A Study on Newly Unearthed Epitaphs and the Ts’ui Literary Family in the Tang Dynasty─An Investigation Centered on the Ts’ui Rong Family Line in Qinghe

Author: Ke-Xian Hu(Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Zhejiang University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 57, No. 2
Date：September 2012
Pages：59-92
DOI：10.3966/207451922012095702003

Abstract：

The Ts’ui family was a famous family in the Tang Dynasty. Multiple generations of the family possessed literary talent, and the Ts’ui were known as a literary family. Recently discovered documents contain many Ts’ui epitaphs. There are seven poet epitaphs, including the “Ts’ui Shang epitaph,” “Ts’ui Qiao epitaph,” “Ts’ui Yuanlue epitaph,” “Ts’ui Taizhi epitaph,” “Ts’ui Mian epitaph,” “Ts’ui Bei epitaph,” and the “Ts’ui Anqian epitaph.” The epitaphs have substantial value for researching Tang Dynasty Ts’ui family literary heritage. These epitaphs can be divided into four family lines. The Ts’ui Rong family line includes Ts’ui Shang, Ts’ui Qiao, and Ts’ui Anqian and represent the southern Ts’ui family line. Ts’ui Taizhi and Ts’ui Bei belong to the same line, which represents the Xuzhou Yanling line of the Ts’ui family. Ts’ui Yuanlue belongs to the major Boling line and Ts’ui Mian belongs to the secondary Boling line. This study focuses on the Ts’ui Rong line, analyzing f ive aspects: 1. The excavation of the Ts’ui family poet epitaphs; 2. the literary achievements of Ts’ui Shang; 3. the literary achievements of Ts’ui Qiao; 4. the literary achievements of Ts’ui Anqian; and 5. the heritage of the Ts’ui Rong literary family. This study examines the achievements of the literary Ts’ui Rong family line and their relationship with the Ts’ui literary family of Qinghe.

Keywords：literary family, Tang dynasty, Ts’ui, newly unearthed epitaphs

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