Han Bei: Xianyu Huang Bei 鮮于璜碑

 

 

 

The full name of Xianyu Huang Bei  (鮮于璜碑) is Han Qu Yan Men Taishou Xianyu Jun Bei (漢故雁門太守鮮于君碑).

Xianyu Huang Bei (Epitaph for Xianyu Huang) in clerical script was erected during the Eastern Han, 165 CE. The inscriptions has a total of 827 characters. The text at the front (碑陽) has sixteen columns, with each column containing 35 characters. The text at the back (碑陰) has fifteen columns, with 25 characters in each column.  The stele was unearthed in 1973 at Wuqing, Tianjin municipality (天津市武清縣東漢), it is now kept at Tianjin Museum  (天津市歷史博物館).

The text is as follows:

【碑額】漢故雁門太守鮮于君碑

【碑陽】

君諱璜，字伯謙。其先祖出于殷箕子之苗裔。漢膠東相之醇曜，而謁者君之曾，孝廉君之孫，從事君之元嗣也。君天姿明達，徹䁵有芳。在母不瘽，在師不煩。岐齔謠是，含好䓦常。治《禮小戴》，閨族孝友，溫故知機，輝光篤實。升而上聞，上郡王府君察孝，除郎中，遷度遼右部司馬。慰綏朔狄，邊宇艾安。遷贛揄令，經國帥下，政以禮成。民誦其惠，吏懷其威。喪父去官，服終禮闋。復應三公之招，辟大尉府，除西曹屬。葴謨屢獻，使事日言。王人嘉德，台司側席。蠢爾葷育，萬邦作寇，冀圡荒饉，道殣相望。帝諮君謀，以延平中拜安邊節使，銜命二州。受莢秉憲，彈貶貪枉。清風流射，有邵伯述職之稱。聖上珍操，璽符追假。永初元年拜雁門太守。折節清行，恭儉束修。政崇無為，聲教禁化，猷風之屮。時依郡烏桓，狂狡畔戾，君執以威權，征其後伏。永初之際，有勳力于漢室。令德高譽，遺愛日新。內和九親，外睦遠鄰。免浣息隸，為成其門。周無振匱，亦古晏臧之次矣。當遂功祚，究爵永年。意乎不造，早世而終。以延光四年六月壬戌卒于家。蓋銘勒之云，所以彰洪烈，纂乃祖，繼舊先。悲夫盛德，惡可已哉。於是君之孫魴、倉、九等，乃相與刊山取石，表諡定號，垂之億載，以示昆苗。其頌曰:

於鑠我祖，膺是懿德，永惟孝思，亦世弘業。昭哉孝嗣，光流萬國。秩秩其威，娥娥厥額。此宜蹈鼎，善世令王。如何夙隕，丁此咎𣧑(歹凶)，國無人兮王庭空，土罔宗兮微言喪，王機悵兮嘉謀荒。旌洪德兮表元功，闡君靈兮示後萌，神有識兮營壇場。

延熹八年十一月十八日己酉造。

【碑陰】

唯君行操，體巛則乾。至孝通洞，克勤和顏。烝烝慄慄，可移於官。郡將察上，宿衛報關。出典邊戎，民用永安。遂遷宰國，五教在仁，嗇民用彰，家用平康。父君不𢠽(㣺象)，棄官奉喪。擘踴哭泣，見星而行。子無隨歿，聖人折中。五五之月，令丞解喪。州辟典部，入領治中。萬里同風，艾用照明。大尉聘取，上輔機衡。遂登漢室，出司邊方。單于怖畏，四夷稽顙。皇上頌德，群黎慕涎。莢書追下，銀龜史符。到官視事，七年有餘。民殷和睦，朝無顧憂。勳績著聞，百遼詠虞。以病去官，廿有餘年踰九九，永歸幽廬。皇上憀慄，痛惜欷歔。生民之本，孰不遭諸。歍呼哀哉，奈何悲夫！

君三子：大子諱寬，字顏公，舉有道，辟大尉府掾；中子諱𦓞(耑頁)，字景公，郡五官掾、功曹，守令，幽州別駕；小子諱晏，字魯公，舉孝廉、謁者、雁門長史、九原令。

膠東君諱弘，字元譽。中子諱操，字仲經，郡孝，灌謁者。子諱琦，字瑋公，舉孝廉。子諱式，字子儀，故督郵，早卒。督郵子諱雄，字文山，州從事。子即君是也。

 

Xianyu Huang Bei (Epitaph for Xianyu Huang), a stele dedicated to a prefecture chief (太守) of the Han dynasty.

Xian Yu (鮮于) was the surname. Huang (璜) was his first name. The courtesy name was Boqian (伯謙). His ancestors came from the descendants of Jizi (箕子) of the Yin (殷) and Shang (商) Dynasties. He was an outstanding descendant of Xian Yu Hong (鮮于弘) in the Jiaodong Kingdom (膠東王國) of the Han Dynasty (漢朝).

Xian Yu Huang was intelligent and talented. When he was a child, his eyes were round and big, full of spirit (徹䁵有芳). Since childhood Huang showed filial piety to his mother and he never stressed his mother out. He was respectful to his teacher and assiduous with his studies. Huang was selected to serve in the government. He was later promoted as the magistrate of Ganyu county (贛榆令). The people praised Huang for his kindness (民誦其惠) and he had good rapport with his colleague (吏懷其威). When Huang’s father died, he resigned from his office and returned home for a mourning period of three years.  Afterwards, he served as a staff to the head official of the military (太尉府). He proposed good strategy and was praised by the Emperor.

A famine broke out in Jizhou (冀州) and many people died of starvation. The Emperor sought advice from Huang (帝諮君謀) and appointed him as the envoy of Anbian (安邊節使) governing two districts (銜命二州). Huang enforced the law impartially (受莢秉憲) denouncing those who perverted the law (彈貶貪枉). Huang was honest and upright (清風流射). He has the good reputation of Shao Bo (邵伯), an official in ancient time. The Emperor appointed Huang as the prefecture chief of Yanman (雁門太守). His righteousness set good example to the people and the people obeyed and followed him (聲教禁化, 猷風之中). At that time, the arrogant people of Wuhuan (烏桓) who were on the outskirts of the country started riots. Huang showed his authority and led an army to pacify the Wuhuan people (君執以威權, 征其後伏). Huang made great contributions to the Han Government. He united the people within the country and made distant neighbours harmonious (內和九親, 外睦遠鄰).  His reputation grew high (令德高譽, 遺愛日新). Unfortunately Huang died early in the fourth year of Yanguang (延光四年)(125 CE).

His grandsons Fang (魴), Cang (倉), Jiu (九), etc. erected the stele for him in the eighth year of Yanxi (延熹八年)(165 CE ), 40 years after he died.

My copy of Xianyu Huang Bei is as follows:

Some of the characters cannot be read properly. I tried my best to write them out. Those characters may not be accurate. I find copying Xianyu Huang Bei highly challenging.

 

Some of the characters appear in the stele more than once. The following characters are good examples of those characters. Out of the variations of each character, the first one seems to be more typical.

In some characters, some strokes are missing, but we can still recognize those characters. Perhaps a stroke or part of a stroke can be added as in the modified characters.

In characters like 郎 and 嗣, the first horizontal stroke on the top left side is connected to the far left vertical stroke. This is quite special. In other steles, the characters are like the modified ones as below.

Some characters like 民 and 帥 have additional strokes. In many other steles, those strokes are not present as in the modified characters below.

The strokes are thick and solid, most with right-angle bends. In starting or ending a stroke, touches of the brush tip are concealed. The undulating strokes are very delicately executed, and the pauses and transitions are well handled. This style of writing is known as fang bi (方筆). Zhang Qian Bei (張遷碑) is a typical example of fang bi writing. Some calligraphers think that Xianyu Huang Bei is even more attractive than Zhang Qian Bei. Personally I prefer Zhang Qian Bei. I cut and pasted characters from rubbings of these two steles and put the corresponding characters side by side so that the readers can compare between the two steles.

A comparison of some characters of Zhang Qian Bei and Xianyu Huang Bei

 

In addition to vigour and verve, the work reveals a beauty arising from precision and orderliness. The characters at the back of the stele are less neat and orderly but are more varied and sometimes break free of borderlines.

 

Carvings on the top of the stele

On the top front of the stele were carved an Azure Dragon (Qinglong 青龍) and a White Tiger (Baihu 白虎).

Azure Dragon (青龍) was regarded as the guardian of the East. White Tiger (白虎) was regarded as the guardian of the West.  The two beasts respectively represent the yang and yin opposition and interaction.

 

On the top back of the stele carved a Vermilion Bird (Zhuque 朱雀).

The Vermilion Bird presides over the southern quadrant and symbolizes the yang principle of brightness, light, and heat. 

 

The tomb of Xianyu Huang (鮮于璜墓)

This stele was unearthed in May 1973 in the tomb of Xianyuhuang. The tomb is a medium-sized brick chamber tomb (磚室墓), which consists of a tomb passage (墓道), front chamber (前室), middle chamber (中室), back chamber (後室), smaller side chambers (耳室).

The tomb has been disturbed by tomb raiders throughout the centuries, valuable items might have been stolen. When the tomb was cleaned up in 1977, more than 70 cultural relics such as copper incense burner (銅薰爐), pottery warehouse (陶倉), bone comb (骨梳) and bone comb grate (骨梳篦) were unearthed. The tomb site has been turned into a tourist attraction in Tianjin.

 

Bibliography:

https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%B2%9C%E4%BA%8E%E7%92%9C%E7%A2%91/6531715′

https://www.sohu.com/a/308024033_741281

https://new.qq.com/omn/20210802/20210802A04ONB00.html

http://www.shufazidian.com/ziliao_m/4122.html

漢 雁門太守鮮于君碑 書譜叢帖 (1979) 書譜出版社

俞丰 (2009) 經典碑帖釋文譯注, 上海書畫出版社 , ISBN 978-7-80725-846-9

Ouyang Z S, W C Fong, Y F Wang (2008) Chinese Calligraphy, Yale University, ISBN 978-0-300-12107-0