Collection Of Interpretations Of Stone Inscriptions From The Han Dynasty Since 1900

The Stele had existed in the pre-Qin period,but its usage was different from what we mean today.By the Eastern Han Dynasty,the function of the Stele had changed.Its practical use weakened and began to be used to record texts praising virtues.At this time,the extension of the Stele gradually expanded,from stone carvings with texts praising virtues and memorial Dead,to all stone carvings with texts.The research object of this article is all the steles and other stone carvings of the Han Dynasty,such as Mo Ya,painted stones,stone tablets,etc.,excluding the Han Stone Classics.Since the rise of epigraphy in the Song Dynasty,Han Dynasty stone carvings have always been one of the focuses of research.However,previous studies on stone carvings were mostly scattered and explanatory,with few collective explanatory studies,and even if there were,they were only collective explanatory studies on one or several stone carvings.Although Wang Chang’s "Jinshi Cuibian" collected previous inscriptions,it only excerpted them without conducting excessive research.Previous studies on stone carvings mainly focused on using stone inscriptions to research historical records,and the interpretation of words and phrases was often inaccurate.The main reasons were the difficulty of obtaining rubbings and insufficient research on unearthed documents.In recent years,with the increase in the number and quality of published rubbings and the rise of research on unearthed documents,there have been more references for textual rubbings,and the interpretation of stone inscriptions has also made leapfrog development.The research of stone carvings cannot be separated from rubbings,but early research on rubbings mainly focused on the identification of their ages and authenticity,without sufficient attention to their significance in textual interpretation.Good original copies and clear illustrations are the foundation of textual interpretation work,which is why we have separately listed the section on "Illustrations and Catalogues" in our article.In view of this,this article intends to discuss these issues.This article mainly consists of three parts: introduction,main text,and appendix.The introduction discusses the research object,previous research results,research significance,and innovative points.The definition of relevant concepts is the foundation of the research.We first clarify that there are narrow and broad senses of the concept of "stone tablet".In a broad sense,it can refer to all stone carvings with inscriptions.Since the concepts of "stone tablet" and "stone carving" appear simultaneously in the article,the "stone tablet" mentioned in the article refers to the narrow sense.Previous research results can be divided into epigraphy research before 1900 and stone inscription research after 1900.The stone inscription research after 1900 is the focus of our discussion.The significance of the research mainly lies in two aspects.Firstly,since 1900,stone inscription research has mainly focused on recording and textual interpretation,with little work on collective interpretation and research on text theory.Most of the research has been on the collective interpretation of a particular or a few stone tablets.Collective interpretation is the sorting and integration of various viewpoints,through which we can understand what stage the previous research has reached and what unresolved issues remain.This serves as the foundation for our further research.Secondly,there is a lack of integration of rubbing research and textual interpretation.Clear and high-quality rubbings are essential for textual interpretation,and our research aims to find good rubbings to serve the purpose of textual interpretation.In addition,many newly discovered stone inscriptions in recent years have been scattered and difficult to collect,and their excavation reports and related research have been published in various journals and books.We have also included them in our compilation.The innovation of this research lies in its exploration of textual interpretation,photographic documentation,and research on related issues.In the main body of the text,we categorize the stone carvings into three parts according to their types: tablets,stone reliefs,and other types of stone carvings.Here,we have selected some stone carvings with abundant textual content and controversial issues in interpretation or related research.For example,the "Stone Tablet of Guanghe Four Years" has not been thoroughly studied by previous researchers.Our article provides new interpretations of the text and a re-examination of the entire content of the stone tablet from a documentary perspective.Additionally,newly discovered stone carvings in recent years are also a focus of our research,such as the "Yanrenshan Epitaph," "Zhang Fan’s Prayer for Rain Epitaph," "Pei Jun’s Tablet," "Li Jun’s Tablet," "Liu Fu’s Eulogy of Virtue," and "Guo Duo’s Tablet for Zhao Fan."We approach the discussion of each type of stone inscription from four perspectives: overview,graphic documentation,inscription texts,and research on related issues.If there is no research on related issues,it will be omitted.The overview provides a basic description of the stone inscription,including the place and time of excavation,dimensions,shape,and other relevant details.The graphic documentation focuses on comparing the quality of rubbings and prints published by various publishers,aiming to find the clearest and most detailed versions.The inscription texts section compiles various interpretations and opinions from various scholars,while attempting to offer our own perspectives based on these existing interpretations.Research on related issues primarily delves into historical materials,chronology,authenticity,and other questions raised by the inscriptions.he appendix collects the inscriptions of Han Dynasty fragments,painted stones,Huang Chang stones,Tomb Closure stones,Inscriptions on Cliffs,Han Que,and other short inscriptions.Unlike the main text,the stone inscriptions collected here typically have fewer characters and less content for detailed research.The format of this appendix differs from the main text,as we only list the inscriptions of one publisher and do not provide a comprehensive collection of interpretations.Occasionally,there may be some discussion on vocabulary and terminology for a few stone inscriptions.