Tombstone and Buried Tablet

The mubei and muzhi are two different things that serve the same purpose. The Chinese tombstone (mubie), like its Western counterpart, is an oblong piece of stone, erected vertically in front of the tomb and engraved with an inscription (beiwen). The muzhi is usually in the form of a square stone tablet which is buried in the grave with the coffin and placed in front of it. The practice of burying a tablet as part of the Chinese funerary rites appeared later than the tombstone.

The earliest Chinese tombstone had no inscriptions. They were but simple rectangular slabs with small holes, through which ropes were run to lower the coffin into the pit. Some of the very ancient tombstones still show vestiges of the holes on them.

The inscription, which appeared later, generally gives a brief account of the dead person, listing the major events he experienced and the lofty qualities he possessed to perpetuate his name to later generations. Important inscriptions or epitaphs, penned by eminent statesmen, men of letters or other public figures and engraved by master masons, are cherished as valuable relics important to the study of ancient literature, calligraphy and art in general.

Some inscribed epitaphs could be very long. One such on a great stele dedicated to the Prince of Qi or Han Shizhong, a Song Dynasty general famous for his resistance against northern invaders, has a total of over 13,900 character, the longest ever found on any tombstone.

Other tombstones carry no inscriptions at all. A typical one, and also the best known, is the tall stele standing at the front of Qianling Mausoleum in Shaanxi Province. The crown of the stele is carved in the shape of several intertwining dragons, and the sides are decorated with cloud-and-dragon patterns. But there are no words engraved on the face. This is the monument that Empress Wu Zetia erected for herself. She refrained from singing her own praises, but preferred to leave it for later generations to appraise her merits and faults.

Inscriptions are bound to reflect the age in which they are written. Though the practice of erecting tombstones is as a whole falling into desuetude in New China, the few that have been built are completely new in content and form.

Towering aloft in Tian'anmen Square is the Monument of the people's Heroes. Its face is engraved with eight big characters, gilded and written in the hand of the late Chairman Mao Zedong, reading: "Eternal Glory ot the People's Heroes". At the back is a memorial article authored also by Mao but written out by the late Premier Zhou Enlai. The stele is different from all tombstones of past ages. It is a tombstone without a tomb, but a monument dedicated to all the heroes who have laid down their lives for the cause of the Chinese people. The monument is over 37 meters tall, and its pedestal, decorated on four sides with 10 sculptures carved in bas-relief on its white marble, is closed in by double-tiered marble balustrades. Simple and magnificent, it is also the grandest stele that China has ever built.

To bury a tablet with the dead person was an established practice among the people in old times. The tablet served a similar purpose as the tombstone but, being buried underground, could be preserved much longer.

There seemed to be no fixed form for the muzhi at the beginning. Soe were square at the bottom but round on top, rather like usual tombstones, but most are square. The earliest muzhi ever brought to light in China is the one Jia Wuzhong buried for his dead wife Ma Jiang in A.D. 106 during the Eastern Han. It is 46cm high, 58.5cm across and made of coarse stone, but the engraved text gives a rather detailed description of the dead woman. It is considered an archaeological treasure for its great antiquity.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the muzhi became finalized in form. As a rule, it consists of two square slabs of identical dimensions, placed one on top of the other. The top piece bears the name, native place and rank of the deceased, while the bottom one his epitaph or biographical account. Incidentally, the epitaph often written in rhyming prose, is also called muzhi or muzhiming. Occasionally, the top stone is sculpted in the shape of a tortoise with its head and legs stuck out and the name of the dead carved on its back.

A set of two buried tablets was unearthed in Shaanxi Province in 1971. It belonged to Yuchi Jingde, a famed general who helped found the Tang Dynasty. Both pieces, well preserved and finely carved out of smooth, fine-grained stone, are square in shape, each measuring 1.2x1.2 meters with a thickness of 25 cm the largest of such tablets ever unearthed.

Tombstones and buried tablets with their inscriptions, as part of the country's cultural legacy, are an important help to the study of various subjects' history, ancient geography, development of the Chinese script, the art of calligraphy and of course the dead themselves if they were important figures in their lifetime.