Textual, Material, Visual: Exploring an Epigraphic Approach to the History of Imperial China

Abstract

In this article, I advance a recent epigraphic approach to historical study by foregrounding steles as a medium that functions both to communicate information and project authority publicly. Scholars taking this approach have explored distinctive genres of steles to transform our understanding of north China under Mongol rule. Through a case study, I show how a set of steles installed in the fifteenth-century rural world of north China transmitted authority and power not just through the content of their inscriptions but also through other written and unwritten information they stored. I give particular attention to the ways in which the inscriptions were materialized and visualized. In doing so, I argue that emphasizing the public communication function of steles challenges us to think beyond primary sources strictly in terms of their textual value to reflect more broadly on modes of transmission and the power dynamics contained within them.