Souls, Corpses and Burials: Spectacles of Death in Chang’an and Luoyang during the Tang
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
Tu, Chung-cheng
Abstract
Death plays an important role in people’s everyday life during the Tang dynasty. This dissertation is concerned with the sociocultural aspects of death in Chang’an and Luoyang during the Tang by examining the spectacles of death from the perspectives of public officers, scholar officials and their family members, with particular reference to the funerary traditions. Specifically, this study investigates people’s attitudes toward death and ways of coping with death through the documentation of funeral rites and ceremonies within the framework of legislation and funeral ritual.
This study reconstructs a comprehensive picture of the funeral customs, particularly in terms of souls and corpses in Chang’an and Luoyang during the Tang and discusses death attitudes and their relationships with legislation and the behavior of communities from the perspective of material culture. To understand the role of death in the Tang society, we recreate people’s conceptualization and imagination of death by examining death attitudes. Drawing from the micro-level analysis of the history of everyday life, we concentrate on the reconstruction of funerary and death-worship practices. We also address the issues of the relationship between the burial ground and the city, design of tombs and cemetery and funerary goods in practices.
In summary, funerary and death-worship practices are focused on the beliefs of souls and corpses, as manifested in sophisticated funeral rites and ceremonies, a collective imagination of the otherworld, the influence of Buddhism and Taoism on funerary customs and the belief of scared spaces of death as determined by Fengshui (geomancy). These practices are derived from funerary traditions following the Sung dynasty, which in turn contributes to the typical funerary traditions in Chinese culture. This study advances our understanding of the sociocultural aspects of death in Chang’an and Luoyang during the Tang.
Subjects
death
spectacles of death
souls
corpses
burials
Chang’an and Luoyang
Type
thesis
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