This thesis studies Han Dynasty stone carved tombs in Central and Eastern China. These multi-chambered tombs were constructed from carved stone slabs, and were very popular among the Han people. However, such horizontal stone structures were entirely new, and were a result of outside stimuli rather than an independent development within China. The stone carved tombs were a result of imitating royal rock-cut tombs, while the rock-cut tombs were stimulated by foreign examples. Moreover, many details of stone carved tombs also had Western features. These exotic elements were incorporated to satisfy specific requirements of the Han people, and reflected the desire to assimilate exotica within Chinese traditions. Some details within stone carved tombs showed high level of stone working technologies with Western influences. But in general the level of stone construction of the Han period was relatively low. The methods of construction showed how unfamiliar the Western system was to the Han artisans. Han Dynasty stone carved tombs were hybrids of different techniques, including timber, brick and stone works. From these variations, Han people could choose certain types of tombs to satisfy their specific ritual and economic needs. Not only structures, but also pictorial decorations of stone carved tombs were innovations. The range of image motifs is quite limited. Similar motifs can be found in almost every tomb. Such similarities were partly due to the artisans, who worked in workshops and used repertoires for the carving of images. But these also suggest that the tombs were decorated for certain purposes with a given functional template. Together with different patterns of burial objects and their settings, such images formed a way through which the Han people gave meaning to the afterworld. After their heyday, stone carved tombs ceased being constructed in the Central Plains as the Han Empire collapsed. However, they set a model for later tombs. The idea of building horizontal stone chamber tombs spread to Han borderlands, and gradually went further east to the Korean Peninsula. The legacy and spread of the Chinese masonry tradition was closely related to the political circumstances of late Han and post-Han period. The spread of stone chamber tombs in Northeast Asia is presented as a part of a long history of interactions between different parts of Eurasia.

The Tuoba's success in the making of the Northern Wei as a conquest dynasty in fifth century northern China will be argued in this thesis as a result of their ability to cross between the traditions and practices of the Chinese sphere and those of the Eurasian steppe, through the construction of a "dual presence" in the Pingcheng period (398-494 CE). A negotiation of material culture in this formative phase of state-building allowed for new notions of kingship, dynastic identity, and representations of daily life to be (re)created. This was manifested separately through the application of mountain-side stone sculptures, tomb repertoires, as well as the conception of Pingcheng as a capital city. The material cultural expressions explored in this thesis reflect significant changes in the socio-cultural atmosphere at this point in history. In effect, these ritual, funerary, and commemorative discourses wove together to create new notions of "Chineseness" in fifth century northern China. In the following discussion, we will come to recognize the Tuoba’s maintenance of a "dual presence", not only as "Son of Heaven" to the conquered subjects, but also carrying over practices that befit a Khagan in the Central Asian tradition, as an act of ingenuity.

En kommitté med uppgift att utreda huruvida en övergång bör ske från traditionsprincipen till avtalsprincipen tillsattes den 14 mars 2013. Utredningen har påkallats bland annat med anledning av att köpares okunskap, beträffande kravet på tradition, föranleder ett omedvetet risktagande från köparens sida i form av att en förvärvad vara kvarlämnas i säljarens besittning. Om en köpare kvarlämnar en köpt vara i säljarens besittning riskerar han enligt gällande rätt att gå miste om såväl varan som erlagd köpeskilling, med anledning av att förvärvet inte är skyddat mot säljarens borgenärer. Säljarens borgenärer har följaktligen möjlighet att ta en kvarlämnad vara i anspråk för täckning av säljarens skulder. Om en över­gång skulle ske till avtalsprincipen skulle köparens förvärv erhålla skydd mot säljarens borgenärer vid köpeavtalets ingående och köparen skulle därför kunna hindra att en köpt, men kvarlämnad, vara tas i anspråk för täckning av säljarens skulder. Köparen erhåller emellertid enbart separationsrätt till en vara om köpet uppfyller kravet på individualisering. För att er­hålla separationsrätt krävs även att köparen kan uppvisa betryggande bevisning till stöd för sin rätt, vilket kan medföra att köparen, om han efter köpet kvarlämnar varan i säljarens besittning, riskerar att gå miste om den på grund av att han inte kan styrka sin äganderätt. En övergång kan därför innebära att köparen likväl riskerar att gå miste om en köpt vara, dels eftersom han kan vara ovetandes om kravet på individualisering och dels eftersom han kan ha svårt att styrka sin rätt. Även säljaren vidtar, när han ingår ett överlåtelseavtal, en risk för att göra en förlust, men det är osannolikt att den risken skulle förändras med anledning av ett principbyte.