A Brief History of the Tujia — Tujia Culture and Customs in the Early Feudal Period (II)
After the Eastern Han, Han rulers continuously influenced the Tujia region with Han culture. During the Jianwu reign of Emperor Guangwu of Eastern Han (25–56 CE), after Song Jun subdued the "Five Streams Barbarians," he "established schools" to change the social condition that "its people rarely studied and believed in sorcery and ghosts," though in practice this only served to "pacify the people." During the Yongyuan reign of Emperor He of Eastern Han (89...
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After the Eastern Han Dynasty, Han Chinese rulers continuously influenced the Tujia region with Han culture. During the Jianwu era of Emperor Guangwu of Eastern Han (25–56), after Song Jun subdued the "Five Streams Barbarians," he "established schools" to change the social condition in which "the people rarely studied and believed in shamans and ghosts," though in reality this only served to "make everyone content." During the Yongyuan era of Emperor He of Eastern Han (89–105), Ying Feng, father of Ying Shao, author of the Fengsu Yanyi (Evolution of Customs and Manners), served as governor of Wuling Commandery and also "established schools and promoted the humble and obscure" there. Although this became widely known, it was mostly limited to the sons of Han Chinese officials, and its effect on promoting local cultural development was probably negligible. After Sima Rui of Eastern Jin moved south, places such as Nan Commandery and Badong became important military towns, where Han Chinese and Tujia interacted and influenced each other. By the Sui Dynasty, in the vicinity of conveniently located military towns, the Tujia custom of studying Han culture gradually strengthened, and some Tujia people had become virtually indistinguishable from Han Chinese. However, in the commanderies and prefectures of Yiling, Yuanling, and Qingjiang in Jingnan, and Qianzhou under Ba, transportation was very inconvenient, and their inhabitants were much less influenced by Han culture; only by the Tang Dynasty did a few persons who esteemed the classics begin to appear. In the early Tang, in the Kuixia region, "sons of Ba chieftains were given office according to their ability," and Tian Shikang became the first Tang prefect of Qianzhou. During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Zhao Guozhen rose to the position of Minister of the Second Rank (Yibu Shangshu) of Tang. Tian Ying, who died in Youyang, was deeply steeped in Han culture and highly accomplished; the Tang court appointed him prefect of Xizhou and granted him the title "Supreme Pillar of State" (Shang Zhuguo). Tan Boliang of Badong "loved to collect books" and during his lifetime hand-copied more than a thousand volumes. Before his death, he summoned his relatives and instructed them to preserve these hand-copied books well; if descendants wished to study, they could still use them, and if no one inherited them, they should be burned—expressing his wish that later generations continue to study Han literature.
In the Song Dynasty, Shizhou city and its nearby areas of mixed Tujia-Han habitation were more strongly influenced by Han culture than other places, and some Tujia people could write in Chinese. In the second year of the Tianxi era of Emperor Zhenzong of Song (1018), Xiang Tonghan, prefect of Fuzhou, presented the "Map of the Geography of the Five Streams" to the court as a token of loyalty. In the third year of the Yuanyou era of Emperor Zhezong of Song (1088), Zhan Miao, a native of Dutingli in Shizhou, ranked first in the imperial examination, becoming the top scholar of the erudite and macro-literary (boxue hongci) examination. His home was at the junction of Lichuan, Enshi, and Jianshi, and the local Tujia all called him a "village worthy." Xiang Jiuxi of the Shizhou area was diligent and fond of learning, studied Han classical texts, and also passed the imperial examination during the Yuanyou era. Xiang Zhongzhi, a Tujia native of Dutingli in Shizhou, was also selected as a jinshi, and the Song court appointed him as a professor in charge of cultural and educational affairs. Thus it can be seen that in the Song Dynasty there indeed emerged a small number of Tujia literati and officials who had studied Han classical texts fairly well. Therefore, historical records called the Shizhou Man "domesticated barbarians beyond the borders," which indirectly reflects that the Tujia of Shizhou were already deeply influenced by Han culture in the Song Dynasty.
During the Tang and Song periods, the arts of carving and architecture began to flourish. Owing to the implementation of the loose-rein (jimi) system, ties between the Tujia region and Han Chinese areas were strengthened, and the Tujia absorbed the carving and architectural arts of the Central Plains, thereby greatly developing the carving and architectural arts of their own region. Besides the Xianfo Temple and the Xizhou Bronze Pillar, there were also:
The Ancestral Master Hall of Xiangxi is located three li south of Laosi City in Yongshun County. It was "built in the second year of Tianfu of Jin (937). The main hall has four columns, each several arm-spans in girth, topped with wooden beams; at the joints there are no marks of axe or chisel, and to this day it has not tilted—truly divine craftsmanship." The Ancestral Master Hall seen today was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty. It has a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof, is 17.5 meters long, 13 meters wide, and over 20 meters high, entirely of wooden construction. The entire hall is supported by 34 large columns, with double-layered round stone bases; the column joints are capped by half-step and one-dou-three-sheng bracket sets, with a single-layer flat eave. The bracket sets of the hall are robust and archaic, and the beam-frame structure is highly distinctive. It is a representative building of the Tujia region and embodies the superb architectural art of the Tujia people.
Laosi City of Yongshun, also called Fushi City, is thirty li east of Yongshun County seat. The city is surrounded by mountains on all four sides, with the Lingxi River flowing around it. Historical records state that in the fifth year of the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song (1135), Peng Fushi Chong, prefect of Xizhou, moved his seat of government to Fushi City. Laosi City lasted 593 years, throughout which it was the location of the government office and the political and cultural center of Xiangxi at the time. Although the city had no tall walls, it had four gates—east, west, south, and north—and eight streets, and its scale remains intact to this day, making it typical material for studying the government office architecture of ancient Tujia regions.
The Qiufeng Pavilion of Badong is located on a hillock 600 meters southeast of Xinling Town in Badong County, Hubei. During the Taiping Xingguo era of the Northern Song, Kou Zhun served as magistrate of Badong. While teaching the people to produce and developing the economy, he built the Qiufeng Pavilion in the old city north of the river, personally planted trees before it, and climbed the pavilion to compose poetry. In the late Southern Song, the Badong county seat moved from the north bank to the foot of Jinzi Mountain on the south bank (present-day Xinling Town). At that time, the Qiufeng Pavilion still stood on the north bank and remained intact until the fifth year of the Qiandao era of the Southern Song (1169). Later, after long exposure to wind, frost, rain, and snow, the pavilion gradually eroded and deteriorated. When Sheng Gao was magistrate of Badong in the Ming Dynasty, he built a new Qiufeng Pavilion on the south bank in imitation of the old one. The Qiufeng Pavilion is of stone-and-wood construction, with two tiers of flying eaves, red columns and colored tiles, carved beams and painted rafters, and a pointed roof at the four corners; it is over 20 meters high and quite spectacular.
During the Tang and Song periods, although deeply influenced by Han culture, the Tujia region still maintained its own distinctive social customs and habits in certain respects. Besides preserving the custom of funeral dancing, there were also:
Worship of the Bamboo King. The legend of the Bamboo King circulated among many ethnic groups in the south, and many peoples worshipped the Bamboo King. During the Tang and Song periods, many Tujia also venerated the Bamboo King, and Bamboo King temples and shrines were built in various places. For example, in Volume 66 of the Da Ming Yitong Zhi, when discussing the temples of the Shizhou Guard Military and Civil Command Office, there is this record: "The Bamboo King Shrine is at the foot of the East Gate Mountain southeast of the guard city, namely the Yelang Shrine... In the Chongning era of Song, the temple was granted the plaque 'Hui Ling Hui.'"
Practice of cliff burial. During the Tang and Song periods, cliff burial prevailed in the Tujia region. After a person died, "they were placed at the side of the village, and after twenty or thirty deaths, all were buried together in a stone cave." Cliff burial was especially prevalent in the Xiajiang region. After death, a cave was chiseled into the steep mountainside, and the coffin was then moved into the cave. At that time, such caves could be seen everywhere in the Xiajiang region. General Wang Guo of the Song Dynasty "passed through the Three Gorges and saw an object on a stone cliff, suspended like a coffin; he took it down and found it was indeed a coffin. When opened, bones remained within." The coffin Wang Guo saw was "east of Baigou Gorge in Guizhou, at a place also called Iron Coffin Gorge."
Reverence for shamans and ghosts and emphasis on excessive sacrifices. The Tujia region lies at the junction of Ba and Chu, and both Ba and Chu cultures deeply influenced it. Ba and Chu cultures shared one thing in common: reverence for ghosts and emphasis on shamanism, which greatly influenced the Tujia. During the Tang and Song periods, "the customs of Wu and Chu abound in excessive words," and "generally Jingzhou reveres ghosts, especially emphasizing sacrificial offerings." During this period, the Tujia region's customs of venerating shamans and revering ghosts were also particularly strong. When the Song poet Ouyang Xiu arrived at Xiazhou (present-day Yichang), moved by the local customs, he wrote the lines: "The customs of Chu abound in miscellaneous ghosts throughout the seasons; the speech of the barbarian villages does not communicate with Chinese. Wandering girls with coiled hair follow ancient customs; wild shamans sing and dance in years of plenty." The Taiping Huanyu Ji records the customs of Xiazhou: "They do not know literature; they believe in shamans and ghosts and emphasize excessive rites." During this period, the custom of using human sacrifices to ghosts and spirits also prevailed in the Tujia region. For example, in the second year of the Chunhua era of Song (991), "the transport commissioner of Jingzhou reported that Xiang Wantong of Fuzhou killed Pi Shisheng and his son, seven people in all, taking their five viscera and heads to sacrifice to demons." The court repeatedly ordered this banned. As the Song Shi, Treatise on Geography IV, records: "Gui and Xia believe in shamans and ghosts and emphasize excessive sacrifices, hence orders were repeatedly issued to prohibit it." The Song Shi, Biography of Zou Hao, records: "The customs of Jing and Mian sacrifice to ghosts using people; because arrests and punishments were very severe, the practice was reformed."