| The Chinese always attach great importance to the funeral ritual. To the Chinese, "death" is no less important than "live". In the funernal ritual, the Chinese greatly advocate "die in a natural way in one's old age" and "die in a proper place". If unfornately the deceased person did not pass away in his hometown, he would be carried to his hometown and then be buried in his ancestral grave, which was called "Gui Zang". As one of the funeral convention in ancient China, "Gui Zang" reflects people's notion of death and their great attention paid to their family and hometown at that time. Geographical and consanguine factors such as fellow villager(people from the same village) and religion enjoyed a very significant status in the Six Dynasties(420-589A.D) and Sui(581-617A.D)Dynasty and Tang(618-907A.D) Dynasty, which have a great influence on the social history research of funeral ritual in Tang Dynasty. However, we can rarely see the treatises and monographs about this subject at home and abroad. In most cases, it just serves as an incidental material. In this article, I try to collect the unearthed inscriptions of people living in Tang Dynasty in a wide sense. Besides these datas, I also widely read the collected works, the inscriptions recorded by Ch'uan Tang Wen(a comprehensive. collection of more or less official Tang prose texts that was compiled around 1800), the literary and the "Bi Ji"(a type of literature consisting mainly of short sketches) as reference. Based on these precious datas and research results achieved by the predecessors, I try to make a comprehensive research on the convention of "Gui Zang" in Tang Dynasty. This article is divided into 5 part.In the preface, I make a review on the academic history of this subject. On this basis, I put forward the my question.Part 1 consist of 3 sections:the definition of "Gui Zang"; analyzing the origin of "Gui Zang"; tracing its overall history before Tang Dynasty. I refute the former definition of "Gui Zang" made by the former and contemporary scholars. In combination with the contents on the inscriptions, I believe "Gui Zang" means the process that one passed away in a alien land and he was transported to his hometown and buried in his ancestral grave. In section 2, by tracing the origin of "Gui Zang", my opinion is that "Gui Zang" is originated from the convention of "Zu Zang"(burying the deceased people from the same tribe in one place) in primitive society. In the section 3, by tracing the convention of "Gui Zang" before Tang Dynasty, I conclude that "Gui Zang" is one of the convention of funeral ritual in ancient China.Part 2 is made up of 4 sections, they respectively analyze the reason why Gui Zang appeared, when and where Gui Zang happened and the change of Gui Zang's location. The reason why Gui Zang appeared can be explained for 5 types. When people in Tang Dynasty select the exact day of Gui Zang, they took many factors such as economic condition, the distance of the route, the influence of Fengshui or geomancy, season and some political factors etc. They generally choose the place where several generations of his ancestors live as the location of Gui Zang. If it was not that case, it meaned that the family had undergone a great change. Based on the family's change, we can infer the change and evolution of the whole society. In comparison with the previous days, the location of Gui Zang of the gentry in Tang Dynasty had changed a lot. In most cases, the gentry class select the capital city Chang'an and Luoyang or other cities as the Gui Zang location. In Tang Dynasty, the gentry class constitute a large proportion of government officials, so the location of Gui Zang was greatly influenced by the official's career place. In the mid-late period of Tang Dynasty, a big crowd of gentry transferred to South part of China to escape the fighting war. Although some of them return to North, still some settled down and passed away in South, whch gave rise to another change of the burial site. Nearer the late stage of Tang Dynasty, less the deceased was transported to the North to be buried. This phenomenon reflected the migrating gentry's sense of identity belonging to the South had been increasingly strong.Part 3 includes 2 sections, which discusses the source of Gui Zang's outlay and the roughness of the its whole process. Enough expenditure is a most significant factor to guarantee the smoothness of the whole process. The way people raise money includes 4 ways: favored by the official, collected by one's family members, gifted from friends or association. The process of Gui Zang is also filled with roughness. Some people even died on their escort way.In part 4, I focus my attention on the women and Buddist monks and nums. Women become a member of her husband's family at the moment she get married, while monks and nums have no idea of family. So generally speaking, they are not allowed to be buried in ancestral grave, but there are many exceptions in Tang Dynasty. I try to analyze these exceptional examples and then discuss the reasons. In part 5, I indicate that Gui Zang was very prevailing and people attached great importance to it. In section 1,I analyze the prevalence of Gui Zang from many perspectives, In section 2, by describing the inscriptions on the grave, I try to prove that people in Tang Dynasty attached great importance to Gui Zang.In a word, In comparison with the previous days,Gui Zang in Tang Dynasty had some continuation, the gentry class still attached importance;But also had some changes and new situation, lots of gentry class didn't return their native place,and the women and Buddist monks and nums'Gui Zang was the new situation.There is some limitations in this article due to my little talent and learning. So I sincerely hope some extraordinary scholars and experts to enlighten my with your precious instructions. |
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