THE HAIHUNHOU CAPSULE BIOGRAPHIES OF KONGZI AND HIS DISCIPLES

Abstract This article introduces the biographical texts accompanying illustrations of Kongzi and several disciples on the wooden frame and cover of a mirror stand excavated in 2015 from the Haihunhou tomb near Nanchang. These texts are analyzed with reference to evolving portrayals of these figures in the Western Han, paying particular attention to parallels with two generically similar chapters in the Shi ji (Records of the Archivist). Of particular interest is the way the excavated disciple biographies share biographical elements with transmitted counterparts, but select different dialogues for each disciple, most of which are also found in the Lun yu (Analects). This suggests that the artists who created the mirror stand relied on a different source text from the compilers of the Shi ji chapter, perhaps on a pairing of visual and biographical information about the disciples called Kongzi dizi (Kongzi's disciples). The biographies also evince a heightened emphasis on the disciples and Kongzi's judgments about them, consistent with the Han view that the proper selection of ministers was a key aspect of the master's “Kingly Way.”