The Forest of Stele Museum in Xi’an, originally a 11th century Confucian temple is famous for its collection of 3,000 stele or inscribed tablets that is the largest of such collections in China. These tablets are important because the inscriptions give information on the lifestyle,…

In true Chinese culture, whenever an occasion called for celebration, the event was commemorated by erecting steles, a tall slab made of wood or stone inscribed with the names of the people they wished to celebrate. Paradoxically, these same steles were also used to mourn…