The English edition of A History of Chinese Tomb Murals, the monumental study by Prof. Wang Xiaoyang, has been released by Springer. Completed through an eight-year translation effort, the volume brings a landmark achievement in Chinese art history to a global readership and offers an authoritative reference on Chinese tomb murals.

First published in 2018 by Science Press, Prof. Wang's monograph traces more than two millennia of developments in tomb mural art. Framed by the core theoretical lens of "belief in rebirth", it advances the first comprehensive general history of Chinese tomb murals. A key innovation is its articulation of a Confucian-rooted conception of life and death—summarized as "death as eternal life". Through six analytic dimensions—including the hun po soul complex, ancestor veneration, and funerary ritual systems—the book reveals the enduring spiritual framework that underpins China's tomb-mural tradition.

Prof. Wang, a professor in the Faculty of Innovation and Design, has contributed robust theoretical foundations to research in Chinese art history and painting theory, the digital preservation of cultural heritage, and design for cultural innovation. As a major medium of ancient Chinese art, tomb murals—through iconography, color, and spatial composition—continue to inform contemporary art-historical inquiry.

The English edition is a flagship outcome of the Chinese Academic Translation Project sponsored by the National Social Science Fund of China. It was translated by Prof. Zhu Shanhua (School of Foreign Languages, Southeast University) and Dr. Wang Shixiao (Distinguished Associate Researcher, School of Arts, Nanjing University). The team addressed three core challenges—specialized terminology, cultural mediation, and cross-disciplinary integration—and proposed precise renderings such as "belief in rebirth", "dual ritual system", and "aesthetics of enclosure", preserving the author's intent while aligning with international academic usage.

Chinese tomb murals are treasures of ancient art that encode rich cultural meaning. The publication of this English edition not only advances the global circulation of Chinese scholarship, but also builds a bridge for dialogue between Eastern and Western traditions. It will serve as a key reference for international scholars of Chinese art and strengthen the broader dissemination of art-historical and archaeological research.