A Study of the Portraits of Immortals in the Han Dynasty

Jiang Sheng

   There are earliest and most reliable pedigree of immortals as known preserved on the stone reliefs in tombs of the Han Dynasty. The “irrational” scene that the historical or legendary figures of different times co-existing in one place, and numerous strange wonders exceeding secular experience, all suggest the transcendent characteristics of the space indicated by the images to the secular order of time and space. Centered on the east, west, and back walls of the Wu Ancestral Hall, and through a comprehensive survey of all kinds of images on the stone reliefs, it could be found that there actually implies a set of religious criterion for value in those images. The kind of images of emperors, wise prime ministers, capable generals, and assassins reflected the standard of “sages and heroes becoming immortals since the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties; and the kind of images of loyalist, filial son, and virtuous lady also showed that in the Han Dynasty, the paragons of loyalty, filial piety, chastity and righteousness could become immortals after death. The orderly images should be regarded as the pedigree of immortals of the Han Dynasty. The theological Confucian ethics, the social fashion of valuing martial arts, and long accumulated thought of immortals formed the ideological foundation of the pedigree of immortals in the Han Dynasty. The pedigree of immortals and ghosts preserved on the stone reliefs reflected the structure of religious belief in the Han Dynasty, and transformed with the great change during the Han and Jin Dynasties. The research combining the portraits in tombs of the Han Dynasty and the Taoist literature could not only restore the general visage of the pedigree of immortals in the Han Dynasty, but also reveal the standard of becoming immortals at that time, which was quite significant to the studies of the religious form of the Han Dynasty and the origin of early Taoism.