Imagined Reality: Urban Space and Sui-Tang Beliefs in the Underworld

• In Event: Reinventing the City: Mapping Chinese Urbanscapes in Image and Text

Abstract

This paper aims to probe accounts of the underworld relevant to Tang-dynasty Chang’an, and argues that what they reveal about its rich urban social life should be placed in the context of religious and social history, especially in light of the abundance of Buddhist and other types of sources that have not yet been mined for research. The focal point of this paper will be to “map out” the imagined spaces in the consciousness of urban inhabitants from that time, which in fact occupied an important place in history. In these imaginings, the monasteries of Chang’an served crucial functions, and religious elites often fulfilled the role of redeemers. The paper will furthermore show that, in many of these stories, images of underworld as articulated by Chang’an residents became entwined with the actual spaces of monasteries.

Specifically, this paper will examine source records such as the collection Ming Bao Ji by Tang Lin (seventh century), with the theoretical premise that the “ghost stories” contained in it bear the traces of having been repeatedly retold through multiple intermediaries, such as the Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, Assistant Director of the Palace Administration, and corroborated by “local people.” The results of this paper will not only carry significance for understanding urban life such as medieval Chang’an, but also provide an important platform to investigate medieval politics, culture, religion, and even the realm of popular belief.

Author

• Yinggang Sun, Fudan University