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Steve | all galleries >> Infra Red Enabled Fujifilm FinePix S9100 >> Beijing Holiday >> Xi'an Infra-Red > The East Tablet aka 'Uncharactered Tablet'
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25-OCT-2007

The East Tablet aka 'Uncharactered Tablet'

The east one, called Uncharactered Tablet, was erected blank as a term of Wu Zetian's will. Her will read: "My achievements and errors must be evaluated by later generations, therefore carve no characters on my stele." This blank tablet was 6.3 meters high, 2.1 meters wide and 1.5 meters thick. During the Song and Jin dynasties, however, quite a few travelers did inscribe it, changing the uncharactered tablet into a charactered tablet. Altogether thirteen sets of inscriptions were counted, though most of them have been blurred by time. The overall irony is that the 'Uncharactered Tablet' is now full of inscribed characters while the 'Tablet Telling the Emperor's Deeds' which was originally full of characters has become uncharactered instead....

FujiFilm FinePix S9100
1/20s f/5.0 at 7.2mm ISO 100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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