The Rhetoric of Hiddenness in Traditional Chinese Culture by Varsano Paula M

Author:Varsano, Paula M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2016-04-09T04:00:00+00:00

Figure 8.3. Woodcut showing the backsides of statues with cavities, from Hampden C. DuBose, The Dragon, Image, and Demon or The Three Religions of China: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism (New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son, 1887), 257–59.

Unfortunately the authors of these accounts do not provide further details about the history and specifics of the practices they record, though we do know they were primarily writing about Beijing and the northern regions of China.

While the preponderance of evidence for the interring of objects in statues comes from Buddhist materials and Chinese popular religion, we also have recent examples of Confucian statues with internal objects. Jun Jing reports, for instance, that when an image of Confucius was fashioned in north China, they followed the custom (again suggesting how common the practice was) that “a statue’s internal parts must approximate the anatomy of a real person in order to activate the deity’s ability to respond to human supplications. Thus, a ruby and artificial pearls were installed in the statue of Confucius to represent his heart and intestines. The spine was a pole fashioned from a pine tree, the arteries were made of red threads, and the kidneys and liver were constructed with silk bags containing twelve traditional medicinal herbs.”50 Indeed, it was the rumor that the statue contained gold, pearls, and rare gemstones that fueled the curiosity of outsiders, who came from far away to make a pilgrimage to see the image. Wang Liang has also recounted a striking story about Red Guards storming into the Temple of Confucius in Qufu and desecrating all of the statues. According to one account of the scene, a person “noticed a hole in the belly of Old Kong, and stuck his hand in. As he used his strength to make a hollow in Old Kong’s belly, others joined in. From within the hole, they pulled out a bunch of cotton, books, and the lousy guts of Old Kong (made of bronze mirrors and pieces of bronze).”51 Therefore, it appears that at least some Confucian statues also had internal organs placed inside.

Other anecdotal evidence suggests that the interring of symbolic viscera into Chinese statues was rather widespread, and we also find accounts of the practice in disparate—and disparaging—missionary writings. The Church Missionary Gleaner of 1916 includes a report, for example, about something called “the soul of an idol.” The report says,

Two years ago the C.M.S (Church Missionary Society) purchased a group of monasteries and temples in the eastern suburb of Canton. The idols which were removed when the missionaries entered into possession were many and varied. Some were valuable works of art; some were quite common and ugly images… . Their removal cannot have failed to dispel some of the untold darkness and superstition in the minds of many thousands of people, for the event was discussed in the Canton daily papers for weeks. This particular soul of an idol was taken from one of the principal images … it is not hung on the outside

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.