Funeral Epitaph of Zhao Rugua (1170-1231), the Author of Zhufan zhi (“Records of Foreign Peoples”; 1225). Structural-Descriptive and Archaelogical Analysis of the Source

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Abstract

The present work is a continuation of two previously published articles in which the biography of Zhao Rugua 趙汝适 (1170-1231), the author of Zhufan zhi 諸蕃志 (“Records of Foreign Peoples”; 1225) an important historical geographical source about the foreign lands during the Song dynasty (960-1279), was studied through the usage of the text of his funeral epitaph as well as other historical sources. They also included the translation of the text of inscription into Russian and English [1; 2]. The goal of this article is to deepen the study of Zhao Rugua’s funeral epitaph by researching the material features of the source, analyzing the structure of the text and comparing it with other similar sources of Medieval China. In contrast with the previous works the inscription in this article is analyzed both as a textual source and as an object of material culture which enables to understand the context of the creation of the source as well as the extent of detalization of the deceased’s biography.

About the authors

Ivan Alexeevich Zaitsev

The Institute of Asian and African Countries at Lomonosov Moscow State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: gorniy_strannik@mail.ru

postgraduate student at the Institute of Asian and African Studies

11, Mokhovaya str., Moscow, Russian Federation, 125009

Ilia Sergeevich Kolnin

The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: minmi98@yandex.ru

research assistant at the Chinese department of IOS RAS; magister student at the National Research University “Higher School of Economics”

12, Rozhdestvenka str., Moscow, Russian Federation, 107031

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Copyright (c) 2021 Zaitsev I.A., Kolnin I.S.

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