Media Recommendation The Han inscriptions are of profound and majestic spirit. ——Lu Xun, a great writer of the 20th century I'm in an agony of love for the rubbings, which, for 2,000 years, have been passed down generation to generation. ——Guo Moruo, a great man ofletters in modern China I really want to kneel down to pay my respects to our forefathers in the Han Dynasty. —— Wu Guanzhong, a leading Chinese painter, art educator and essayist No other dynasty in Chinese history can be compared with the Han Dynasty in terms of the inscribing of real life and popular stories into the stones. If the pictures inscribed in the stones were collected systematically, they would become an illustrated history of the Han Dynasty. ——Jian Bozan, a distinguished historian Wang Hongzhen is more a writer than a collector in that he can examine the beauty of the Han stone pictures with a writer's sensitivity, a collector's viewpoint, and a scholar's resolution. ——Song Xin, a writer and journalist
About Author Wang Hongzhen, born in 1957,graduated from Nanjing University. Used to be the curator of Pei County Museum, now he is a researcher at the Institute of Ancient Books of Huzhou Normal College, and a member of the Jiangsu Writers' Association and the Chinese Collectors' Association. He has been engaged in the study of Han Dynasty stone carvings for more than io years with a solid foundation in this field.
Table of Contents
Introduction Government Chapter One: Military-The Valiancy of the Great Han Dynasty Chapter Two: Politics- Confucianism, Duty and Patriarchy Chapter Three: Foreign Affairs-The Rise of Diplomacy
Spirltual Chapter Four: Revered Animals-Flying Dragons and Dancing Phoenixes Chapter Five: Gods and Immortals - Dominators of the Heavenly Empire Chapter Six: Beliefs-The Unity of Heaven and Man Chapter Seven: Funeral-Treating Death as Another Life
Daily Life Chapter Eight: Arclutecture - A Model for Posterity Chapter Nine: Marriage-The Multiplicity of Posterities Chapter Ten: Cuisine-Development of Food and Cooking Chapter Eleven: Music and Dance-Performing Arts in the Prosperous Epoch Chapter Twelve: Recreation-Ball-Kicking Games Chapter Thirteen: Agriculture-Harvesting from the Fields and Streams Chapter Fourteen: Commerce -The Necessary Trend
Culture Chapter Fifteen: Important Events-The Historical Heritage
Appenidix: How to Make Rubbings of the Han Stone Carvings
