GENEALOGICAL STELES IN NORTH CHINA DURING THE JIN AND YUAN DYNASTIES

Abstract

Using both long forgotten and newly available steles from North China, this article looks at these ancient monuments to explore the rise and evolution of an epigraphic practice under Jurchen and Mongol rules (1127–1368). In particular it looks at steles erected to record genealogical information (called xianyingbei in general) in north China during the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, which was a new usage for the stele in the area. The article's main aim is to demonstrate how cultural integration among different social strata was triggered by the invasions of the Jurchen and Mongol conquerors, which in turn led to the formation of a new and legitimate way to compile family genealogies in north China.