Chinese funerary biographies : an anthology of remembered lives /
edited by Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Ping Yao, and Cong Ellen Zhang.
- Seattle : University of Washington Press, (c)2019.
- 1 online resource (xiv, 287 pages)
Includes bibliographies and index.
Three short eastern Han funerary biographies : epitaphs for Ma Jiang (34-106), Wu Zhongshan (circa 92-172), and Kong Dan (flourished 182) / A Chinese general serving the northern Wei state : entombed epitaph for the late Wei dynasty overseer of military affairs, Sima Yue (462-508) / A twice-widowed Xianbei princess : epitaph with preface for the Great Enlightenment Temple nun surnamed Yuan (475-529) / Authoring one's own epitaph : self-authored epitaph / Wives commemorating their husbands : epitaph for Cao Yin (flourished 7th century) / A married daughter and a grandson : entombed funerary inscription for my daughter the late Madame Dugu (785-815) and entombed record for my grandson (803-815) who died young (Quan Shunsun, 803-815) / A nun who lived through the Huichang persecution of Buddhism : epitaph for Daoist nun (Zhi Zhijian, 812-861) / An envoy serving the Kitan Liao Son of Heaven : epitaph for Han Chun (d. 1035), court ceremonial commissioner / Epitaphs made widely available : funerary biographies for three men of Luzhou: Liang Jian (d. 1042), Wang Cheng (d. 1042), and Chen Hou (1065-1123) / A friend and political ally : funerary inscription for Mr. Culai (Shi Jie, 1005-1045) / Preserving a father's memory : funerary inscription for Chao Juncheng (1029-1075) / translated by Ping Yao and Patricia Ebrey -- translated by Timothy Davis -- translated by Jender Lee -- by Wang Ji (590-644) ; Inscription dictated while near death / by Wang Xuanzong (633-686) ; translated by Alexei Kamran Ditter -- by Madame Zhou (flourished 7th century) ; Epitaph for He Jian (686-742) / by Madame Xin (flourished 742) ; translated by Ping Yao -- by Quan Deyu (759-818) ; translated by Anna Shields -- by Zhi Mo (flourished 860) ; translated by Ping Yao -- by Li Wan (flourished 1012-1036) ; translated by Lance Pursey -- translated by Man Xu -- by Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072) ; translated by Cong Ellen Zhang -- by Huang Tingjian (1045-1105) / translated by Cong Ellen Zhang A gentleman without office : epitaph for the scholar residing at home Wei Xiongfei (1130-1207) / Wives and in-laws : funerary inscription for [my father-in-law] Mr. Zou of Fengcheng (Zou Yilong, 1204-1255) and funerary inscription for [my wife] Madame Plum Mansion (zou Miaozhuang, 1230-1257) / A clerk promoted to official under the Mongols : funerary inscription for Mr. Su (Su Zhidao, 1261-1320), director of the left and right offices of the branch secretariat for the Lingbei region / A Mongol rising to the defense of the realm : epitaph for grand guardian Sayin Idaqu (1317-1365) / A merchant aspiring to gentlemanly virtue : funerary biography of the gentleman residing at home Cheng Weiqing (1531-1588) / A Ming general turned warlord : the General Mao Wenlong (1579-1629) / A brother remembers his sister : the epitaph of my sister Madam Fang (1600-1668) / A Chinese bannerman expert in waterworks : epitaph for Jin Fu (1633-1692), director-general of river conservancy / A woman determined to die : epitaph for the joint burial of Scholar Wu (1666-1687) and his martyred wife Madame Dai (1666-1687) / A wife's sacrifices : a living epitaph of my wife Madame Sun (1769-1833) / A wife's moving tribute : epitaph for Zeng Yong (1813-1862) / by Wei Liaoweng (1178-1237) ; translated by Mark Halperin -- by Yao Mian (1216-1262) ; translated by Beverly Bossler -- by Yu Ji (1271-1348) ; translated by Patricia Buckley Ebrey -- by Zhang Zhu (1287-1368) / translated by Tomoyasu Iiyama -- by Wang Shizhen (1526-1590) ; translated by Yongtao Du -- by Mao Qiling (1623-1716) ; translated by Xing Hang -- by Qian Chengzhi (1612- 1698) ; translated by Martin Huang -- by Wang Shizhen (1634-1711) ; translated by R. Kent Guy -- by Mao Qiling (1623-1716) ; translated by Jolan Yi -- by Fang Dongshu (1772-1851) ; translated by Weijing Lu -- by Zuo Xijia (1831-1896) ; translated by Grace S. Fong.
"Tens of thousands of epitaphs or funerary biographies survive from imperial China. Written to be engraved on stone and placed in a grave, they typically focus on the deceased's biographical information and exemplary words and deeds, expressing survivors' longing for the dead. Epitaphs provide glimpses of the lives of people who are not well-documented in such sources as the dynastic histories and local gazetteers: women, men who did not leave a mark politically, and children. This anthology makes available a set of funerary biographies covering nearly two thousand years of history, from the Han dynasty through the nineteenth century, selected for their potential as teaching material for courses on Chinese history, literature, and women's studies as well as world history. Funerary biographies, due to their inclusion of telling details about personal conduct, family life, local conditions, and social, cultural, and religious practices, can illustrate ways of thinking and the realities of daily life. Since most funerary biographies can be read and analyzed on multiple levels, they have the potential to stimulate discussion of topics such as the emotional tenor of family life, rituals associated with death, whether the values seen in these biographies should be called Confucian, ways to analyze women's lives from sources written by men, and how to use sources that can be assumed to be biased. These biographies will be especially effective when combined with more readily available primary sources such as official documents, religious and intellectual discourses, and anecdotal stories, promising to generate interesting discussion about literary genre, the ways historians use sources, and how writers shape their accounts"--
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2019022301
Inscriptions--China. Epitaphs--China. Funeral rites and ceremonies--China. Burial--China.