Sites of Recognition: Burial, Mourning, and Commemoration in the Xun Family of Yingchuan, AD 140–305

Abstract

Abstract Using recent scholarship in archeology and social history, this study translates traditionally transmitted texts concerning the burials, funerals, and eulogies of the Xun family of Yingchuan. This focus creates a type of narrative over many generations that has never been attempted for an early medieval Chinese lineage. Details emerge of family locales, social bonding, and values, as well as insights into the situation of women. Ultimately, it contributes to the understanding of how politically important elite families fared from the end of Han through Western Jin. In the case of the Xuns, the evidence of burials and commemorations combined with other data shows that members fared variously but it can be argued that the family tended to diminish in importance after leading members' reputations were attacked, the family cemetery ruined, and the dynasty conquered. Nonetheless, a certain loyalty to the Sima dynasts can still be seen to operate.