*5.2. The Queen Mother Who Combines the Immortal World with the Mortal World in Han Stone Reliefs*

The number of Han stone reliefs that feature the Queen Mother is very large. All the distribution areas of the Han stone reliefs have a large number of such images. This is in sharp contrast to the few paragraphs in Han *dafu*.

### 5.2.1. The Regional Distribution of the Images of the Queen Mother

Based on the archaeological findings, Han stone carvings of the Queen Mother are usually classified into four categories according to their regions:

Based on existing archaeological results about images of the Queen Mother, the Han Dynasty stone reliefs are divided into (1) Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, and Anhui Districts; (2) central and southern Henan Districts; (3) northern Shaanxi District; and (4) Sichuan District. First, in the Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, and Anhui Districts, the images of the Queen Mother were mostly found in Shandong Province, but some were also found in Jiangsu Province. Most images of the Queen Mother are frontal, with her hands arched together, sitting on her knees. According to the presence or absence of a base, they can be divided into two types: BI [frontal image on a pedestal] and BII [frontal image without a supporting pedestal]. Second, in the Central and Southern Henan Districts, the characteristics of the Queen Mother images can be summarized as: a flowery jade hairdress (*sheng* 勝) worn on the head, holding objects in her hands, sitting on the mountains or a pedestal. Those Queen Mother images fall into two groups: AI [profile on a pedestal] and AII [profile without a supporting pedestal], considering her different sitting postures: one being a three-quarter profile, and the other a regular profile. Third, in the northern Shaanxi District, the basic feature of the Queen Mother images is that she sits on her knees with *sheng* hairdress worn on her head facing the front. These images can also be divided into two types, BI and BII, according to whether they have bases or pedestals. Fourth, in the Sichuan District, the images of the Queen Mother unearthed have obvious local characteristics: the dragon-tiger throne seen in this area's images are rarely seen in other districts. (Cong 2008, pp. 1200–22)

Among the existing remains of the stone reliefs of the Han dynasty, although variations do occur as found in all the sites, such as the presence or the lack of pedestals, and frontal versus profiled images, the Queen Mother is always at the center of the entire picture. All elements of immortality exist around her, thus gaining their iconic significance. Since such a composition with the Queen Mother in the center is highly consistent in different sites, it can be argued that her central deity status was already established at the time. Professor Wu Hung also paid attention to the phenomenon of the Queen Mother as a central deity. He believes that the emergence of the "central deity," and the henceforth establishment of the visual focus and the composition arrangemen<sup>t</sup> of the primary and secondary images "was an important breakthrough in the development of the image of heaven in the Han dynasty" (Wu 2005, pp. 255–56).

### 5.2.2. The Distribution of Subject Types of the Images of the Queen Mother

If the types of the materials about the Queen Mother indicate that her deity status had been established, what kinds of imageries were covered in depictions of such a deity? Nanyang city in Henan Province is the major site for Han Dynasty stone reliefs, images excavated from which are representative of the development of Han stone carvings. Nanyang han huaxiangshi 南 陽 漢 畫 像 石 (Han Dynasty Stone Reliefs in Nanyang) compiled by Wang Rulin 王 儒 林 and Li Chenguang 李 陳 廣 classified the subject matters of Han dynasty stone carvings in Nanyang, and it is now recognized in academic circles. The details are as follows:

Daily life: including chariot procession, feasting, lecturing, field hunting, pavilion construction, arsenal(s), *Liubo* 六 博 [ancient Chinese board game], cockfighting, and hunting with hounds. These are addressed to a variety of local magistrates, and servants. (2) Ancient myths: including Fuxi and Nüwa from the Chinese creation mythology, the Queen Mother, the King Father, Hou Yi 後 羿 Shooting Ten Suns, Lady Chang'e's 嫦娥 Flying to the Moon, etc. (3) Historical tales: including Killing Three Generals with Two Peaches, Hongmen Feast ( 鴻 門 宴 the banquet where Liu Bang 劉 邦 escaped attempted murder by his rival Xiang Yu 項 羽), Fan Sui 範 睢 receiving the robe, Nie Zheng 聶 政 taking his own life, Qin Shi Huang 秦 始 皇 (First Emperor of Qin) dispatching a thousand men to search for the Nine Tripod Cauldrons lost in the Si River. (4) Astronomical images: the sun and the moon, the sun and the moon harmoniously hanging together in the sky, sun and moon glowing together, constellations such as the Black Dragon 蒼 龍, the White Tiger 白 虎, Beidou 北 斗 (the Big Dipper), Gouchen 勾 陳 (the North Star), and so on. (5) *yuewu baixi* 樂 舞 百 戲 ("hundred operas," or ancient acrobatics, music and dance performances in general): various dances including drum and dance, *changxiuwu* 長 袖 舞 (long sleeve dance), *qipanwu* 七 盤 舞 (seventray dance), etc.; *chongxia* 沖 狹 (ancient aerobatics, jumping through a grass ring studded with knives), *feijian tiaowan* 飛 劍 跳 丸 (flying sword and juggling), *nonghu* 弄 壺 (balancing a pot on an arm), *tuhuo* 吐 火 (spitting fire), *juedixi* 角抵戲 (sports and aerobatics such as wrestling, ancient pod lifting, illusion magic, etc.). (Wang and Li 1989, p. 8)

Among the five major themes, three are real-life themes, namely, daily life, historical tales, and *yuewu baixi*. Two are related to deities, namely ancient myths and astronomical images. Such a distribution of themes shows that Queen-Mother-themed images cover both real life and eternal life and longevity. This is a very important phenomenon, which means that the Queen Mother assumed other functions in addition to bestowing longevity and immortality.

5.2.3. A Discussion of the Functions of the Queen Mother in Han Dynasty Stone Reliefs

In the archaeological findings of the stone reliefs of the Han dynasty, the image of the Queen Mother has different features from that in the grand rhapsody.

Han tomb stone carvings of the Queen Mother show that the goddess has acquired the status of a supreme deity. For example, in earlier Han stone reliefs, portraits of the Queen Mother were profiles, but later and more popular images of the Queen Mother were frontal views. This is very important because all the grea<sup>t</sup> gods were shown with frontal images, which was an indicator of their divine status. Along with this, the Queen Mother was centralized in all compositions, positioned either in the middle or at the top. This shows that the Queen Mother had obtained the status of a supreme deity with the ability to fulfill the various wishes of people. In regard to the relationship between the frontal portraits of the Queen Mother and the status of her as a supreme deity, Wu Hung thus writes:

Sitting on the summit of Kunlun or a dragon-tiger throne, she is portrayed frontally as a solemn image of majesty, ignoring the surrounding crowds and staring at the viewer beyond the picture. The viewer's sight is guided to her image in the center, to be confronted directly by the goddess. (Wu 2010, p. 56)

The images of the Queen Mother cover all daily life scenes. In the iconographic narrative of Han stone reliefs, there are many such daily life scenes. These include banquets, kitchen scenes, travels, sacrifices, wars, hunting, and reproduction. Having such wide scopes of description illustrates the Han people's imagination of living in the other world after gaining immortality. It also shows that the Queen Mother had the ability to cover all scenes of life, and her divinity made her capable of replicating this life in the other world.

### *5.3. Hierarchical Order and Functional Role as Seen in the Hierarchy of Han Pantheon*

The hierarchy of the Han pantheon can reflect the social stratification of the time. The renowned British Sinologist, Lu Weiyi (aka Michael Loewe) notes:

There also exists the idea about the class of deities. In the *Huainanzi*, we find the two deities acting as representatives of the emperor were on duty throughout the night by walking arm in arm. Many other passages also show that both deities and ghosts are subordinate to the hierarchical order under the emperor. A second century author even differentiated a series of deities corresponding to the hierarchy of the human world. Thus, some deities were prescribed to be worshiped by emperors or nobles, others were said to be in the charge of wizards, and still others were the objects to be prayed, aspired and awe-stricken of lesser mortals. (Lu 2009, p. 31)

Clearly, the spirit world is a hierarchical society as is the human world in human imagination. Accordingly, there are higher deities and lower deities, who are worshipped by people of the upper class and people of lower classes, respectively, as observed by Fuller (1988) in his insightful study of the Hindu pantheon and hierarchical society in India. The same can be said of the cult of the Queen Mother in Han times, when there existed two Queen Mothers, one worshiped by the upper class and the other by the lower classes, as indicated in the difference in the depictions of the goddess in the Han rhapsody—an high form of art, and in the Han stone relief—an lower form of art.

Of course, apart from the hierarchical disparities, there are also differences in their social and theological function. Muchou Poo (1998, p. 120) notes:

We cannot say that all the religious objects or activities in the official religious sacrifice system are not referred to as the folk beliefs. The religion of the Han Dynasty may be characterized by the entanglement between the official religious system and folk beliefs. This can be regarded as a continuation of the development of ancient Chinese religious beliefs since the pre-Qin era, that is, the cosmology of basically sharing the same religions between the upper and lower societies without any fundamental conflicts, and there are only some differences in application.

We agree with Poo's view on the interrelation between official religions and folk beliefs and judgment, and particularly his view on the existence of "some differences in application", which feature prominently in the cult of the Queen Mother in the Han era, where the same Queen Mother is entrusted with two different ye<sup>t</sup> interrelated responsibilities: to rule over the immortal world as a patron deity of the upper society, and to rule over both the immortal world and the mortal world as a patron deity of the commoners' society.

In summary, the Queen Mother in the Han grand rhapsodies revolves around the immortal world which has a beautiful environment, a path to follow, and an evaluation after successful arrival at it; this is a narrative that is full of mystery, with the Queen Mother as the goddess of longevity and immortality. The Queen Mother in the Han stone reliefs is also centered on this theme, but many real-world scenes are added in addition to the immortal world, and the narrative is full of realistic style and flavor. Here, the Queen

Mother is the goddess of longevity and immortality, but she also makes her power felt in real life as a supreme ruler. As a consequence, she confronts an abundance of social problems that exist in real life. How would she solve them then? The answer is also provided in Han stone reliefs.

### **6. Special Significance of the Sage-King Images in the Wu Liang Shrine**

Among the remains of the Han Dynasty stone reliefs, the Wu Liang 武梁 Shrine is world-famous, and relevant research findings are already very rich. However, from the perspective of conducting comparative studies between Han *fu* and Han paintings, many pieces of important information have been overlooked. For example, the "Sage-Kings Image" (*gu diwang tu* 古帝王圖) or Wu Liang Shrine III (Stone Chamber No. 3) can show that the Queen Mother has the function of ruling both the real world and the world of longevity and immortality.

There are eleven mythical emperors in Wu Liang Shrine III, and thus the image of the relief is also known as the "Sage-Kings Image". Through the relationship between the Queen Mother and the ancient emperors, this stone portrait completely describes how the Queen Mother rules both the real and the immortal worlds. From these contents, we can see how the two worlds overlap. Hence, we can be inspired to look for mutual evidence from the official history, and at the same time confirm that the Han stone relief tombs were owned by the civilian class. Therefore, the "Sage-Kings Image" can be regarded as a paradigm for the cult of the Queen Mother among commoners in the Han dynasty. Of course, this involves the issue of folk beliefs as well (Figure 1).

**Figure 1.** Wu Liang Shrine III (Portrait on the west wall of the Wu Liang Shrine), Jiaxiang County, Shan-dong Province, the first year of Emperor Heng's reign (Yuanjia reign era), Han dynasty (AD 151). Retrieved from: Jiang Yingju, ed. *Complete Collection of Chinese Stone Reliefs*, Vol. 1, *Shandong Han Stone Reliefs*, Jinan: Shandong Fine Arts Publishing House, 2000, p. 29.
