Ritual Visuality and Social Order in Han Dynasty Chariot Procession Reliefs

Abstract

This article takes the Han Dynasty stone portrait of chariots and horses as the research object, and explores the mechanism of constructing social order in tomb space from the perspective of ritual visualization. Research suggests that the carriage and horse travel diagram
translates social hierarchy and the transformation of life and death into a visual order that can be activated through programmatic hierarchical
composition and directional arrangement. It is then transformed into a performative ritual structure in a closed context with the deceased as
the viewing subject, thus reproducing and stabilizing social order in burial spaces.