Northern Wei Funerary System Discussed

At the beginning of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the character of funeral custom was affected little by that of the Han nationality and appeared mainly in the custom of Xianbei and Xiongnu nationalities, because of frequent war and behindhand foundation of culture together with little exchanges between Xianbei and Han nationalities. With the development of society and more exchanges with Han nationalities, especially after Emperor Xiaowen transferring the Capital from Pingcheng to Luoyang in Taihe 17(A.D. 493) and breaking away from conservative strength, kinds of reform were carried out successfully. Northern Wei' s funeral custom, inheriting its national characteristic and assimilating the system of Han, Wei and Western Jin Dynasty as well as Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasty came into being and showed its own historic characteristic.The establishment of the funeral system of the Northern Wei Dynasty, brings an important and far-reaching influence on the society. Firstly, it benefited to maintain feudal hierarchies. Secondly, it expedited the process of Northern Wei' s assimilation to the Han. Thirdly, it favored the elimination of segregation between nationalities and urged the nationalamalgamation. Furthermore, it has not only a directly influence on the funeral custom of the Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, and Western Wei, Northern Zhou Dynasty, but also has an important effect on the funeral custom and its evolvement of the Sui-Tang Dynasty.Basing on the materials of documents and excavations, using dynamic point of view, the funeral custom of the Northern Wei Dynasty are analyzed. The paper includes four sections as below: First, the funeral custom of Xianbei nationality around the beginning of Northern wei Dynasty; Second,the inheritance of the funeral custom of Han and Western Jin, and the assimilation to that of the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasty; Third,the development and historic characters of the funeral custom of the Northern wei Dynasty; last, the effect of the funeral custom of the Northern wei Dynasty.