Abstract The Han dynasty pictorial carvings underwent an evolution of more than three hundred years, and its rise was directly related to the Han belief in afterlife and deities. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Former Han dynasty, the cult of immortals escalated, along with the rise of the pictorial carving in tombs and temples. From the late period of Former Han to the second half of the Later Han, the sustained evolution of the belief of deities precipitated the formation of early religious Daoism. Almost simultaneously, the pictorial carvings in tombs and temples witnessed a process of upgrading from simplistic patterns, styles, and engraving techniques to sophisticated ones. As an innovative artistic form, Han pictorial carvings reflected the change of the contemporaneous belief in the after world. It is arguable that the evolution of religious belief in the Han dynasty was the main driving force of its pictorial carvings.

中文翻译：

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汉代来世信仰的演变与汉画像的兴起。

摘要汉代绘画雕刻经历了三百多年的演变，其兴起与汉族对来世和神灵的信仰直接相关。在前汉武帝时期，神仙的崇拜随着墓葬和神庙中雕刻图案的兴起而升级。从前汉末期到后汉后半期，神灵信仰的持续发展促成了早期宗教道教的形成。几乎同时，坟墓和庙宇中的图画雕刻见证了从简单的图案，样式和雕刻技术到复杂的雕刻技术的升级过程。汉画作为一种创新的艺术形式，反映了后世当代信仰的变化。