Title

Cross Reference between Rhapsodies and Customs of the Han

Author

Sherman Chu

Genre

Article  

Pages

143-191

Download

Language

Chinese

Key words

the festival of purgation and lustration (fuxi), contacts between living people and ghosts (chienguei), rhapsodies of the Han

Abstract

      No one, expect God the Almighty, is able to create out of one’s own historical context. Consciously breaking through the social norms or not, one is to a certain extent influenced by the cultural bounds in which one writes. Therefore, in understanding rhapsodies of the Han, it is apparently unwise to study the work without examination of the background setting as well as the cultural atmosphere from which the texts sprouted. Previous research that overlooks the historical context thus risks losing the bird’s eye view over the whole issue, and fails to answer more thorough questions, such as the accentuation in a certain piece or the rise and fall of certain subjects in the entire genre.

      On the other hand, research on the customs of Han has been extremely benefited from the excavations of and studies on the Han dynasty paintings, bamboo slips, bronze mirrors and tombs. It is only reasonable that rhapsody, the most popular genre of the Han, should be added to the list of study to enrich our understanding of the society and culture under investigation. Unfamiliar terms and extraordinary phrases which abound in rhapsodies may have deterred social historians from applying such literary material. Separation and segregation caused by academic categorization could also be the hindrance to cross reference and mutual inspiration. Whatever the reason, literary material should not be left out in historical research since it not only sheds lights on what have happened in the experienced world but also provides scholars with an avenue into the authors’ inner vision of what could have happened.

      This article shows the possibility of cross reference and mutual inspiration between rhapsodies and customs of the Han by examining three subjects: the festival of purgation and lustration (fuxi), contacts between living people and ghosts (chienguei), and the thematic selections of Han rhapsodies. Because of the unseperable nature of cultural development, this article also applies material from the pre-Qin and the Wei-Jin periods when it is appropriate.