Ebery_Taking Out the Grand Carriage

8/12/2019 Ebery_Taking Out the Grand Carriage

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Taking Out the Grand Carriage: Imperial Spectacle and the Visual Culture of Northern SongKaifengAuthor(s): PATRICIA EBREYSource: Asia Major, THIRD SERIES, Vol. 12, No. 1 (1999), pp. 33-65Published by: Academia SinicaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41645586.

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PATRICIA EBREYTaking Out the Grand Carriage: Imperial Spectacleand the Visual Culture of Northern Song KaifengParadesapitalofandtheprocessionsNorthernregularlySong dynastyenlivened(960-the1126).street1InlifeeveryofKaifeng,neighbor-thecapitalof theNorthernong dynasty960- 1126).1In everyneighbor-hood therewouldhavebeenweddingnd funeralrocessions,ommon ventsin a citywith population f bout million. emples lso from ime o timeorganized rocessions hat nvolvedparading n image throughhestreets.But theprocessionswe knowthe most bout are theones connected othegovernment. anytimes yearofficials,uards, nd soldiersparadedoutfrom hepalace to such sites s temples nd altars.Once in each season aprocession otheGrandAncestral ltar Taimiao tookplace,and onthe nniversariesf hedeath f ach of heprevious mperorsndempresses,the "hundred fficials, ilitarynd civil" all collected tone of thepalacegates ooffer ondolences o the mperial amily,hen roceeded o theBud-dhist rDaoisttemplewithn enshrinedmage f he ncestor.n a yearwhenan emperor ied,therewould be an exceptionallyargenumber fproces-sions, anging rom hefuneralortege,o the eries frites cheduled ttheGrand Ancestral emple,tothe"seeingoff" f the statues fthe deceasedemperoro be installedntemples utside he ity. very hree ears he ac-rifice t theSuburbanAltar equired majorprocession,s did essregularlyscheduled isits ythe mperorr his urrogateso mperially-sponsoredem-ples nside nd outside he ity.2Themagnitudef officialrocessions ependednotonlyonthe mpor-Iwould ike o hanksingyuansao or er elpn btaininghotographsf he aintingand othtephen estndMaggieickfordor ommentsnd orrectionsn arlierrafts.1OnKaifeng,ee dward.Kracke,r.,Song 'ai-feng:ragmaticetropolisnd ormalis-tic apital,John inthropaeger,d., risisnd rosperityn onghinaTucson:. ofArizo-naP.,1975);hara iroshi Chgokuaif o eikazuo aiji gakaretaodai o oshiseikazu (Tokyo:ansen,991);hou aozhuf^, ongdaiongjingaifengfuHflf Kaifeng:enanhidaxuebaohubanshe,984).2 nformationboutheserocessionss scatteredhroughong extsnritual,uch sTuoTuo,t l., ongshi (Beijing:honghuahuju,977; ereafteritedsSS)>ndZheng uzhong etal.,Zhengheuli inyi (SKQSedn.;hereafterZJWLX).nthe rocessionso inglingongnd theremplesithtatues,ncludinghemajorne nLuoyang,eePatriciabrey,Portraitculpturesn mperialncestralitesnSong hina,"P8$ 1997), p. 2-92.

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PATRICIA EBREYtance of theoccasion,but also on whetherr not theemperor articipated.Theemperorlways raveled ith large etinueunless,f ourse, e sneakedoutof hepalace ncognito,omethingomewere uspectedfdoing).n 1040,the ize oftheretinue orminormperial utings,uch s visits o thehomeofan official, as increased rom 09 to716 people.3Anentouragef this izewouldnothavepassedunnoticedn the treets,utwas smallby comparisontoanyoftheformal rocessions.Whenthe mperorraveled oparticipatena ritual, hemakeup nd size of the retinue ependedon theweight f theoccasion, inkedn turn o the arriage mployed. or ower-levelitual cca-sions, uchas theregularlycheduled isits o the mperial ombs, heGrandAncestral emple,and a few ther pecified emples, heemperor ooktheBellCarriage uanjia ) and an honorguard fabout7,000people.TheStatutory arriage fajiaSill), accompaniedbyabout 12,000people,wasemployedformore formal ccasions suchas imperialvisits o theBrightHall, theholymountain aishan,and on otherprovincial itualourneys.The GrandCarriage dajia ~)was used formajor tate ccasions, boveall the triennial uburban acrifices,utalso othermajorceremonies,uchas sacrifices t the mperially-sponsoredaoist Temple ofReflectingndResponding o the Realm ofJade PurityYuqingzhaoying ong Ef0 ) or theTemple ofSpectacularNumina JinglingongfiK) with tsstatues f formermperors. t was also used when theemperor ccompa-nied the statues f deceased emperors n theirourney otemples utsidethecapital.Throughmostofthedynasty,he number f thosewhoparad-ed with he GrandCarriagehovered round20,000.4The GrandCarriageprocession,ikeprocessionsn other ocieties, c-complishedmany hings. ost ources f heperiod reatt s a stagenmajorrituals. rom ritual tudies erspective,heprocession an be viewed s thetransitionhase accomplishinghemovementf he mperor rom isnormallocationwithin hepalaceto a sacred pot.5Ananalysis ftheprocession isritualmight ocus ttentionn itsoverall tructure,herelation etween u-3SS144, p.3388-89.4Ma Duanlin,enxianongkao (SKQS dn.) 18, p. a-2a.The ize ftheGrandarriagerocessionariedver ime:ourcesecord9,198n995-98; 0,061earlynRenzong'seign;8,256n1050; 2,221n he 080s; 0,061n1096;nd 1,575n1101 SS145, p.3401, 406);XuSong et l., onguiyaoigao (Beijing:Zhonghuahuju,957; ereafterHY), ect. Yufu ,p.20a; ect. Li 2,p.35b;and iTao Xu izhiongjianhangbian.Beijing:honghuahuju,985-;hereafterB) 69, .4058.5For n nalysisf hetructuref he uburbanacrifices a ritual,eeHoward.Wech-sler, fferingsf adend ilk: itualnd ymboln heegitimationf he angynastyNewHaven: aleU.P., 985), p.107-22,ndAngelaito, f odynd rush:randacrificesText/PerformancenEighteenth-enturyhinaChicago: . ofChicago.,1998).Neitherfthem evotes uchpace o he rocession,oncentratingn he acrificetself.

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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEthorizingexts nd performance,nd thedeploymentfdecorativemagesand colorson carriages nd flags ocreat uspiciousoutcomes.Processions an also be analyzedas political heater as attempts ypoliticalauthorities o dazzle an audience,gain itssupport, nd impressupon it a vision ofthe social and politicalorder.Royal processionswerecommonspectacles n medieval and renaissanceEurope; and even todaygovernmentst many evels organize parades.6To analyze thepoliticaldimensions fa parade or procession, ne would wantto considerwhentheywereheld,howgroupswere selectedtoparticipate s marchers, heorder n which heymarched, owthe routewas chosen, heverbal abelsorslogans nscribed n flags ndbanners, s well as the ess direct ymbol-ismoffloats, lothing runiforms,nd the ike.In this ssay,although touchon theritual nd political ignificanceoftheGrandCarriageprocession,myprimaryoncern s toanalyze t as afeature f the visualculture f theSong capital.Visual culture, conceptwithgreatpotential or ultural istory, asbeen developedbyarthistoriansrimarilyoexpandthecontextnwhichtheyplace art.Forinstance, ather han nalyzea givenpainting yrefer-ence topreceding nes,theybring n a muchwiderrangeofpictorialma-terials, uch as prints, ictureson ceramics, nd textiledesigns,on thegrounds hatwaysof ooking nd seeingat anygiventime re shapedbymuchmorethanwhathas been classedas art. n the astdecade, scholarsemployingheconcept fvisualculture ave taken reshooksas thevisualpractices ntrinsic otonlytopainting nd sculpture, ut also to architec-ture, ity lanning,arden esign,dvertisements,nd movies.7 he conceptof visualculture anbe extended oencompass verythinghatwas intend-ed tobe seen.A full tudy f thevisualculture fChina,CraigClunashaswritten, oulddeal with clothes ndbuildings nd with oloras a catego-ry,"with thepresentationf foodandof self" it would"engagefullywiththevisuality perative n thetheatre nd in street estivals,n ephemerasuchas lanternsndprocessional loats";twoulddealwith figures, aps,plans,charts nd authorportraits"ound nbooks.8

eOnprocessionsnRenaissancetaly,eeEdward uir, ivic itualnRenaissanceenice(Princeton:rinceton.P., 981).7SeeNormanryson,ichael .Holly,ndKeith oxey,ds.,Visualulture:magesndInterpretationsHanovr,N.H.:U.P. fNew ngland,994);Visual ultureuestionnaire,"October7 1996); ohn .Walkernd arahhaplin,isualulture:nntroductionManches-ter:Manchester.P., 997).8Craig lunas,icturesndVisualitynEarly odernhinaPrinceton:rinceton.P.,997)> P- 6>29-35



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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEculture fthepasthave ittle hoicebut o drawheavily nrepresentationsfit, oth ictorial epresentationsnd textual nes.To arthistoriansccustomedtoengaging isuallywith heobjects f theirnquiry,heneed to reconstructvisual ulture rommediated ourcesmaybe disconcerting,ut t s a familiarpracticeo historianssed topiecing ogethervents,nstitutions,ndpractic-es from iverse ources, achpartialn tsownways.The GrandCarriage procession, heelementofSong visual culturethat examine n this ssay,makes a good case bothbecause of ts centralplace in thevisualculture fthecapital nd becausethe ourcesfor nalyz-ing tarerelativelyich.The processionwasdeeplyembedded n thevisu-al culture fthe time.Those whodesigned heprocessionhad todraw oncontemporaryisual habits nd conventionsnordertomake theproces-sion speak to its audience.At thesame time,because theprocessionwassucha spectacle, t added to the visualculture f thecity, ssociating ar-ticularmages, ymbols, ndwaysofmaking isualpointswith he throneand thecity.The connections mongthe differentlementsn visualcul-ture an be exploredbecause the GrandCarriageprocession mployedgreatmanydistinctmodes of visual communication, angingfromflagswithwrittenharacters r pictures n them, o carriageswith magesofdragonson them, o ranksofguards n distinctiveniformsn color-cod-ed horses arrying eapons.Besidestextual ources hatdescribe hepro-cessionand listthepeople and items hatmade itup,we also have somevisualevidenceof what t ooked ike ntheform f a painting. hisallowsme also to consider he needforvisualaids to theprocession.Here I examinefirst heprocession nd thevariousvisual strategiesemployed n it,then turn o thebooks and picturesmade to capture tsfeatures isually.RECONSTRUCTING THE PROCESSIONNoteveryone n NorthernongKaifeng xperienced he GrandCar-riageprocession he sameway.Thosewho watched rom he sidelines awitdifferentlyrom hosewhomarched n it or thosewhoassembled t.The bestsourcefor iewers' esponsessMengYuanlao's Dreams f heSplendorf he astern apitalDongjingmenghuau a memoirofKaifengwrittenftertsfall,whenMengwaslivingnthe outh.9Meng'memorieswereheavilyvisual and so giveus a senseof how he respondedto thesights fthecity.9Onthisext,ee tephen.West,Thenterpretationf Dream: he ources,valua-tion,nd nfluencef he ongjingengua u?TP71 1985),p. 3-108.

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PATRICIA EBREYTo Meng, he pectacle ftheGrandCarriage rocession eganmonthsin advancewhen he lephantswererehearsed.In a yearofthe uburbanacrifice,heprocession lephants retrainedtwomonthsn advance.Theymake round rip rom heGate ofVirtueRevealedtothe rea outside fSouthernnfusion ate thats,fromhesouthgateof thepalace to the outh ateofthecity). ivecarriagesreused toapproximateheeffectfthefivekinds f mperial arriage. neachcarriagereplacedtwoflags nd one drum. ourhorses ullthem.The guardson either ide of thecarriageswear hats ndpurplerobes.Severalpeople n front fthe arriagesnap whips.n front fthe evenelephants re severaldozen vermilion lags ndmore than en bronzegongs nd smalldrums.First hegongs re struckwice. hen thedrums espond hree imesinrapid uccession. hoseholding heflagswearhats ndpurple obes.On each elephant s a man na cross-tailedcarf-capndpurplerobe,straddlingtsneck,holdingn one hand a short andledbronzemattockwith pointed lade.As soon as anelephant isobeys, e strikest.Whenthe lephants each hefrontfVirtueRevealedTower, hegroup irclesa few imes nd then orms anks. he [elephants]hen re made to facenorth nd bow.They re also abletotrumpetheirssent on command].Each daythat hey ractice,hevarious mperial elatives,members ftheroyal amily,nd nobles ummonthe lephant andlers]o their ri-vate residences ndgivethem ilver nd silk.On the mperialWay passersbyather aily ogether,nd onlookersare as denseas threadsn a cloth. eoplesell orgiveas gambling rizessmallelephantsmade out ofclay,wood,orplaster, rpaper pictures fthem.Onlookers ake hem omeas souvenirs.10In otherwords, ven therehearsals or heprocession ssociatedwiththesuburban acrificewerespectacles,whichpeople gathered o watch.MengYuanlao evenrememberedhe color of thegarments ornbythoseriding heelephantsand carryinghe banners. The visual natureof therehearsalswas underlined y entrepreneursho soldpictures r modelsoftheelephants s keepsakes.In hisdescriptionfwhathappenedon thedaysofthe uburban acri-10Meng uanlao, ongjingenghuau hu Deng hichenged. Beijing:hangwuinshuguan,959, ereafterJMHLZ)0, p.242-43.t spossiblethat he lephantouvenirsere old ecause heword orlephant,iang s a nearcognatef iang2 ,auspiciousnessr ooduck,nd to iden lephant"qi2xiang .)isclose o makeucktart"qi$xiang#).38



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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEfice tself,MengYuanlao paid close attentiono thegarments articipantswore,to thesounds, o theweaponsand banners, nd to thegeneralcom-motion. He describedat some length he scene at thepalace before theprocession ctually egan.As thousandsfparticipantsinedup inthehugecourtyardf theGrand CelebrationHall (saidto hold tensof thousands fpeople), manfrom heAstronomicalureau tood ntopof hedrum ower,tendinghewater lock ndannouncinghe ime okeepthepreparationsnschedule.Whiletheywerewaiting,he oldierskept houtingo each other,perhaps okeepeach other lert.One would ay "yesorno,"andtheotherswould all shout yes."Or onewouldsay, Who s theman?"and theotherswouldrespond,Gao Qiu,the ommandernchief fthepalacecommand."Mengrememberedividly hecostumes fthevarious articipants.edescribed he differencesnhigh-rankingeople'shats,whichvaried n thenumber fgoldribs n their rowns, rom inedownto two.11 hegarmentswere rimsonrdark ed, omewith lack rim,omewith he square-heart,round ollar."The eunuchpalace attendants orevarious orts fgarmentswith ellow rdark edemblems nthem. he soldierslsoworediverseortsofclothingndcarried arious bjectsntheir ands,mostly eaponsofonesort r another. heirclothingwasparticularlyolorfulndvaried,perhapsso thateach unit could be distinguished. ne group,for nstance,wore"small apswithyellow mbroideredrims, ellow mbroidered iderobesover narrowblue-greennnergarments."12 eng did notattempt o de-scribethe variousvehicles, elling isreaders oconsult he llustrationsftheThree itualClassicsSan li tuHI instead.13In hisdescription f theactualprocession,MengYuanlao seems tohave been struckmoreby thestatusmarkersn thedressofparticipants(suchas thenumbers f ribs na hat)thanbytheir rder nthesequence.From he hirdwatch n,theprocession eparts,negroup fterheoth-er.Each ofthe evenelephantss coveredbya patternedamask loth,anda golden otus eatrests n itsback.14 goldenbridle acesoverthetopof eachelephant's] ead and a person nsilkbrocadestraddlestsneck. Next n order rethetallflags ndgreat ans, hedecoratedhal-

1 Meng pparentlyade mistakeeres allotherourceseservehe ine-ribbedatfor he mperor.12 JMHLZ, p.244.13Unfortunately,he ersionsf his th-c. orkhaturviveonot avellustrationsfthe arriages;eeNieChongyi ,SanliuizJiuziilfijilfSKQS dn.).14 othSS nd ^HWLXY'istix lephants.donot nowhethereng'memoryas aultyorwhethern dditionallephantad eenncorporatedy he nd f heNorthernong.

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PATRICIA EBREYberds nd ong pears, ndthemounted fficersnmulti-colorederkins.Some wear mallhats verbrocade r embroideredcarves,omeblack-lacquerround op scarf-caps.ome wear eather-likeelmets,ome hatsof acqueredeatherhaped ikewater ippers overedwith owels. omeweargarmentsfredandyellow ishnet-designrocades ndembroider-ies. Some dress ntirelyngreen rblack, own o their hoes ndsocks,and wearcross-tailedcarf-caps.ome decorate hemselves ith ilkencordswound ike nakes round heir odies. ometimes eams f everaltens ead thewaycarrying large lag. ome mengraspgreat xes,wearswords n their highs,nd hold red ceremonialhields nd ceremoniallanternoles;someholdpolesfrom hich ang eopard ails; thers oldshort atons.The halberds ndspears re all trimmed ith olorful ib-bonsandbronzebells.The flags nd fans re allpaintedwithmages fdragons rtigers,louds,mountains,r rivers. here re also someflags[onpoles] fiftyeet igh hat re called"nextyellow ragon."15AlthoughMengYuanlaoclearly elished hevisual timuli nd commo-tion ftheGrandCarriage rocession,fficials ho commentednthese ro-

cessions sually id so to ament he ack ofsolemnity.or nstance,n 1092Su Shi (1046-11 1) heldthepostofcommissionerfthe mperialnsig-nia,whichmeant hat e wasresponsibleor heGrandCarriage rocessionothe uburbanacrificehat ear. n themiddle f he eremonye submittedmemorial eportinghatmore han enredcovered arriages,arryingomenfrom hepalace, followed heprocession, ompeting or pace on the roadwith he mperial rocession.n his viewwomenhad nopart oplay n thesesorts fceremonies.t was bad enough hat thad become the ustom or heempresses ogo out to welcomethereturn f the mperial arriage, ut forthem o arrive efore he acrifices erecomplete ndgetcaught p amongthevariouspennantsndflagswasunacceptable.We are toldthatwhentheemperor ead thememorial, e sent messengeroconvey tto thegrandempress owager, herealpower tthetime, fterwhichgreaterolemnitywas achieved.16 u Shi, n otherwords, ike several cholar-officialseforehim,was troubledythepopularityf heprocession, ythe endencyorttobecome street heater somethinghepalacewomendid notwant o miss.Men ike u Shi, hargedwith rchestratingheprocession,ave eftmostof thedocuments bout the GrandCarriageprocession, incethey re theoneswho cared most boutgettingach person, bject, nd animal n the DJMHLZ0, .247.16 uShi ,Su hiwenji (Beijing:honghuahuju,986) 5,pp. 92-93.

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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEright lace. These documents ncludelonglistsof the men and materialemployed n theprocession, lusthememorials nd edicts oncerning ro-posed revisions r innovations.17In addition o these extualources,nextraordinarilyich isual ourcealso survives. longhandscrollllustratingheprocession asrecentlyeenpublished n partunder the title llustrationf hemperialGuard fHonor[Lubu u^, which refero for hort s HonorGuard).1*he paintingsin color on silk,14.8mlongand 51.4 cm tall. t is prefaced ya listof themen and equipmentneeded,whichspecifies ,481 men (ofwhom3,369aresoldiers, 94 inarmor), 8 vehicles, ,873horses, 6 oxen,6 elephants,1,701musical nstruments,,548 weapons,plus 90 flags, treamers,ndrelatedparaphernalia.Numerous artoucheshave been inserted,abelingthefiguresnd recountinghe historical rigins f differenttems.19The dating f this ainting asperplexed cholars ecause of contradic-tionsbetween he nscriptionn the ist nd thecartouches n thepainting.The cartouches iteearly ong precedentsnd quotethehighofficialongShou (991-1040),who submittedn illustratedook on theGrandCar-riageprocessionn 1028.After thoroughtudy fthe ssues nvolved nthedatingofthepainting, he modern cholar Chen Pengcheng ame to the

17 heprincipalourcesnthemperialarriagerocessionre S144-148;HT,ect."Yufii"-3; HWLXT-15;Ouyangiu et l.,Taichangingei ^;ft (CSJCedn.) 7-28;Wenxianongkao16-118.18 ifferentartsf he andscrollave een ublishedndifferentlaces. he irstec-tion as ublishedn poor lack-and-whitehoton he ackover f ishiiaoxuein1984L huzhi [pseudonym],SongrenuiDajia ubu uuan' bufen]",^^E$[ '],ishiiaoxue [1984.5],.64,plus ack over).uite oodcolor hotosf woections,erhapsbout meterach, ereublishednNational use-um fChinese istory,Journeynto hina'sntiquityBeijing: orningloryublishers,1 97) >PP- 38-43.A smaller-scaleolor hototoomall oread he ext ithoutgoodmagnifyinglass) as ublishednNational useumfChinese istory,xhibitionf hi-nese istoryBeijing: orningloryublishers,998), p.134-35. hepaintings nthecollectionf heNational useumfHistorynBeijing,ut ecause f ts oor onditioncannoteviewed. hen visitedhemuseumn une,999, full-scalehoto-reproductionwasmountedighn hewall,oohighoread he exts,ut llowinggeneraliew f hecompositionf he ainting.washoweverble oorderhotographsf ome ectionsosupplementhats availablenpublications,s well sphotographhat as nthewall.The hotographsromhewall, owever,renotharpnoughorme oread llof he ext.19Althoughhissthe nlyurvivingllustrationf he rocessionatingromheNorth-ern ong,heres paintingelievedo how heonsiderablycaled-backrocessionf heSouthernong.n he ollectionf he iaoningrovincialuseum,thas een ublishednFuXinian ed., hongguoeishuuanji (Beijing: enwu,988), ect."Huihuaian" ,pp.176-77. his outhernong aintingsmuchmaller,6.6by209.6 m.,nddone n muchketchier,lmostartoon-likeanner.heprocessionscertainlyuchessgrand, ithmanyewerorsesnd arriages.hepaintingacks hedetailedartouchesf heNorthernong ainting.

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PATRICIA EBREYconclusionthat he handscrollmusthave been painted n 1053. The in-scription, hichhe concludeswasforged, as added intheYuan periodsothat hepainting ould be presentedo theYuan court s part f a proposalforreinstitutingheprocession.20The lists fthose n theprocession reservedn theSongHistorynd else-wheredo notcorrespondxactly o HonorGuard ecause HonorGuardhasadoptedvariousways o abbreviate.21ften he cartouches eport hat herewould be dozensof men from articularnits, utonly few redepicted.For instance,one cartouche alls for156 bird-tail ans,butthepaintingshowsonlysix,each carriedbyone man.Visual abbreviation f this ortprobably xplains whythepainting epictsmanyfewer articipantshanhistorical ources aytookpart.22 evertheless,heoverall tructurendse-quence of the ists nd thepainting orrespond losely enoughto use the

20Chen engchengwJiuiDajiaubutuhu' hongdaoanjiuYanyouubu' iandaikao" Gugongowuuan 'U1996.2),p. 6-85. osummarizehen,t he nd f heist fmen ndmaterialeededsan nscriptioneadingcompilednd resentedn he [leftlankn heriginal]ay f heeighthonthf he ifthearf anyou1 18] y heompilern he anlin ationalistoryBureau,engunshen."Naturally,hised eopleo ssumeeng ad aintedt nd ocall t he anyoumperialrocessionaintinge.g., hiquaoji SKQS dn.]5,pp.24a-b). ddedo his,he uneraryiographyf eng eportshateng rotefie-juanillus-trationf he onoruard"hat e ubmittedlong iththerookso he rovincialovern-ment,hichassedt n o he entralovernment.tfinallyeachedhemperor,hon1309summonedengnd old im hathe aintinghowedotnlyow itualndmusiconorherulerut lso he sefulnessf onfuciancholars.engeceivedpostn heentralovern-mentnd nhis eisureid aintingsf he rocession,oth nroutend fterrrival.hesucceedingmperoraw heseaintings,ndwasusts ppreciativeshis redecessor.Chen oes ot oubthat onoruardsone f he wo aintingsengubmittedhe econdtime,ut e s onvincedhat edid ot ainthemimself.henompareshatsdepictedrinscribednHonoruardowhatsrecordedn therources.ertaineatures,ike he iveOxen onveyance,ad lreadyeen liminatedy he nd f he leventhentury.thers,iketheypef outhointingarriage,adnot een ntroducedntil ellnto enzong'seign.Fromnalysisf hisort,e oncludeshathe aintingepictshe rocessionf 053.Chen oesnot hinkeng ould ave aintedview f he 053 rocessionor everalreasons,npartecauseextualourcesid ot rovidenoughnformation,ut, orerucially,the aintingsclearlyheworkf ourtrtists,ot n mateuraintingnhis pareime. hennoteshatengwas,ccordingohis iography,passionateollectorf ldpaintingsndcalligraphies,nd roposeshateng adhad he aintingnhis wn ollection.engouldquiteincerelyavewantedo onvinceheMongolulerso nstituteourtitualsonformingmoreloselyoChineserecedentnd houghthisaintingouldmakegood ase or heimpactfwell-choreographedrocessionsf e ould issociatetfromhe iscreditedungdynasty.o achievehisurpose,ehad o ut ffhe rontf he crollo liminatehe refectofKaifengnd erhapstitler ealshowingtsNorthernongrigins.he nd f he aintingalso ppearsrimmed,robablyo emoven nscription.21 he ongistoryists oundn SS45,p. 408-1.Otherorthernongistsre orheheng-heperiod1111-13),reservedn S146;HT,ect Yufu",pp. b-22b;ndnZflWLXY3-15.Theres lso listorheouthernongn S147. heseepartvenurtherromonoruard22Anotherossibilitys hathe aintinghows hathe rocessionctuallyookedikend

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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEpainting o interprethe ists.Here I summarize heprocession,drawingon both theSongHistoryndHonorGuard.The overall structure f theprocessioncan be thought f as a longseriesofunevenrowsof men. Each row was markedby symmetrylongacentral xis (left nd right feach rowbeingmirrormagesof each other;figure). Atpoints ntheprocession row was tightly ackedwith welveor morehorsemen, reciselyinedup.Atother imes rowhad only few

Figure. IllustrationftheHonorGuardCourtesyf heMuseum fChineseHistory,eijing. etail how-ing ymmetry.evenly pacedmen on foot r on horse.Sometimes nlya singleobjectorpersonmade up a row. The raison 'tre f theprocession,theimperialconveyance, id notappearuntilmore hanhalf heprocession adpassed.thathe extualourcesive itualizedumbers,ot ctual nes. he rgumentgainsthatinterpretationsthatheourcesistednn.5showonsiderableariationn he umberfparticipants.f itualfficialsreservedor enerationsut-of-dateumbersor he artici-pantsnvariousategories,newouldxpectreateronsistencyn he ominalizesistedindifferentources.

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PATRICIA EBREYBoth before nd after heconveyance, he rowsof men on horse or footwerebrokenup byseriesofeye-catchingehicles nd flags.' Theprocession eganwith he ixelephantshat ad so impressedMengYuanlao. Then camewhatweretermed heSixLeaders: theprefectnd thegovernorfKaifeng,heministerf he ourt f mperialacrifices,heminis-

Figure. HonorGuard detailOneof he ix Leaders nd his ntourage.

ter of education,thecensor-in-chief,ndthe ministerof war.Honor Guardbeginswiththelast threeoftheSix Leaders.23 hecarriages of the SixLeaders announcedtheir ank ndposition.According o the His-tory the prefect ofKaifeng, hoheld ow-er rank, rode in ablack carriagepulledbytwored horses ndaccompanied yeigh-teen horsemen.The othershad redcarriages, ulled byfourredhorses,accompanied by twenty-fiveorsemen. he designson each ofthese car-riagesdiffered:iger or heminister fwar,phoenixfor heminister f thecourtof mperial acrifices, nicornfor hecensor n chief, nd hawk forthegovernor fthecapital.24 romHonorGuard, owever,t eemsunlikelythatthesedesignswould have been visiblefrom nydistance figure ,

above). Rankwas,however,mademorevisiblebythe size oftheretinues,which ccording o theHistoryouldreach200 or more. n HonorGuard oonehas overfiftyn hisentourage,ut heretinuesre still isuallympressive.AfterheSix Leaders ame a militarynit. wo of ts rmored orsemencarried lags ftheWhiteMarshgod (Baizeqi lPffi 25Aftereveralmorerows f oldiers ame twovery olorful owswith lagsfigure).The firstowhadflagswithmages fheavenly henomena:wind, ain, hunder,ightning,23Chen engchengelieveshathe irsthree ere ut ff o that heNorthernongoriginsf he aintingould ot eobvious;een.20, bove.24 S150, p.3505-6.25WellllustratednNationalistoryuseum,ourneynto hina'sntiquity,p.241.

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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEand the north ole; the secondrow had imagesof the five lements s stardeities. he north olewasrepresentedya starmap, he ther henomena ydeities n humanoranimalform. he flagsmostly ad red bor-ders nd streamers, ith luegrounds, xceptfor henorthtar lagn solidblack nd two lagswith edgrounds.The six float-likeehicles hat ame nextwere llbrighted, nd allpulledbyfour ors-es decoratedwith eathered ats.Eightmen nlong-sleeveded obes elped uide ach arriagebyholdingnto uide opes. he firstehiclewasthe south ointingarriage," ith woodenfig-ure at thetopthat onstantlyoints outh fig-ure4).2e The secondone, slightlyaller,wasalsoa mechanical evice, his ime newith u-tomatonshat trike drum t each li anda gong tevery en i.Thefollowing

Figure HonorGuarddetail)Flags fheavenlyhenomena.fourcarts,called the whiteswan,phoenix, bundant ir-tue, nd leather arts,were fanything ore trikingisual-ly,withbold designs n theirbodies rflagsfigures- 6,fol-lowing age).After hese floatscamerows fmusicians,one, ppar-ently, laying n instrument.According o theSongHistoryhowever,thereshould havebeen over900 musicians,re-dominantlyrummers,ut lsomanywith lutes,tringedn-struments,ongs,ndother n-struments.The float-likebjects hatigure. HonorGuard detailSouth-pointingarriage.

26 hismightethe arliesthinesellustrationf hismechanicalompass.eeJosephNeedham,ithhe ollaborationfWang ing,hysicsnd hysicalechnologyPart Me-chanicalngineeringvol. of ciencend ivilisationnChinaCambridge:ambridge.P.,1965),p.286-303, hichhowsnlyaterllustrations.45



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*>*iL-a su boO ctiS 'C VhhriC (-i^ en^


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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEcame next ncluded water lock and a windvane.Theywerefollowed ya longsectionwithmostof theparticipantsn foot. ome heldflags, uchas twoHeavenlyHorse flags nd twoflags dentifyingheirmilitarynits(the eft nd right ragonMartialArmies).These last twoflagswereheldbyone man n a white obe,assistedbyfour thersholding ie ines,eachman dressed na differentolor blue,red,green, ndwhite) figure ).Behind his nit amea group f mperial orses.BoththeSongHistoryand the cartoucheon HonorGuard all for wenty-fourorses,but HonorGuard epicts nly ix,purewhite, ach with goldembellished ed saddlebut no rider, ed bytwomenon foot figure ). The imperialhorseswerefollowedbya groupof archers urrounding set offlags.From theSongHistorywe know thatflagsof thesun and moon came next. From HonorGuard,we can see how theseheavenlybodies weredepicted.The sun wasrepresentedya golden irclewith three-leggedcrow nit, bove a cloud, gainstredbackground figure ); the moonbyawhitecircle with figuren it,also on acloud,but gainst bluebackground. lags

Figure.HonorGuard detailRagsheldbyfootmen ith opes. Figure.HonorGuard detailSunflag.

Figure HonorGuard detailImperial orses. 47



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PATRICIA EBREYof thegreendragon,white iger,nd an auspiciousplantfollowed.FromHonorGuard, e can see that heGrandCarriagewasmadegrandnotso muchbysize - manyof the other arriagesn theprocessionwerecomparable butbytheway twas surroundedn all four ides.Forsomeonewatchingrom he idelines,ts pproachwas signaled ythe ppearance ftwo"gate"flags, achdepicting soldier probably houghtfas gategods).From his oint ntilwellpast he mperialonveyance,ll thewayto the wo"endgate"flags, as a spacemarked ff ythree iles fhorsemen n the woouter dges,protectingheemperor rom pectators. he outermost f thethree ileswas madeupof rmored iders n armored orses figure0).The innermperial pace,marked ff ythefrontnd reargateflags ndthethree iles fbodyguards,wasdensely ackedwith ttendants. he gateflags were fol-lowed notmerelyby the usual sol-diers,but also bytwogiantsn mili-tary ress lustworows f ttendantson foot holdingcanopies nd fans.Then camesever-al rowsof horse-men from theImperial nsigniaLightGuardhold-ingflags. he firstrow offlags howthegodsof he iveholymountainsscivil fficials,achdistinctivelydressed. Thehorsemenin thesecond row holdflags of similarsize and shape

Figureo. HonorGuard detailGateflag,wo iants,ndcanopy earers.thatdepictgenerals,dentifieds thegodsof the fivedirections. he nextgroup s composedofthedragonsof the fivedirections, ollowedbyfourflagsof the fourrivers, epictedas civil officials.HonorGuard ltersthe48



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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEorder found n theSongHistoryputting he fourrivers n themiddle; inaddition t showsonlyfive, ottwenty-five,lags or hedragons ndphoe-nixes, nother xampleof visual abbreviation.Immediatelyfter heseflags amea table with covered "treasure freceiving hemandate," ttended n all sidesbymen on foot.The cartou-cheexplains hat hetreasures an imperial eal and traces heorigin fthemenassignedto accompany t backto the RitualofZJiou. ythispoint ntheprocession, ivil officialsrebecomingmoreprominent. fficialswhoworkedcloselywith heemperor n thepalace rode here,ranging romrelative owlysecretarial eceptionists A (rank7b) and attendantcensorsfiPi. (6b), to imperialdiarists n theChancellery (6b),palace stewards (4a),draftersn theSecretariat ' (4a) ,vicedirectors fthe Secretariat 3b), vice directors f the Chancel-lery (ia), directorsftheChancellery (ia) , and directorsfthe Secretariat (ia). Alsopreceding heGrandCarriagewas a tablecovered ngold-decoratededcloth, arried yfourmen.On thetablewasan incenseburnerflanked ytwo candle sticks.The cartouchedoes notexplainwhy n incense able s carried, ut does cite a Tang sourceon thetypeof clothused tocover thetable.Accordingo theSong istory,heemperorould rideeither n the jadecarriage" r the grand edanchair."HonorGuard epicts oth, hough othareunoccupied. ad the mperor een seated neither,pectators ouldhavebeenable to seehim, s bothhadopensides.Eachconveyance asdecorated,but hedesignswerenot arge rprominentnough o make major mpres-sion,given lltheother isual timulation.ccording otheSongHistorythejade carriagewas decoratedwithdesigns fcosmological ignificancethegreen dragonon the eft, hewhite iger n theright), s well as dragonsand phoenixes ngold,silver, nd ade. On the eft f thecarriagewas agreenflagwith welve treamers,ll embroideredwith ising ragons.Ontheright,o balance hem,were pears nd halberds. he SongHistoryeportsthat hecarriagewaspulledbysix blackhorseswithgoldmasks nd otherdecorations, ith ixty-fourorsemenccompanyingt. n HonorGuard hisis,as usual,abbreviatedfigure 1).27 hegrand edan chair n HonorGuardseems simpler ehicle han he laborate ne describedn theSong istory8It s setoff, owever, ymenholding ecorative ans nd shades figure2).Afterhe mperial arriage nd sedan chaircame moremilitarynits,then hefinal,ongseries fvehicles, omeshaped ikethe mperial arriage

27 S 49,pp.3479-80. 28 S149, .3486.49



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Figurel. HonorGuard detailGrand arriage.

Figure2. HonorGuard detailGrand edan hair.



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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEbut n other olors,others fverydifferentesign.Some werepulledbyoxen rather hanhorses.The mostunusualof these vehicleswas a setof

Figure3.HonorGuard detailFiveoxenvehicles.fiveplatformsor olored oxen (white, ed,black,yellow, ndblue),eachwith seated ox of thedesignatedcolor plus a flagwith pictureof t.The oxen,the cartouche n HonorGuard nforms s,were made of wood(figure 3).Thishighlybbreviatedummaryhowsmanyways heGrandCarriageprocession ouldhavekept he ttentionf ts udience.Therewas bothbal-ance andvariety, ith omethingewcontinuallyoming. ven when therewere ongstretches f marchers rhorsemen, isual nterestwas createdthroughontrastsn the colors of their arments r horses or bythewaytheywerearrayed. ome horsemen ode ingroups,others lone or withone or twoattendants n foot. ven thehorsesweremade to lookdistinct,as differencesntheir olorswereexploited ogood effect nd theywere

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PATRICIA EBREYdecorated ndistinctiveays. ome even hadmask-likeeadgear figure4).Viewers f procession,ikeviewers f ritual, id notnecessarilyom-prehendhefull ignificancef ach element. heydid nothave the artouch-es explaining uchthingss theorigins f the FiveOxen vehicle.Moreover, heprocessionwas mov-ing ndmaking oise;viewers o doubt houted ndjostledeach other ogeta better ook.The overallexperiencewoulddependon where ne stood,howlongonewatched,whetherne had ever een tbe-

fore, owmuch ne knew fthehistoricalndsym-bolic ssociationsfparticulartems,ndmany therfactors. utcertainlyomerather eneralmessageswere onveyed o most fthe udience.A political eading f the GrandCarriagepro-cessionwould nsist hat he hrone sed t torepre-sent tself o thegeneralpublic. All those in theprocession,romheguardsmen, usicians,strono-mers,nd eunuchs o theofficialsndthe upernatu-ral forces epicted nflagswerebeingrepresentedas elementsn theretinueo theemperor,s part f

Figure4.HonorGuard detailHorsewithmask. theforcest hiscommand. omepriority asgiventohigh-rankingivilofficials,hocame mmediatelyfter heelephants,utthereweremanymoreguardsmenn theprocessionhan fficials.herewasa liminal ualityotheprocession,n inversionfordinarypatial ierarchies:whatwasnormallyeptnsidewasbroughtutside. rdinaryeoplewerenotallowed nto hehugepalacecompound, hich or hemwasconcealed pace,butduringheGrandCarriage rocessionandthe esser rocessionso esserdegrees) hepalace compound mptied utontothe streets.cholars odaycommonlyiewthe mperorndthebureaucracys comprisinglmost qualpartnerst the opof heSongpower tructure.hen he mperorook o thestreets,owever,hatwas notthevision fthepower tructuree conveyed.THE GRAND CARRIAGE PROCESSION AS ACOMPONENT OF SONG VISUAL CULTURE

Thosewhodesignedndproduced heGrandCarriage rocession adtodrawon thevisualpractices amiliarotheresidentsfKaifeng.At the ametime, heprocession dded to thevisual culture f thecity, roviding ewimages, ymbols,ndwaysofmaking isualpoints. o showhowdeeply he

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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEprocessionwas implicated n Song visual culture,here I will look morecloselyat the threemain visual strategies mployed:the use ofpictorialrepresentations,hedeploymentf ctual bjects,nd the oding fcostume.Pictureswere used in theGrandCarriageprocession o decoratethegarments f the soldiers nd thecarriages f the Six Leaders and theem-peror, ut udgingfromHonorGuard,heobjectsthat arried ictorial on-tentmostforcefully ere theflags.Not onlyweretheyheld highso thateveryonecould see them,buttheyhad bold colorful mages,setoffbybright,ye-catchingorders nd streamers.

The flagshad a dual existence, s theywere carriednotonlyoutsidethepalace during rocessions, ut were nmany nstances lso displayedinside thepalace duringmajorceremonies.The link betweenflagsandrulers oesfarback in Chinesehistorynotto mention hehistoryfothercountries), s flagsprobablyoriginated s battlestandards.Butby Songtimes heflags arried nthe GrandCarriageprocessiondid notrepresentthearmy; hemight f the thronewas represented oncretely hroughtsarmedsoldiers.Rather, heflagswere used to represent lementsoftheemperor's etinue hat ouldnot oin theparadeanyotherway- above allgods,celestialbodies,and auspiciousforces.The choice of what odepicton theflagswas notfixedbycustombutwas open to newideas. Early n thedynasty, ao Gu (903-97) de-signedflags epicting he tars nd constellationss well as thegodsof thefivedirections, ivemountains, our ivers, nd so on. The Songfounder,Taizu (r.960-975), commissioned wenty-onetherflags, or nstanceofthe sun and moon, of lions,dragons, nd phoenixes,as well as twoin-scribedwith he words Ten thousandyearsfor he rulers " and"greatpeace throughoutherealmThe arrival fpropitious ifts rdiscovery fauspiciousomenscouldlead to the creationof newflags. n theearly yearsofthedynasty, lagsweremade tocommemoratehepresentationo the court fa yellowpar-rot,whiterabbit, nd trained lephant. n 10 10 flagswereadded to com-memorate uspiciousomens suchas red ight manating rom n imageofLaozi and immortalranes ppearing t a temple.At theend oftheNorth-ernSong, during uizong's eign,he ppearance fmulti-headedrain ndofcranes anding n thepalace led tothe ntroductionfyetmoreflags.30FromHonorGuardwe knowthat elestialbodies and terrestrialorceswererepresentedn theflags yhuman nd animal mageryseefigure ).Forces ikewind ndlightning,nd alsoastral odies ike tars nd constella-2 S145, .3400. 30 S145, .3400; 48, p. 461-62;HY,ect.YufiT,pp. a~4a.

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PATRICIA EBREYtions,wererepresenteds deities, nd thesedeitieswererepresentednhu-manform,s civil ormilitaryfficials. ere thedesigners f theflagswereparticipatingn thepopularvisual ulture ftemples,whichhad statues ndpaintingsfmany fthesedeities.31hese links opopular religionmaybewhat ed to Confucian scholars'objectionsto thedesignof theflags. n1080 ritual pecialists bjectedto thefact hat heflagsrepresentinghetwenty-eightonstellations addepictions fthegodsof each constellationon them,whichthey aw as based on the theories f"magicians" fangshi.32These objections ventuallyarried heday.The Ming-erallustrat-ed encyclopedia aneai uhui 7[~1 "notonly hows heconstellationssstarmaps,but the fivepeaks and

Figure 5.Flagof he ive eaks ndFourRiversFrom aneai uhui,Yizhi" ,p. 32b.

four ivers rerepresentedyrocksandwater, otgods n humanform(figure 5).33Representationasnot nvari-ablypictorial:t also could taketheform f hree-dimensionalculpture,such s thewoodenoxen seefigure13).However, hepictorial ertainlypredominated.On theother and,visual om-munication was not primarilythrough eplicas rrepresentations(things hat tand forthings therthanthemselves).Actual objectsweredeployed ven morefrequent-ly.The idea of thearmy, hecivilservice, he Astronomical ureau,and theMusicServicewasconveyedbyactualphysical eople,animals,vehicles,weapons, nd musical n-struments.he crossbowsfigure6),halberds,ndspears eldby oldierswere real ones. The waterclocks,

31 or aintingsf uch eitiesn hewalls f Song emple,eeAnningjing,Buddhist-Daoisttrugglend Pair fDaoisMurals,"MFEA6 1994),p.1 9-81.32 S148, .3462.33Wang i E/f,aneaiuhui (rpt.fWanlidn.; hanghai:hanghaiujichubanshe),ect.Yizhi 3,p.32b; ,pp.2a-8b.54



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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEweather anes,and other nstrumentsndicative f mperialmasteryf theheavens*resumablyll worked.The elephants, orses, nd oxen used fortransportationere ll living nimals.The Chinesemonarchyften sed size andscale toconvey he dea of tsmajesty for xample, y building argepalacesandfillinghemwithhugenumbers fpalace ladies.The use of actualobjects n theprocession an bethoughtf as a dimension fthis rge ooverwhelm. evertheless,t shouldalsobekeptn mind hat ctual bjects anbe at east s symbolicallyesonantas images.Certainlyhe lephants ere s effectives thedozensof mages fdragonsnconveyingmperialmajesty.rue,dragons ad ongbeenassociat-ed with hepotency fthe hrone. lephants,

Figure6. Honor uard


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PATRICIA EBREYSome officials re shown ngreengarments, oldingthe tabletofoffice,long-tailed aps on their eads.Othersholding ablets avegrey obes andribbed hats.Some officials re accompaniedby attendants n round-col-lared robeswithred borders.Walkingattendants ear the mperialcar-riageare,bycontrast, ressed nblue robes and hats.The garments fguardsand soldiersvariedprimarily yunit.34 orofficiais,ostume ncodeddistinctionsfrank.35 fficialswore threediffer-enttypes fdress,varyingn level offormality:official "or "ordinary^ " dress,wornbyofficialsn theeveryday ourse of theirbusiness andfor outine ourt eremoniesikeaudiences; hemoreformalourt dress,issued from alace storehouseswhen t wasrequired or ccasions ike theNew Year's audience,whenforeignnvoyswereentertained;nd sacrifi-cial dresswornbythosemaking acrifices. onorGuard epicts fficialsinbothofficial ress nd courtdress figure 7).Official ress,marked yround ollars ndlarge leeves,wasgenerallyworn with eatherbelts,scarf-caps(putou) nd black eather oots.Thecolor,however, aried ccording o

thepersonal ank ftheofficial. n-til 1078, officials ith hepersonalrank ne, two, r threeworepurplerobes; four nd fivewore redgar-ments; ixandsevenworegreen ar-ments;ndeightnd nineworeblackgarments.hiswas revisedn 1078,when color nflation as instituted:thebottom radeofblackwas abol-Figure7.HonorGuard detailTwo kinds fofficialress.

34 S148, p.3471-74-35The ankhat eterminedress as personalank."nSong imes,distinctionasmade etweenhe osthatnofficialeld ndhis ersonalankpin).hedistinctione-tweenhe ankf heman nd he ank fhispostmadetpossibleo ssignn officialwhereverewas eeded,venf he ost as lassed uchigherr owerhanedeserved,because ewould till eadvancingt reasonableate nthe ersonal-rankierarchy.Whatmakesheystemomplicatedsthatersonalank as ndicatedy ivingach fficiala concurrentostn he efunctang ureaucracy.hus here asmore hanne itularposthatndicatedankhree,nd heseostsould otmerelye dividedy ank,ut utin equence,eadingo nevenmoreinelyunedierarchy.ot nlyhat,here ere woparallelierarchies,ne f ivil itlesnd ne fmilitaryitlesthoughhoseoldingilitarytitlesereartf he ivilervice,ot hermy).fficialsadeheiray p ne ierarchyr heother,ependingargelynhowheynteredhe ivilervice.or briefescription,ee harles.Hcker,Dictionaryf fficialitlesnmperialhinaStanford:tanford.P., 985), p. 8-4g.For fullerccount,eeWinston .Lo,An ntroductiono he ivilervicef onghinawithnEmphasisnts ersonneldministrationHonolulu:.ofHawaii., 987),p.1 1-71.

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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEished, nd thebracketswerewidened o that hetopfour radesworepur-ple,five nd sixred,and seven,eight, nd ninegreen. n 985 it was ruledthat t the suburban acrifice,nycourt fficial ho had beenwearing edorgreengarments or wenty ears ould wear the nexthigher olor.36Courtdress ncoded rank nwaysdifferentrom hoseused in officialdress.Neither he cut nor color of courtrobes variedbyrank; ll officialswore red robes with white-trimmedsquare-heart"ollar.Differentiationbyrank was expressed through ariations n theirhats,sashes,and pen-dants.37 romHonorGuard,t eemsunlikelyhat hose t the idelineswouldbe aware of thesemore subtle ignsofdistinction,ven iftheparticipantswereall too consciousofthem.The existence f ong-standingresscodes (somegoingback even totheclassics)naturally urbed the freedom f thosedesigning heproces-sion to createvisualeffects.t would have beenvisuallymore nterestingohave officials ll parade in their olor-codedofficial ress as theydid onthedeath-day nniversaries f formermperors nd empresses),butthemore uniformourtdress was requiredby precedent nd thetheories fritualists hoapprovedof tsallusions oantiquity. utsincemilitarymenoutnumbered ivil service officialsn theprocession, nd their ostumeswere ess restrictedytradition,hosedesigning heprocessionstillhadconsiderable eewayto createvisually ompelling atterns.Taking ll features fthe GrandCarriageprocession ogether, e cansee manyelements n the visual culture f the timethat tstrengthened.The procession ssociated bold patternsnd bright olors, speciallyred,with elebration nd the throne. t reinforcedheuse of humanforms orepresent eities. tspreferenceor tricteft-rightymmetrynd for owsand lines thatwere as straights possibleelevated uch strict atterningoan ideal of order ndhierarchy.3(i S153, p. 561-62.37Thehatsworny he ighestfficials,ermedhe advancingorthies"at, ad iveribs, ithold nd ilver ecoratedands,hinocerosornnd ortoisehell airpins,ndan rect ritingrushsed s ahairpin.s specialistinction,hosefficialsn he ecre-tariatnd hancellerydded he basket-clothable icada Along ithhe ive-ribhat, hehighestank fficialsad adesword,silver nd eatherelt, sash fhalo-designrocade,nd woadedisks.henext ighestevelwore similarat, utwithonlyhreeibs,nd he airpinas f hinocerosornlone. heirwordsnd isks ere fsilveratherhanade, heirashes ere f brocadef differentesign"lion ub").Fourthnd ifthradefficialsearingtwo-ribat ad ronzewordsnddisksndyetanotheresignn he rocadef heirashes"trainedagpies").or ixthradefficials,the word,endant,nd ashwere liminated.nyonef ower ankarticipatingntheceremonyould ress heway he ixthradefficialsressed;S152, p. 550-52.eealsoTaichangingei26, p.162-64, hichates he irstet f ules o1041.

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PATRICIA EBREYThe elements have ustdescribed re,ofcourse,n marked ontrast owhatwe usually hink f as the esthetic referencesf theSongelite.Thisprocessionwas not n themuted olors fSongceramics, ordid ts estheticprinciples ave much o do with hose fSongmonochromeaintingsf and-scapesor bamboo. LiteratiikeSu Shi,whoappreciatedimplemonochromepaintings,id not ive na monochrome orld.Theyweremaking estheticchoices hat eparted rom hevisualityperativenmany ther acets fthecultureround hem,ncludinghe ulturefthe ourt nd the treet.

VISUAL AIDS TO THE PROCESSIONUp to thispoint, have examined he GrandCarriageprocession s aspectacle, n eventthat ookplace on the streets fKaifeng nd made animpression n participantsnd spectators like. I have tried o show thewaystheprocessiondrewfrom nd added to the stockofwaysto conveyinformationisually hrough ictures, olor,and thepatterns reatedbythepositioning fpeople and objects.Now letme turn romhow theprocession ommunicated isually o

howpeople communicated isually bout heprocession.The Grand Car-riage processionwas too complexa phenomenonto be describedusingwords lone. If ritual xpertswanted heperformanceo conform oa pre-designedplan, theyhad to be able to communicate heir lanto thepeoplepreparinghemen andmaterials,nd for hisdiagrams rpictures f somesortwere needed. The strategiessed to create uch llustrations ere alsoa partofSongvisual culture.Pictures nd diagrams, anging rommapsand floorplansto illustra-tions n reference ooks,differrom aintingsntended s art,but there sa largemiddleground, continuum rom he most estheticallymbitiouspaintings,opaintingshatnarrate istoricalvents, odiagramswith ew fanyaesthetic oals. To think f llustrationss a partof visualculture,wemust ee them n the context f this ontinuum.We know romextualources hat hreeypes fvisual ids were reatedtohelp clarify hat hese rocessionsught o ook ike,whichwe canlooselyclassifys diagrams,llustratedooks, ndpaintings. hat heChinese alled"word-pictures1" seem to have beendiagrams. tthevery eginningfthedynasty,n963,the hree fficialshargedwith rganizingheprocessionconsulted n Annotatedicturef he rocessiono the uburbanacrificeNan-jiao lubu itu )>datedto theTiansheng eign926-933) oftheLaterTang.Because thedrawingwascrude ndcontainedmany ontradic-

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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEtions, newdiagramwas commissioned.38n 1050the ommissionerfpro-cessionalregalia lubu hi)reportedhat heMinistryf War had lost tsoldcopyof theannotated icture or heStatutary arriage rocession,nd theritual fficials ereordered o workwith hem o make new one.39 n 1074theminister f the Courtof mperialSacrificeswas ordered o examine ndetail theMinistry f War's diagramof the GrandCarriage processionre-galia.40 hesediagrams,twould eem,wereconsulted ytheMinistryohelpthem ssemble heuniforms,eapons,horses, rmor,ndpersonnel heyhadtoprovide or heprocessionndget v-eryoneined p properlyn the inal ay.Nothingabeled word-pictureassurvived,o I canonly peculate boutwhat heywould have looked ike.BySongtimes he Chinese had longbeenusinggroundplansandmapsto showdistribution n space viewed fromabove.41 o make teasier orecognizeobjectslike buildings,normally eenfrom heside,they ould be shown sthough hey ad beenknocked lat. utitwas notnecessaryorepresenteopleorobjectsby pictures. arioussorts f

Figure8.DiagramfMilitaryEncampmentFromWujingongyao,ianj p. 277.

ooooo'jooooooooj^jr 000000 ^oooooooojoooSjKIJ* |5J[OOOooooaoaoolt ^. oOOool, t '')- . , t g slftS . oil?*g ISl S s sfs 8sii 3S2 fe if S ss hS S%*,% SS ss S 1 % StiH- filOOOOOBHOOOOO; f|[OOOOOOOOOOOBHOOOOO OOO iL ***

symbolsould also be used.The eleventh-centuryilitarymanualtitled s-sentials ftheMilitary rts Wujingongyao ) has many diagramsillustratinghewayan army houldarrange tselfwhenmarching,ettingup camp,or liningup forbattle.42 hese diagrams suallyrepresentndi-vidual people by circles,but also makefrequent se of writtenwordstorepresent amesofgroupsor ofplaces likegates figure 8).This solutionconveys nlytheir osition, ot their ppearance.38CB ,p.108. S145, p. 399-3400,eferso hiss aTang-dynastyatherhanaterTang-dynastyork,robablyn rror.39CB169, p. 057-58; S145, p. 403-4. 40 S145, .3404.41 eeNancyhatzmanteinhardt,ChineseartographyndCalligraphy,"rientalrt43 1997)P- 0-20.42E.g., eng ongliang ,Wujingongyao (Beijing:iefangjunhubanshe,1988),ian U,pp. 29-32, 35-36; ,pp. 77-78,85-86,89-90,93-94,97-98,01-2,305-6,09-10;,pp. 27-28, 29-30,41, 45, 47-48,1^, 355' 57-58,61-62,65.

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PATRICIA EBREYIn thecase of theGrandCarriage rocession,heneedto llustrateheappearanceof ndividualtemswas metthroughllustratedooks literally,"picture-records").Renzong,whocame to the hronen1023as a boyofthirteen,nce asked oneofhishigh fficials,ongShou,abouttheorigins fthe tems sed n theprocession,nd as a resultongShouprepared tenjuanbook,whichhe submittedn 102 .43Courtpainters,ncluding ao Kemingnj (fi.1008-1053),were ssigned he ask f llustratingt.Theresultingbook,printednthepalace,had llustrationsn therightndexplanationsnthe eft. he palace womenwhospent imewith heyoung mperorwere

instructedoopen itup everydayand explainthe tems o him.The bookremained nuse for ecades.Whenanotherhild ame tothe hronen 1085(Zhezong), ongShou' illus-trated ook wasreprintedorthe ducation fthenewem-peror, nd copieswere alsodistributedoothers.44uringHuizong's eign1100-1125)itwas revised wice, he sec-ond time n 1119to conformmore losely o ancientmod-els. Colorwasused,and thework reached thirty-threejuan.45 suspect hat hese l-lustrated ooks were orga-nizedby tem,with pictureof each personorobjectfol-

Figure. PageDescribingPenetratingoHeaven HatFrom anli u ,pp.25a-b. lowedby discussionf t nditshistory.his s theformat sedbyother llustratedookspublishedn theNorthernong, uch s Sanli u figure9).In addition othese iagramsnd llustratedooks, t east wopaintingsweremade to illustrateheprocession.n 996 Taizongcommissionedne,whichwas finished nderhis successor ver twoyears ater n 998. Itwaspainted y Song ^ andother ourt aintersndconsisted fthree ec-tions. Thereferenceo sectionsuggestshattwas a handscroll.) separate

43 S145, .3401; 91, .9735; 04, .5132;CB 22, .2885.44WangMingqing Huizhuu Beijing:honghuahuju,961), oulu 1.P- 3- SS145, p. 406-7.60



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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEpicture howed howthe marchers inedup after heprocession rrived tthe siteof the ceremonies. he courtwas so pleased that ongBo was re-warded with30,000 cash and othergifts,nd the otherpainters eceivedcomparably enerous ompensation. hese paintingswere then tored nthe mperialLibrary.46HonorGuard, hichmight avebeen created n a similar ay, s theonlyvisual id totheGrandCarriage rocessionosurvive,utwe shouldkeep nmind hat twas not heonly ne inexistence t the ime,nd thereforehat tdid nothave to serve ll thepurposes orwhich llustrationsereneeded.

HonorGuard spaintedn a fine tyle, ith ich igmentsndpainstaking

Figure0.HonorGuarddetailNote he inenessf tyle.draftsmanship,uggestingourt roduction.he artistrovided obackground,no indication f where heprocessions beingobserved whether,or n-stance, t s insidethecity r outside t. This ndifferenceoplace and timerules utthepossibilityhatHonorGuardwascommissionedocommemoratea particularerformance.or did the rtistry ocapture heexperience fthe pectators,henoise, ommotion,nd excitementhatMengYuanlao tried4 S145, .3401,nd he assageromHTcitednChen, jiuiDajiaubutuhu,'n.82.

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PATRICIA EBREYto convey.Rather he artist ocumentedhowtheprocessionwas to lookaccording o thedirectives f the court.The captionswere writtenn thestyle fa referencework, ut HonorGuards not a merediagram, ike thediagrams n Essentials f heMilitary rts. he artist id much more thanshow theplacement f thevariousfigures; e puta faceon each man andhorse nd addedenoughvarietyoposturesndexpressionso makestudy-ingthepicturevisually nterestingsee figure 0, previouspage). In thedensest ections f theprocession, loser rowspartly bscure the viewofrowsbehind hem, ut hey avebeenspacedgenerouslynough hat view-er can still ee thedistinctiveeaturesfclothes, orses, lags,ndweapons.Whywas HonorGuard one in such a fine,detailedstyle?Whywasone or morecourt rtists ssignedto spend so muchtimeon it?We canprobablyassume thatthepainting onforms o thewishesof those whocommissioned t. The emperor presumablyRenzong)could have askedfor thimself,ut even ftheemperornitiatedheproject, n officialmayhave instructedhepainters ow topaint t.Whatwe do know s that twascast as a paintingmore than diagram rillustration,o thattsfunctionfillustratingomethingifficultoconveyn words lone waspartially asked.Perhaps heofficialsncharge houghttwise o obscure hefact hat he dultRenzong ould still enefit rom visual id.Or perhaps hey hought finepainting ouldpleasethe mperor y showinghemagnificencefhiscourt.Itmay eema stretcho thinkftheGrandCarriage rocessionndthesurvivingllustrationsf t sparts fone arger isual ulture.he visual rac-tices een n theprocessiontself nthe urface ave ittle o dowith hevisualpractices ound npicturesftheprocessionr ts omponent arts. onvey-ing nformationisuallywhenone can drawon people,animals,weapons,carriages, lothes, nd almost nythinglse reasonablyportable s ratherdifferentrom onveyingnformationsing nkand color on a flat urface.Words are mucheasier to add to a diagramor picture hanto a movingprocession.Greatdisparitiesn size enhancethe mpactofa procession,but work ess well n thesmall formatf thepage or sheet.Connectionsbetweenthe visual strategies f theprocessionand itsillustrationshusdo not exist s congruences. ut thatdoes not meantheyare unrelated. he confusion,movement,nd over-stimulationf thepro-cessiongenerated heneed forvisualwaystocapture t,quiet t, nd makeit still.Frozendepictions f theprocessionwereessential o those orches-tratingnother erformance.heyalso could satisfyhe desireto hold ontoorpossesswhat s inherentlyleeting.

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PATRICIA EBREYferentoutes, rdinaryesidents ould associatedifferentoadsorsectionsof thecitywithparticular ccasions whenthe mperial arriage nd impe-rial retinue assed thatway.The throne,we might ay, stamped tself nthecitybytraveling hrought nattention-grabbingays.For officials,mperialprocessions arriedother ssociations.Thoserequired oparticipate y marchingwereputon view.Officials,fcourse,wereneverkept ut of ight o thedegree he mperorwas, ndtheymovedabout thecityn theordinaryourseoftheir fficial ndpersonalbusiness.Yet tomanyresidents,fficialsmusthave been remote igures. o onlook-ers, tmayhave been almost s exciting o catchsight fa famous fficialas to see theemperor'sface. Forthe officialshemselves,hiswas not anunmixed lessing.Many, twouldappear,wereconscious fhow thecloth-ingtheywore announced heir ank n the civil servicehierarchy,ince toassuagetheir eelings,hosewhohad beenwearingedorgreen armentsortwenty ears rmorewere llowed owear higher olor for his ccasion.Arthistorians ave used theconceptofvisual culture o reexamineobjectselevated to the stature f artbyputtinghem n largervisual con-texts.Although cannot peakforhow arthistorianswould ntegratehematerialpresented n this rticle nto their nderstandingfSong visualculture,et me mention ne case where t has coloredmyownresponses.The best-knownepiction f a Songcity, Pureand Bright longtheRiver" ("Qingming hanghetu"), s, like HonorGuard a longhandscrolldepictingnumerouspeople, animals, nd vehicles,done byan excellentdraftsman f theSong court'spainting stablishment.Would ZhangZe-duan, thepainterof "Pure and Bright long theRiver,"ever have beenrequired odo an exacting llustrationf court ctivitiesn the manner fHonorGuard Assuming hathe was at least familiarwith uchpaintings,we would also have to conclude thathe made everyefforto paint n aradicallydifferentaywhen he painted Pure and Bright."When he de-pictedvehicles ndriders, e showed hem rommany ngles,never inedup. Ratherthaneschewing eference o time nd place, he indicatedtheseasons with he ight reen f thewillow rees nd theplacewith hegate,bridge, nd distinctivehops.Although egave the mpression fwantingtoconvey s muchof the ceneas he could,he did notuse thefull olorsofHonorGuard, utonlyoccasional touches f ightwashes, onveyingmostofthe ppearanceofboats, hops, ndpeople inink lone. In otherwords,these wopaintingseem torepresentwoquitedistinct ayspainters ouldconveymessages hecourtwished o see circulated. ne stylewas chosenwhenthegoalwas tocapture he mperial reation forder ndhierarchy.

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IMPERIAL SPECTACLEThe other tylewas chosenwhenthe im was to show theresults fperfectimperial nstitutions: happy,prosperouspopulation, ble toregulate t-selfwithminimalnterferencerom hegovernment.n texts, fficialsouldmake theargumenthat he court'sritualproductions ervedto establishthe correcthumanrelations hatmadepossible good orderwithoutmuchuse of coercive force.When the meansofcommunicating as paintings,however, rtists ould mosteffectivelyonveythebeautyof hierarchicalorder ftheydid notsimultaneously ave to conveythe exuberanceof aprosperous opulace,and vice versa.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSCB Xuzizhitongjianhangbian nffi DJMHLZ Dongingmenghuauzhu :SHY Song uiyaoigaoSS SongshiZJWLXT Zfiengheuli inyi

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Ebery_Taking Out the Grand Carriage

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