1: The Commemorative Context of Cultural Change: Shifting Textual Tactics in Song-Yuan Academy Inscriptions

This paper presents preliminary conclusions from study of inscriptions written for academies during the Song and Yuan as a means to document cultural change. Recent work by Song Chen and others has shown how both authorship and content in Song school inscriptions changed from Northern to Southern Song, as a shift took place from renowned prose writers in the Northern and early Southern Song to Neo-Confucian scholars by the late Southern Song. There was also a shift in content: from the relationship between schools and governing to that between schools and Neo-Confucian goals. The ratio of historical narrative to ideological discussion also changed, resulting in a reduction in narrative and increase in discussion in Southern Song.

Academy inscriptions shared some format and other features but also differed. In Northern Song they were more like school inscriptions because academies were supplemental schools, but in Southern Song they were tied to the Neo-Confucian mission, criticizing schools and examinations. How did authorship and content change in the Yuan? A recent study of Yuan inscriptions by literary scholar Wang Yawen has identified a narrative pattern featuring praise for dynastic rule, followed by depiction of decline, closing with references to cultural continuity represented by the academy. Combining this with my own previous and recent work on Yuan inscriptions and cultural memory, I propose to offer a longer term perspective on shifting textual strategies legible in academy inscriptions from the Song through the Yuan to see what these reveal about cultural change in the Yuan.