99 Views
China and Inner Asia
Organized Panel Session
The establishment of the empire by Qin Shihuangdi in 221 BCE undoubtedly was the most significant socio-political change in Chinese history. However, its impact on practices and beliefs that were associated with early imperial tombs is severely understudied. Early imperial mausolea are currently perceived as miniature representations of the entire universe. Since neither Qin Shihuangdi’s nor any of the Western Han emperor’s actual burial chambers have been excavated, this view is almost solely based on the description of Qin Shihuangdi’s burial in Sima Qian’s Shiji. This paper will show that a holistic perspective on written and archaeological sources provides a more detailed understanding of early imperial mortuary practices and beliefs. Based on a systematic analysis of early historiography in relation with archaeological finds and features from imperial mausolea such as ceramic figurines from satellite pits and ancillary burials of meritorious subjects, I will demonstrate that early Chinese emperors, in fact, did not intend to represent the whole cosmos in their burial complexes. Rather, several different strategies indicate that they actually recreated the structures of their erstwhile empires. The early emperors not only gathered loyal followers around them by granting the latter settlement and burial rights at their burial complexes, but they also employed large numbers of tomb miniatures that reflected, among other things, their own personalities as well as the ethnic diversity of their vast empires. Thus, the idea of empire clearly transcended biological death and shaped the notion of everlasting empires in the afterlife.
Armin Selbitschka
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany