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The Emotive Object in Medieval China

The Emotive Object in Medieval China This article considers the emotional status of grave goods in medieval China. Its purpose is twofold. First, the author investigates the conceptual structures available for interpreting the emotional processes involved in medieval burials. He argues that it is possible, and indeed productive, to read grave goods as traces of emotional operations and, in so doing, to articulate a dimension of the embodied processes that structured and motivated wider developments in the social and cultural history of China. Second, the author demonstrates how sensory-based analyses of grave goods can elucidate intermediating processes among the conceptualization of emotion in philosophical texts, the representation of emotion in the literary and visual arts, and the actual experience of emotion in premodern China. Using the recently discovered cemetery of the Northern Song Lü family as a case study, he articulates the emotional function of the aesthetic appreciation that occurred when selecting objects for burial. In explaining the relationship between the sensorial affect of the grave goods and the family's commitment to the abstract ideal of sincerity, the author uses the concept of the emotive object to chart common ground for histories of thought and the arts in China. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture Duke University Press

The Emotive Object in Medieval China

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Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by Duke University Press
ISSN
2329-0048
eISSN
2329-0056
DOI
10.1215/23290048-7496833
Publisher site
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Abstract

This article considers the emotional status of grave goods in medieval China. Its purpose is twofold. First, the author investigates the conceptual structures available for interpreting the emotional processes involved in medieval burials. He argues that it is possible, and indeed productive, to read grave goods as traces of emotional operations and, in so doing, to articulate a dimension of the embodied processes that structured and motivated wider developments in the social and cultural history of China. Second, the author demonstrates how sensory-based analyses of grave goods can elucidate intermediating processes among the conceptualization of emotion in philosophical texts, the representation of emotion in the literary and visual arts, and the actual experience of emotion in premodern China. Using the recently discovered cemetery of the Northern Song Lü family as a case study, he articulates the emotional function of the aesthetic appreciation that occurred when selecting objects for burial. In explaining the relationship between the sensorial affect of the grave goods and the family's commitment to the abstract ideal of sincerity, the author uses the concept of the emotive object to chart common ground for histories of thought and the arts in China.

Journal

Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture – Duke University Press

Published: Apr 1, 2019

References

  • The Concept of Ritual in the Thought of Sima Guang (1019–1086)
    Clart, Philip Dieter Kuhn Helga Stahl
  • Material Ambiguity and the Hermetic Text: Cities, Tombs, and Middle Period History
    de Pee, Christian
  • The Ritual and Sexual Bodies of the Groom and Bride in Ritual Manuals of the Sung Dynasty (Eleventh through Thirteenth Centuries)
    de Pee, Christian Harriet T. Zurndorfer
  • Aesthetics and Meaning in Experience: A Theoretical Perspective on Zhu Xi's Revision of Song Dynasty Views of Poetry
    Fuller, Michael
  • The Semantics of Qing in Pre-Buddhist Chinese
    Harbsmeier, Christopher Halvor Eifring
  • “Le chagrin, la pierre et l'argile: Images du deuil dans la Chine médiévale”
    Hong, Jeehee
  • Mechanism of Life for the Netherworld: Transformations of Mingqi in Middle-Period China
    Hong, Jeehee
  • Sentiments of Desire: Thoughts on the Cult of Qing in Ming-Qing Literature
    Huang, Martin
  • “Songdai shidafu de jinshi shoucang yu liyi shijian—yi Lantian Lüshi jiazu wei li” 宋代士大夫的金石收藏與禮儀實踐——以藍田呂氏家族為例
    Hsu Ya-hwei 許雅惠
  • The Ethics of Immutable Things: Interpreting Lü Dalin's Illustrated Investigations of Antiquity
    Moser, Jeffrey
  • One Land of Many Places: The Integration of Local Culture in Southern Song Geographies
    Moser, Jeffrey
  • The Ethics of Responding Properly: The Notion of Qing in Early Chinese Thought
    Puett, Michael Halvor Eifring
  • “Songdai sangzang xisu de biange ji qi tixian de shehui yiyi” 宋代喪葬習俗的變革及其體現的社會意義
    Qin Dashu 秦大樹
  • Against Constructionism: The Historical Ethnography of Emotions
    Reddy, William M.
  • “Shaanxi Lantianxian wulitou Bei Song Lüshi jiazu mudi” 陝西藍田縣五里頭北宋呂氏家族墓地
    Shaanxisheng kaogu yanjiuyuan 陝西省考古研究院
  • Su Shi's Orthodox Burials: Interconnected Double Chamber Tombs in Sichuan
    Stahl, Helga Dieter Kuhn
  • The Archaeology of Emotion and Affect
    Tarlow, Sarah
  • Emotion in Archaeology
    Tarlow, Sarah
  • “‘Shengqi’ de gainian yu shijian” 「生器」的概念與實踐
    Wu Hung 巫鴻
  • “Xi'an Rujiazhuang Songdai zhuandiaomu fajue jianbao” 西安乳家庄宋代磚雕墓發掘簡報
    Xi'anshi wenwu baohu kaogu yanjiuyuan 西安市文物保護考古研究院
  • “Shanxi Changzhi Guxiancun Songdai bihua mu” 山西長治故縣村宋代壁畫墓
    Zhu Xiaofang 朱曉芳 Wang Jinxian 王進先
  • The Concept of Ritual in the Thought of Sima Guang (1019–1086)
    Clart, Philip Dieter Kuhn Helga Stahl
  • Material Ambiguity and the Hermetic Text: Cities, Tombs, and Middle Period History
    de Pee, Christian
  • The Ritual and Sexual Bodies of the Groom and Bride in Ritual Manuals of the Sung Dynasty (Eleventh through Thirteenth Centuries)
    de Pee, Christian Harriet T. Zurndorfer
  • Aesthetics and Meaning in Experience: A Theoretical Perspective on Zhu Xi's Revision of Song Dynasty Views of Poetry
    Fuller, Michael
  • The Semantics of Qing in Pre-Buddhist Chinese
    Harbsmeier, Christopher Halvor Eifring
  • “Le chagrin, la pierre et l'argile: Images du deuil dans la Chine médiévale”
    Hong, Jeehee
  • Mechanism of Life for the Netherworld: Transformations of Mingqi in Middle-Period China
    Hong, Jeehee
  • Sentiments of Desire: Thoughts on the Cult of Qing in Ming-Qing Literature
    Huang, Martin
  • “Songdai shidafu de jinshi shoucang yu liyi shijian—yi Lantian Lüshi jiazu wei li” 宋代士大夫的金石收藏與禮儀實踐——以藍田呂氏家族為例
    Hsu Ya-hwei 許雅惠
  • The Ethics of Immutable Things: Interpreting Lü Dalin's Illustrated Investigations of Antiquity
    Moser, Jeffrey
  • One Land of Many Places: The Integration of Local Culture in Southern Song Geographies
    Moser, Jeffrey
  • The Ethics of Responding Properly: The Notion of Qing in Early Chinese Thought
    Puett, Michael Halvor Eifring
  • “Songdai sangzang xisu de biange ji qi tixian de shehui yiyi” 宋代喪葬習俗的變革及其體現的社會意義
    Qin Dashu 秦大樹
  • Against Constructionism: The Historical Ethnography of Emotions
    Reddy, William M.
  • “Shaanxi Lantianxian wulitou Bei Song Lüshi jiazu mudi” 陝西藍田縣五里頭北宋呂氏家族墓地
    Shaanxisheng kaogu yanjiuyuan 陝西省考古研究院
  • Su Shi's Orthodox Burials: Interconnected Double Chamber Tombs in Sichuan
    Stahl, Helga Dieter Kuhn
  • The Archaeology of Emotion and Affect
    Tarlow, Sarah
  • Emotion in Archaeology
    Tarlow, Sarah
  • “‘Shengqi’ de gainian yu shijian” 「生器」的概念與實踐
    Wu Hung 巫鴻
  • “Xi'an Rujiazhuang Songdai zhuandiaomu fajue jianbao” 西安乳家庄宋代磚雕墓發掘簡報
    Xi'anshi wenwu baohu kaogu yanjiuyuan 西安市文物保護考古研究院
  • “Shanxi Changzhi Guxiancun Songdai bihua mu” 山西長治故縣村宋代壁畫墓
    Zhu Xiaofang 朱曉芳 Wang Jinxian 王進先