Study On The Imagery Of The Sino-Sogdian’s Epitaphs In The Tang Dynasty

The total number of scholarly epitaphs published for the Northern,Sui,Tang,and Five Dynasties of Sino-Sogdian’s amounts to about 300.There are over two hundred of them with a accurately corrected text.The epitaphs of the Sino-Sogdian in the Tang dynasty,reflecting both the overall style of epitaph writing in the Tang dynasty and the individual characteristics of the Sino-Sogdian’s epitaphs.The study of the imageries of the Tang dynasty epitaphs is not only an important entry point for discovering the specificity of the Sino-Sogdian identity and the generality of Hanization,but also one of the important ways in the study of the literary development of the same period.This thesis based on the Sino-Sogdian’s epitaphs of Tang dynasty,through a combination of literature and theories,interdisciplinary research approach,the thesis explores the ethnicity,notions of death and ideal character image behind the imageries of the epitaphs.The paper consists of four main sections.The first part establishes the criteria for judging and classifying the imageries of Sino-Sogdian’s epitaphs of Tang dynasty.Then,follow the logical order of reality before illusion,dividing them into ethnic,death and character imageries in terms of the special status of the Sino-Sogdian,the death symbolism of the epitaphs and the biographical quality of the epitaphs.At the same time,clarify the concepts of the three types of imageries,as well as the cultural concepts or psychological tendencies they imply.The second part focuses on ethnic imageries,interpreting the ethnic characteristics of epitaph imageries from three perspectives:geographical features,ethnic characteristics and warfare activities.On this basis,according to the correlation between the imageries and the ethnic characteristics of the Sino-Sogdian,and the logical order from the core to the edge,the ancestral consciousness and native thinking,settlement psychology and national concept embodied in the imageries are deeply explored.The third part focuses on the imageries of the characters,and interprets the desire for longevity and fame of the Sino-Sogdian in the Tang Dynasty from the use of imageries,the yearning for being both brilliant and strong and self-cultivation or govern the country.The forth part focuses on the imageries of death,and analyzes the mourning writing of the Sino-Sogdian epitaphs from the two dimensions of the transcendental imagination after death and the philosophical problems of reality,so as to reveal the concept of death such as accept fate and be happy about it,life is short,and hope for rebirth.Finally,in the exploration and analysis of ethinic imageries,death imageries and character imageries,the uniqueness of the writing of Chinese and Sino-Sogdian epitaphs in the Tang Dynasty and the literariness are summarized.While looking into the overall style of Tang Dynasty epitaph writing,the thesis grasps the individual characteristics of Sino-Sogdian epitaphs.The interpretation of the imageries in the Sino-Sogdian’s epitaphs of the Tang dynasty,is conducive to the discovery of the literary and cultural value of this particular genre,and to discover the identity and generality of the Sino-Sogdian in multi-dimensional,providing a new perspective for the study of the inscriptions.This thesis examines the Tang dynasty epitaphs from three perspectives: ethnic imageries,death imageries,and character imageries,contributes to providing a comprehensive understanding of the Tang dynasty epitaphs and the multi-dimensional study of the epitaphs of the Sino-Sogdian.