Abstract

Roughly forty years after the death of Du Fu，the Tang literatus Yuan Zhen（元稹）composed Du Fu's Epitaph. Following this，Du Fu's status in the Chinese poetic tradition grew with each passing day. The Southern Song was known as a period where “1000 scholars annotated Du Fu”. The Jin Dynasty poet Yuan Haowen （元好问） proposed a style of poetics inspired by Du Fu.There continued to appear other seminal studies and works praising his poetry. The biography of Emperor Shun in the History of Yuan （《元史·顺帝本纪》） contains records showing that Du Fu was posthumously bestowed the title of Wen Zhen （文贞） in recognition of his literary prestige. The existence of this title，however，has often escaped the attention of literary scholars. Since the Qing dynasty，there have only been occasional mentions by Qiu Zhaoao （仇兆鳌），Qian Daxin （钱大昕），Zhao Yi （赵翼），Yu Yue （俞樾），Chen Yuan （陈垣），Yoshigawa Kōziro （吉川幸次郎），and others. Yet，research into the identity of those who bestowed Du Fu with the title，the official process of bestowing posthumous titles，and other fundamental issues have yet to be examined in depth. Though Du Fu has long been regarded as a literary model，modern and contemporary scholars have not paid attention to the process behind the bestowing of his posthumous title.

With this background in mind，the present work systematically examines the archive of Yuan，Ming，and Qing official histories，as well as scholarly collections，gazetteers and other texts to examine different records concerning the reception of Du Fu's title. I point to the role of Yesüder（也速答儿），a Mongolian official who completed his career in Sichuan，in appealing for and successfully bestowing this posthumous title on Du Fu. I look at the historical background concerning the circumstances of his appeal and the bestowing of the posthumous title. I show that this was done together with a series of other activities such as establishing literary authorities，academies，the collation of texts and the casting of ritual artifacts.

However，a deeper analysis finds silence concerning this matter shortly after the establishment of the Ming. Despite his continued fame in literary circles，Du Fu's posthumous title is missing from biographical materials compiled by Ming scholars. Until the middle and late Ming，his title is all but missing outside of a few notable exceptions found in notes in the works of Wang Shizhen （王世贞），Mao Yuanyi （茅元仪），and a few others. However，their attitudes toward this entitlement were in direct contrast to the Yuan Dynasty and was rejected by these writers. This is to say，the missing record of Du Fu's posthumous title during the Ming Dynasty was due entirely to the bestowers being deliberately forgotten. It was a direct purge of the memories of the Mongols and the Yuan Dynasty.

Following the development of Du Fu's reception during the Ming uncovers the complexity surrounding the formation of Han ethnic identity within a multiethnic background. The formation of this identity is found not only in the rejection of Du Fu's posthumous title，but also in the deliberate concealment and removal of events from collective memory. During the reign of Hongwu，Fang Xiaoru（方孝孺） worked in the employ of the King of Shu to fix the records of Du Fu's thatched cottage in Chengdu，deliberately avoided mention of the posthumous title and began a new trajectory in the history of Du Fu reception. The mid-Ming literatus Li Dongyang（李东阳） followed in Fang's footsteps，deliberately not mentioning the posthumous title despite having encountered it in historical records. In addition，Ming gazetteers records concerning Yesüder used a signified version of his name，and concealed information concerning his background，ethnicity，family connections and his role within the Yuan. The memory of Du Fu's posthumous title underwent numerous changes and was cleverly hidden，until it was all but forgotten.

This contrast of the memory of Du Fu's posthumous entitlement in the Yuan and Ming is connected with the political，cultural，and literary changes surrounding the transition between the two dynasties. The present work intends to investigate the use and subsequent rejection of Du Fu's posthumous title as a way of understanding the formation of each dynasty's sense of identity and culture，and their own source of legitimization. As ethnic conflicts continued and expanded during the dynastic change from the Yuan to the Ming，literature and culture was used as a method of constructing a shared identity and legitimizing of the ruling class and its court. The construction of a specific identity for Du Fu altered his reception to create a source of political legitimacy. Du Fu's posthumous title must be analyzed in the cultural and political background of the later part of the Yuan Dynasty. It was realized through the cooperation of the Yuan political establishment，and both Han and Mongol literati and worked as part of a larger process to establish political authority. In addition to this，research must include the entirety of the Yuan and Ming into account. Through this we can understand why the memory of a posthumous title granted by the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty would be received with such a negative reaction in the Ming. At its most fundamental level，it posed the problem of blurring the distinction between the Ming as upholders of Han culture and those whom they regarded barbarians. It was thus intertwined with an anxiety concerning the cultural heritage and authority of the Ming.

The present work begins by questioning the history of Du Fu studies，but expands into issues of intellectual history and cultural-political history. It uses this to unravel the problem of how ethnic consciousness of the Yuan and the Ming，ruled by different ethnic groups，influenced the trajectory of literary developments. This is particularly true in the Ming dynasty，as struggles against what the Ming deemed “foreign”. The ethnic consciousness of the period led them to shape the entire face of literature，including the memory of Du Fu's posthumous title.After the establishment of the Qing，Du Fu regained an immense popularity. The present work wishes to show that is it through these shifts in the reception of Du Fu，we can better understand cultural changes and shifts that persisted throughout the Yuan，Ming and Qing dynasties.

Key Words： Du Fu's posthumous title，political culture，literary memory，cultural identity