THE COMMERCE OF COMMEMORATION: COMMISSIONED MUZHIMING IN THE MID- TO LATE TANG

Abstract This article examines muzhiming, primarily excavated, written between 760 and 846 that were composed on commission, i.e., at the explicit behest of another party. I argue that in commissioning muzhiming, clients wished to do more than merely create a record of the deceased or identify the tomb occupant in perpetuity; they sought in addition to titivate the posthumous reputation of the deceased as well as enhance the reputations of family and friends among the broader audience for these texts. Moreover, because commissioned texts were often regarded with skepticism, writers of commissioned muzhiming employed a variety of rhetorical tactics within their compositions—quoted speech, final words, and the careful framing of the circumstances under which they were commissioned—in attempting to convince audiences of the reliability of their accounts. Finally, I explore why, other than for compensation, writers may have been willing to compose muzhiming on commission. My contention is that writers used these texts to enhance their own reputations as writers, or, less commonly, to make broader arguments illustrated or exemplified by their account of the life of the deceased.