Zhou 1 Elsa Zhou Stephanie Su Art of the East: China 14 May 2011 Duality of the Soul In observing the

e funerary items of the Han Dynasty, it seems that there can be a clear demarcation drawn between the items of practicality and the items of spirituality. On the one hand, the funerary items of the Han dyansty show very simple everyday items representing the daily life of the Han, including things like mills, latrines, architectural structures, and guard dogs. On the other hand, there are also items that are very fantastical in appearance depicting dragons and immortals, mist circling around magical mountains, calling forth ideas of an afterlife of great mystery and otherworldliness. It seems that within the funerary figures of the Han, lies a huge disparity in how the afterlife is viewed. Is the afterlife simply a continuation of life as they currently lived, or is it a life in the mystical world of the immortals? How can a people who believe in supplying granaries for the afterlife of the dead, be at the same time those who carve faces of monsters and mystical creatures onto the doors of their tombs? In this paper, I would like to look at this opposition seen in the funerary arts of the Han and explore possible reasons for this mixture of two seemingly contradictory ideas of the afterlife. Out of this analysis, we shall see that funerary art of the period is not simply art for arts sake, but rather fulfills a certain function in the lives of the people and is a reflection of their complex beliefs about what the afterlife entails.

Zhou 2 We can begin by looking at the architectural model of Pigsty and Latrines1. The clay model shows a rectangular shaped building with walls on three. The fourth side, accessible by a series of five steps, is a raised walkway perhaps a third as high as the walls, allowing the viewer to look into the courtyard and see the four pigs enclosed within. The walkway leads to the latrines, which placed above the pigsty, drains down into the space below. All in all, this model presents a picture of a very mundane everyday life for the Han people. The pigs within were not only a source of food for the people, but the very practical placement of the pigsty by the latrines shows the efficiency of the architects in placing the smelly unclean pigs, directly beside the latrines. Whats more significant, however, is that something so mundane as the latrines would even be included in such models of the afterlife for the deceased. This model shows that even the tiniest, most insignificant actions of human life, like using the toilet, is still a part of the considerations of life after death. Almost in direct opposition, we see that the tombs of the Han people contained elements that are not so mundane as well. In the sculpture titled Immortals Riding Dragons2 we can see a depiction of two dragons rearing up on their hind legs, their snake-like bodes curling up around two riders perched upon their backs. Their faces turned upwards, seem to be facing the skies as if they were straining upwards, and the fluidity of their bodies suggest that are in motion, as if they are airborne. Furthermore the triangular shapes beneath them are reminiscent of mountains or perhaps waves of water, placing them above the earthly things, presenting a picture of a pair

Pigsty and Latrines, Gray earthenware with stamped decoration, c. (206 B.C. A.D. 220), Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. 2 Immortals Riding Dragons: Sections of a Tomb Pediment, Gray earthenware with traces of slip and polychrome pigments, c. (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.

Zhou 3 of carefree riders far above the mundane troubles of worldly beings. The placement of these two figures inside the tomb suggest the belief that the deceased becomes immortal after death, his soul ascending into the realm of immortal beings, gifted with power, living above the things of the earth. From our analysis so far of Han funerary art, the architectural model and the dragon sculptures appear to be in complete opposition to each other. One, depicting life after death as one of immortality and power, another depicting life after death as simply a continuation of human living before death. Beyond simply their functions however, we will see that there is also a clear demarcation between these two binaries in their spatial placement and composition as well. In fact the Han were highly cognizant of the difference between the two different types of art within the tombs. Spatially, we can see that the dragon sculptures, were placed directly beneath the roof of the burial chamber, as two ends of a pediment. This means, that within the tomb, the items that had spiritual significance were placed above the items of this world. On the other hand, quite explicitly, clay figurines are often placed upon the floor of the burial chamber. Furthermore, there is a clear line drawn between those items which can be made of clay and those items which are made of bronze or stone. The Boshan Xianlu3 is an incense burner, shaped like the mystical mountains of the Isles of the Blessed. An imaginary place where the immortals dwelt, the mountains of depicted on this incense burner are depict an exotic place full of mystery and magic. Delicately shaped, and perched upon a thin stem, from which comes a design suggestive of unfurled leaves, the bulk of the incense burner perches upon this pedestal, having

Mountain-Shaped Incense Burner (Boshan Xianglu) , Bronze, c. (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), Chicago Art Institute, Chicago

Zhou 4 the appearance as of a flower bud, giving it a delicate almost ethereal feel. Most significantly, however, as an object depicting the other worlds, we can see that this incense burner is not made of common clay like the other architectural models or simpler figurines. Instead, this incense burner is made of bronze, a more substantial, costlier medium. So why was there this marked binary in the funerary arts of the Han? One explanation could be found in their beliefs of the path of the soul when one becomes deceased. According to Jean M. James in his book, A guide to the Tomb and Shrine Art of the Han Dynasty4, as early as the second century B.C., there were clearly formed ideas about two different sections of the human soul, the hun and the po. After the death of the human body, the soul splits into two parts. One is the spirit-soul, hun, that becomes a part of the realm of the immortals, becoming the ancestral spirit that watches over the family line for generations to come. The other is the earthsoul which remains within the body inside the tomb because the physical body of the deceased cannot travel into the land of the immortals. These two different souls that the deceased splits into are the reason for the two distinct types of funerary art we have identified. While the spiritual items are to help the hun in its journey to the land of the immortals, the practical everyday items are for the po in its living still on this earth. Taking care of both parts of the soul were equally important for the family of the deceased. In order fulfill the Confucian standard of filial piety, it was of the greatest necessity to ensure that ancestors were happy, which would allow for the ancestors to intervene for their descendants and keep the family line prosperous. The proper way to take care of the ancestors, then, was through adopting the proper funeral

James, Jean M.. "Eastern Zhou Beginnings: the two souls." In A guide to the tomb and shrine art of the Han dynasty 206 B.C.-A.D. 220. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press, 1996. 3-4.

Zhou 5 arrangements in order to take care of them in their next life. Through this, we can see that tombs, were, in a sense, the meeting place of the immortal realm with the living realm. Through the right funerary rituals and sacrifices to their ancestors, individuals of the living generation would be able to contact the immortal realm and ask for help in times of hardship, blessings for marriages within the family, or even just prosperity in the family line. From this perspective, it was vital that the family of the deceased pay the proper respects to the dead. So much so that family members who failed to hurry home upon the death of their family was punished by the government!5 Another possible explanation for the appearance of the spiritual things within the tombs of the Han dynasty is that the things of the spiritual realm were a part of the everyday life and imaginations of the Han people. For example, on the architectural model of the Rectangular Wellhead6, we see that the practical need not necessarily be divorced from the spiritual. The wellhead, is a gray rectangular earthenware object, etched with carvings of different animals and creatures on all four sides. The wellhead, appears to be a sturdy useful object to be used in such a mundane task as drawing water, but molded upon the wellhead were not only real animals but also possibly an immortal archer and dragons. While it is not apparent why fantastical creatures appear upon the surface of a wellhead, a possible explanation could be a connection drawn between water, especially a well, as a bridge between this world and the world of the immortals. It is easy to imagine a person, peering down into long shaft of the well, and seeing a reflection of

Wu, Hung. "Voices of Funerary monuments." In Monumentality in early Chinese art and architecture . Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1995. 189. 6 Rectangular Wellhead, Gray earthenware with molded decoration, c. (206 B.C. A.C. 220), Chicago Art Institute, Chicago

Zhou 6 this world, imagining the existence of another world within the deep recesses of the well. The dark mysterious source of water, coming from deep under the earth, could almost seem as a pathway to another world. In conclusion, we see that while the Han world of models, figurines, and wall carvings tells us much about the technologies, innovations, and lives of the Han, we must remember that funerary art of the Han dynasty fulfilled an actual function in the lives of the Han people. The models fulfilled a representational role, but showed how the world ought to be, not necessarily what it was. What a man didnt have in real life, could have been given to him in the afterlife. What a man couldnt afford in money in the current age could be given to him in clay in the next age. Like a dollhouse, the Han dynasty tombs revealed a picture of daily life in the Han dynasty, but revealed a more perfect version of life as they saw it. And in the Han imaginations of the afterlife, the world was a perfect place, with no violence, no illnesses, and no famines. The importance of making the perfect tomb showed rather the significance of the tomb as a meeting place of the dead and the living. For the relatives of the deceased, the best way to take care of their loved ones was to provide them with all the luxuries and niceties for the next age. The tomb was meeting place of the dead and the living, a mixture of the things needed by the dead and the alive. In the same sense, ones dead ancestors were the only way for many to contact the world of the dead as seen in the Han every day beliefs. Thus, the relationship was a mutual one, with the family members providing for the deceased in the proper funeral rites, and the spirit of the ancestors interceding for the living generation from the realm of immortals.