Abstract
Inscriptions on stone are always more than their texts, since most people would not have been able to read them. In the Chinese context, inscriptions are highly stylized, normative texts and therefore remain largely silent about the context of their production and usage. The Chinese anecdotal record preserves at least something of the gossip and storytelling that surrounded inscriptions. This record teaches us how people complained about the excessive costs involved in producing inscriptions, conflicts about their contents, and the repurposing as well as reimagining of inscriptions after their original meaning and purpose had been lost. This article is based on accounts that stem from the early eighth until the early tenth century, when China was ruled by the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
