ALTERGRAPHY - When writing becomes calligraphy: medieval inscribed landscapes and their modern reception

Summary

Calligraphy is central in China, where it is a symbol of national identity, a combination of orthodoxy and orthography. This project approaches a marginal epigraphic tradition in medieval China from a diachronic perspective, to shed another light on the history of calligraphy.

Our "other history" is rooted in the medieval context, where the classical canon of calligraphy is elaborated, but it also incorporates the critical apparatus developed by Chinese antiquarian scholars from the 18th century onwards, who will be the first to attempt a deconstruction of the calligraphic canon. We propose a contextual approach to the notion of calligraphic style and the phenomenon of graphic variation in Chinese writing, through the prism of theories on the history and practice of the art of calligraphy.

Dates and duration

10/2023 - 09/2027 (48 months)

Scientific coordination and team

Lia WEI (IFRAE, Inalco), coordinator
Manel SASSMANN (Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities)
ZHANG Qiang (Sichuan Fine Arts Institute)

Christoph ANDERL (Ghent University)

Michela BUSSOTTI (CCJ, EFEO)

Objectives

The project aims to document four inscribed sites from a holistic and diachronic perspective, and to propose a relational database with descriptors able to analyze the inscribed landscape tradition in China as a whole. In the field of Chinese epigraphy, it seems essential to us to propose a structuring of data that takes into account the diversity of the epigraphic act (disciplinary approaches, inscribed media, etc.). Such documentation is aimed at the community of researchers involved in the lines of research addressed by the project - the history of writing and calligraphy, stone-working traditions, religious appropriation of the landscape, the life cycle of stamps, the patrimonialization of inscribed landscapes - but it is also intended for students (particularly in the context of work-schools, workshops and seminars), or a wider public.

  • Contextualize the work of Zheng Daozhao (455-516; 4 sites; c. 40 inscriptions), integrating the heritage dimension of this epigraphic production.
  • Define the notion of calli-graphic variation in the light of cliff inscriptions, a form of writing with a particular technical and stylistic context.
  • Contribute to the understanding of medieval inscribed landscapes, through a series of cases of Taoist/Buddhist spatial appropriation in mountainous environments.
  • Integrate the stages of reception of inscription stamps, their circulation from the 19th century to the present day, and develop a descriptive vocabulary adapted to this type of document.
  • Make the data available in a public repository (Nakala) and make them accessible in the form of video narration, an exhibition and a website.

Methodology

The project documents around 90 inscriptions in 4 mountains in northeast China (Shandong province), 47 of which date from the VIth century and are signed by an official stationed in the region, Zheng Daozhao, also an ordained Taoist. As Zheng Daozhao has been retrospectively elevated to the status of a major figure in the history of Chinese calligraphy, the corpus has been expanded to include prints of these inscriptions (in virtually infinite quantity, but from which we have selected one or two copies per inscription). The sites were re-inscribed by various players, rarely linked to the VIth century corpus, commented on by local administrators and stamp-hungry antiquarians in local monographs and treatises, particularly from the XIXth century onwards. These printed sources include texts and maps/representations of the territory. Finally, since the 1980s, Japanese calligraphy enthusiasts have visited these sites, whose photographic archives we have collected. Since the 2000s the local authorities have documented and patrimonialized the inscriptions.

 

Deconstructing the historical narratives surrounding Chinese calligraphy involves as much "putting to death" Zheng Daozhao as a calligrapher through a stylistic analysis of the variants and stylistic markers visible on the inscriptions and stamps, as it does developing a contextual, spatial and sensitive approach to the 4 mountains. Inscribed landscapes are an extreme form of epigraphy that allows us to refine existing protocols in terms of documenting inscriptions, stamps, calligraphic forms and landscape forms.

 

  • Field survey (metric, photographic and cartographic surveys) in the form of work-schools (supported by EUR ArChal) for master and doctoral students.
  • Photographic archive of site evolution since the 1980s.
  • Documentary integrating interviews.
  • Relational database of sites, inscriptions, stamps and texts, collaborative in the grist interface.
  • Transcription of inscriptions on Tacteo, tagging (physical description, variants, authorities) and translation.
  • Annotation of photographs, videos and 3D models.
  • Translation and definition of terms relating to cliff inscriptions, stamps, graphic variants and landscape forms on the Opentheso collaborative tool, which enables alignment with existing repositories (linked to bachelor's and master's courses).

Expected results

Our research is at the confines of history and philology. The state of the art does not allow us to deviate much from the sources, nor to indulge in bold speculation. In summary:

  • Intervention with local authorities for better conservation of listed mountain sites, altered by a rapid process of patrimonialization.
  • Deposit of data (c. 1500 photographs taken between 1984 and 2024; de c. 160 ancient and modern prints; stakeholder videos and soundtracks) in open access, interoperable with the Database of Medieval Chinese Texts variant module and the Buddhist Stone Sutras in China geo-referenced database.
  • Collaborative trilingual thesauri on Opentheso associated with metadata of cliff inscriptions, stamps, graphic variants and landscape forms, in collaboration with libraries (BULAC) and museums (Musée des Arts Décoratifs).
  • Integration of the research project with training in chantier-école or writing workshop.

Deliverables

  • Publication of the project database on Omeka (hosted by INIST)
  • Deposit of data on Nakala
  • Thesaurus on Chinese epigraphy for documenting and annotating inscribed landscapes (landmarks, inscriptions) via Opentheso, and in dialogue with museum institutions, libraries and other research projects in the interests of interoperability. The short versions of this thesaurus will make it possible to deepen the pre-existing indexing used by certain museums and libraries, taking into account the specificity of Chinese epigraphy and prints (Bulac, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, etc.). For the more detailed version, the idea is to institute a shared controlled vocabulary; these terminological reflections are being carried out in tandem with European partners as part of various research projects on Chinese script (University of Ghent, University of Heidelberg).
  • Publication of a monograph on the act of inscribing in China and the place of epigraphic tradition in the history of Chinese calligraphy

Key words

Medieval China, art history, epigraphy, calligraphy, stamps, variants, religious landscape

References

sitography

Project blog: altergraphy.hypotheses.org

Partners: stonesutras.org ; database-of-medieval-chinese-texts.be

publications

2025. Manuel Sassmann, Paula Suméra and Lia Wei. A Chronicle of 'Sinographic Forays into the Epiverse'. Chinese Studies 44:217-258.

2025. Lia Wei and Francesca Berdin. Documenting and taming an inscribed landscape. writing and image 6:28-45. ⟨hal-05467021⟩

2024. Lia Wei and Manuel Sassmann. SINOGRAPHIC FORAYS INTO THE EPIVERSE. Oct 2024, Inalco, Paris, France. 2025. ⟨hal-04977192⟩

2024. Zhang Qiang and Lia Wei. 新发现郑道昭之妹郑穆姬墓志铭及相关问题探讨. (Discovery of the Epitaph of Zheng Muji, Sister of Zheng Daozhao). Xiling yicong 10:65-71.⟨hal-04794437⟩

public lectures

2025. Lia Wei. Rubbings and their derivates: In situ versus traveling legacies of cliff inscriptions by Zheng Daozhao. The Fourth Conference of the European Association for Asian Art and Archaeology, European Association for Asian Art and Archaeology, 8-13 September, Lisbon, Portugal. ⟨hal-05358405⟩

2025. Lia Wei, Marie-Françoise Plissart. Renewal of Antiquarian Practices in China. Du scriptural au visuel, December 11, Musée Cernuschi, Paris.

2024. Lia Wei, Manuel Sassmann. Mountains as writing supports - cliffs, pillars, steles - in Medieval China. Daoism in Cliffs, Caves, and Inscriptions, Advancing Daoism: Epigraphic and Archeological Materials as Sources for Daoist Lived Religion, 6-8 December, Tempe AZ, United States. ⟨hal-05359274⟩

2024. Lia Wei, Manuel Sassmann. The Epigrapher's New Habits: Bridging Medieval Production, Antiquarian Reception, and Historical Perspectives on Sixth-Century Monumental Cliff Inscriptions in the Digital Age. The Epigraphic Habit: Everyday Politics in Chinese Histories of Infrastructure, ERC-research project 'Regionalizing Infrastructures in Chinese History' (KU Leuven, Belgium), 21-23 November, Leuven, Belgium. ⟨hal-05358464⟩

2024. Lia Wei. The Modern Reception of Medieval Moya: How Immaterial Writing and Selective Memory Shape a Calligrapher's Persona. AAS2024 - Annual Conference, Association of Asian Studies, 14-17 March, Seattle (USA), United States. ⟨hal-04558848⟩

2024. Lia Wei, Paula Suméra. Epigraphic mountain marking in medieval China: motives and becoming of landscapes inscribed by Zheng Daozhao (455-516). Approches spatiales des liens entre le religieux et l'écologique, Collectif PEER (Programme Espace et Religieux), 27-28 May, Toulouse, France. ⟨hal-05359243⟩

interview

2024. Lia Wei, Kexin Zhang, Duncan Frenehard, Bastien Sepulveda. "Inscribed landscapes in medieval China and their modern reception", interview with Lia Wei (Inalco). ⟨hal-04758912⟩

Funding agency

Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR)

https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-23-CE54-0001

 

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