Dong Rui

Henan University

DOI: 10.64212/JEGC8457

Abstract
The stone funerary bed of the Xie family’s tomb for Feng Senghui in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Anyang features a carving of two persons transporting an empty stretcher. A nearly identical scene appears on another funerary bed of the same period, currently housed at the Shenzhen Goldstone Museum of Art. Scholarly analysis has identified this motif as an adaptation of Yuan Gu’s filial piety story—a recurring theme in Han Dynasty stone engravings. Notably, the depiction diverges from textual accounts by omitting the stretcher’s occupant, a deliberate artistic choice by the craftsmen. Feng Senghui, a Han-integrated noblewoman immersed in Xianbei culture, embraced indigenous traditions that reversed gender hierarchies. Her funerary bed’s composition underscores this cultural fusion: while the narrative ostensibly celebrates Yuan Gu’s devotion, the conspicuously vacant stretcher symbolizes the absence of masculine lineage (traditionally associated with her paternal grandfather). The juxtaposition of two male bearers and a solitary female figure reinforces the Xianbei paradigm of female ascendancy, reinterpreting Han filial conventions through a matriarchal lens.

Key Words
Northern Dynasties, stone funerary bed, filial son, Xianbei-assimilated Han