human Traffic and the Status Control in the Northern Wei Dynasty

The Human Traffic and the Status Control in the Northern Wei Dynasty

The Tendency of the Agricultural Policies in Northern Wei Dynasty : Treated Mainly the Period before the Promulgation of the Chun-t'ien(均田) System

The Tendency of the Agricultural Policies in Northern Wei Dynasty : Treated Mainly the Period before the Promulgation of the Chun-t'ien(均田) System

Phonological Evolution of the Chinese Rhymes: Wei to Liang

This paper traces the evolution of the Chinese rhymes from the Wei Dynasty into the Liang Dynasty. The assumption is made that the rhyming of the poets of this period reflected their literary dialect and following this the evolutionary path taken by the rhymes serves as a guide to their phonological evolution. A reconstruction of the rhymes and finals based on this evolution is offered and some mention of the various dialects re-

Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty

Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty

Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty

Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty

THE RECTANGULAR LAND-ALLOTMENTS AND THE FIELD SYSTEM IN ANCIENT NORTH CHINA

According to the studies of settlement-geography both in Japan and Western countries, the allotments of land are seen through all ages. This is true of the field system in North China. The 1/10, 000 map of China tells, for instance, the predominance of the road net-work of rectangular pattern in those old areas around Loyang and Changan where we witnessed the earlier occupations of the Chinese race. It must be admitted, however, that the flooded plains along the Yellow River were an exception to this rule. We can not exactly tell when it came into being, but the irrigation studies in China make us sure about the existence of the canals in the Ch'in and Han Dynasties (300 B. C. -100 B. C.) or even in earlier ages. Moreover, we have evidences that these canals came down to the present day in spite of the vicissitude of destructions and restorations. In the Chou-li (_??__??_), a publication around 1000 B. C., the word fu (_??_) is identified as a ninth section of a rectangular land which was called ching (_??_), the area being 300pu ×300pu. The words i (_??_) and ch'in (_??_) are respectively the names of the greater sections, each being the mosaic multipli-cation of the ching. These areas are surrounded by canals and roads and are measured by trial or quartal or sometimes decimal system. Accordingly the ching-t'ien system in its original plan is supposed to be based on quartal (S Plan) or on decimal system (S Plan), the selection being dependent on the situation. The land allotment of the Twelve Canals (_??__??__??_) in the valley of the Chang-ho River was made in the Wei Dynasty. This is what we call the S Plan and is arranged by twelve rectangular ching, which is respectively surrounded by the irrigation canal. The ch'in-mo system (300 B. C.) in the Ch'in Dynasty was based on the S Plan and the land system (200 B. C.) in the Han Dynasty on the S Plan which was very similar to the Roman centuries. The transformation of the S Plan into the S is already evidenced in the Ch'in Dynasty. Therefore, untenable is the thesis that the traditional ching-t'ien system was destroyed and given place to the newly-established ch'ien-mo system in the Ch'in era. On the other hand, the continuance of the land allotment system of the Ch'in down to the Han era is also evidenced by the measuring method. The large scale of Ch'in was applied to the S Plan, while the small scale of Han to the S Plan. The difference between both scales is only 0.2. So it is supposed that both plans are quite similar when they were put into practice. Now in Ts'ao-Wei era which succeed to the Han dynasty, the distance between the canals is 300pu. Probably these are modifications of the Twelve Canals of the Wei Dynasty. Moreover, the plan of e Twelve Double Canals was partly applied to the new settlement at T_??_ng-ai. Judging from the continuance of land allotment in Chinese history, we can fairly guess at the mainte-nance of measuring method, which kept the allotment intact. The rate of change of the area-measurement, 1mu=100pu×1pu (in Chou) →200pu×1 pu→240pu×lpu (in Ch'in and Han) is the same that of the change, 1li=300pu×300pu (in Chou)→360pu×360pu (after Ts'ao-Wei), which is 1. 2. These facts lead us to the conclusion that the form of arable land in ancient China was formally based on both Kurzstreifenflur and Langstreif enflur and here we can see the characteristic farming in North China. It is noticeable, however, that the form of arable land in the jori system, the Japanese counterpart of the Chinese institution, was changed into the Blockflur where the paddy field was practiced.

Supplementary Argument on the Chapter-titles of the Wei Code

This paper is written as a supplement to my former article " On the New Code of Wei Dynasty in China : Research for the Titles of the Eighteen Chapters" in Kokka Gakkai Zasshi Vol. 69 no. 7, 1955, and should be read together with it.The Wei Code is known as the "new code consisting of eighteen chapters" and according to the "Preface (_??__??_)" to the Wei Code cited in the " Treatise on Penal Norms in the History of Chin Dynasty (_??__??__??__??__??_)", thirteen of these eighteen chapters were newly compiled while the other five came down from the predecessor, which was replaced by this code. My fomer article was devoted to the task of identifying the title of each chapter of this code. For I found no suggestion ever made on this subject to be acceptable without reserve.In my opinion, the chapter-title "ch'iu lü _??__??_" should be excluded from the present consideration. According to the "Preface" to the Wei Code, ch'iu lü of the Han Code, in the process of the new codification, left out its essential part, namely the provisions concerning detention, examination and adjudgement of criminals (_??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??_). These provisions, however, must have been part and parcel of ch'ih lü (which is literally translated "the chapter on unconvicted prisoners") of the Han Code. Their omission, therefore, means the total abolition of ch'iu lü itself or more accurately the splitting of it into two chapters : hsi-hsün lü and tuan-yü lü. In this approach, I am led to the conclusion that the chapter-titles of the Wei Code must have been the following : hsing-ming _??__??_, tao _??_, chieh-lüeh _??__??_, tsei _??_, cha-wei _??__??_ hui-wang _??__??_, kao-ho _??__??_, pu _??_, hsi-hsün _??__??_, tuan-yü _??__??_, ch'ing-ch'iü _??__??_, tsa _??_, hu _??_, hsing-shan _??__??_, fa-liu _??__??_, ching-shih _??__??_, ch'ang-tsang _??__??_, and mien-tso _??__??_ (The monosyllabic titles represent the chapters which came down from the Han Code and the bisyllabic ones those newly compiled.)Reaffirming the above opinion which is given in my former article, I write this paper in reply to the recent remarks from Prof. Tomoo Uchida. The argument between myself and prof. Uchida may be summarized as follows :Uchida : -The abolition of ch'iu lü can not be proved because it is not explicitly stated in the documents.Shiga : -The abolition of hsing lü _??__??_-its retitling into hsing-shan lü-in the Wei Code has never been doubted, although no explicit statement about it is found in the documents. If we are not allowed to take further steps than following the explicit statements in documents, then the solution of this sort of problem must be given up.Uchida : -The expression "_??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??_" in the "Preface" can be interpreted as meaning that one chapter under the title of hsi-hsün-tuan-yü lü was newly compiled, although Shiga says that two chapters named hsi-hsün lü and tuan-yü lü were compiled. No decisive data, however, can be found in any document in favour of either one of the two interpretations.Shiga : -Attention should be drawn to a similar expression in T'ang-liu-tien in this connection. In that expression, "_??__??__??__??_" clearly represents two chapters.Uchida : -The expression "five chapters coming down from the predecessor (_??__??__??__??_)" can be interpreted as "coming down from the ancient Code of Li-K'uei _??__??_ " instead of from the Han Code. If this inter-pretatoh is correct, the problem should be solved in another way : that is to say, "_??__??__??__??_" be regarded as representing one chapter and ch'iu lü be not excluded.

The Makara in Early Chinese Buddhist Sculpture

In the early Buddhist cave temples made in the latter half of the fifth century a.d., during the Northern Wei dynasty, at Yim-kang, in the Shansi Province of North China, can be found several carvings of a curious creature connected with the arches over a seated Buddha figure. It occurs at either end of the arch, the end merging into the hinder part of the creature, which is left with two legs, a long neck, and head. The body is turned away from the arch so that the two creatures are back to back, one at each end of the arch. Examples can be seen in Dr. Sirén's Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, plates 51, 55, 57, 59, 60, and 61, in Tokiwa Daijo and Sikeno Tadaishi's Buddhist Monuments in China, vol. ii, plates 22 (2), 27, 30 (2), and 40, and in Chavannes' Mission archèologique dans la Chine septentrionale, plates 255, 256, 262–8, 272, and 277. Its representation was thus of common occurrence but nobody seems to have ventured to identify the creature. It is true that Dr. Sirén, with reference to plate 60 mentioned above, described the two arches being supported by two hydras and again wrote of the hydra and phœnix-like birds which support the foils of the arches, but he goes no further than this vague description.

Archæological Work in China

Occasional Papers (vol. 1, No. 1) of the Freer Gallery of Art (Smithsonian Institution) is devoted to a description of the tomb of the Grand Empress Dowager Wen Ming and the Northern Wei necropolis at Fang Shan. The author (A. G. Wenley) has produced an interesting little work of some 28 pages with six full-page photographs of the site. It starts with a short account of the Empress Dowager herself, followed by a description of the necropolis and tomb where she is buried. The work itself is dedicated to the late Carl Whiting Bishop, who was associated with the Freer Gallery for twenty years and who was much interested in certain Northern Wei dynasty imperial mausolea.

A Northern Wei Dynasty Figure of Buddha

A Northern Wei Dynasty Figure of Buddha

The Inscription on the St. Louis Stele of 505 A.D.

Under the great Wei Dynasty,1 in the second year of Tseng-Shih,2 the eleventh month, of which the first day is the day Wu-Ch'en,3 on the eleventh day which is the day Wu-Hsing,4 this monument was built and erected by eighty persons including citizens, the Karmadana,5 Shang-Ch'i and others of East Great Shang precinct, P'ai-Ts'ai ward,6 Tsung-Ni district, Chi City, Chi County, Ssu State.

Notes on the Dated Statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Beginnings of Buddhist Sculpture in China

The dream of Emperor Ming of the statue of a golden man in the land to the west of Han and the dramatic legend of the subsequent importation of this image, although it belongs to the apocrypha of Chinese Buddhism, may be taken as symbolic of the bringing of statues from India to serve as models for the Buddhist artists of China.1 This event is reputed to have taken place in 66 A. D. More reliable tradition places the first introduction of Buddhist images in the second century A. D.2 As will be seen from the literary sources and from the actual fragments that have survived centuries of burning and purposeful destruction, the making of Buddhist images in China probably did not become general until the fourth century, until, in conjunction with the rising power of Buddhism in the fifth century, it reached such alarming proportions as to arouse the suspicions of the Taoist clergy who loosed the storm of persecution and iconoclasm under Emperor Wu.3 The religion of Sakyamuni and the art of the Buddhist church ...

Notes on the Dated Statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Beginnings of Buddhist Sculpture in China

Notes on the Dated Statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Beginnings of Buddhist Sculpture in China

A Stele of the North Wei Dynasty

A Stele of the North Wei Dynasty