Feb., 1912. 



Jade. 



131 



and vertical. These prominent corner ornaments are called with a 

 special name tsu. 1 The protruding ring-shaped necks receive the name 

 she, 2 a word which is used also 

 in the jade tablets called chang 

 to denote the triangular point at 

 their upper end . Wu T a-ch 'e n g 

 recalls the fact that in the Chou 

 li twelve inches are ascribed to 

 the ta Is'ung, with four inches in 

 diameter to the outer rings hav- 

 ing a thickness of one inch, and 

 that it is the emblem of the em- 

 press, under the name net chin 

 isung "the venerable object of 

 the power of the inner (i. e. 

 women 's) apartments , ' ' corre- 

 sponding to the chin kuei of the 

 emperor. The identification of 

 these specimens with this ta 

 ts'ung is based on the finding 

 that their measurements agree 

 with the data of the Chou li. 



Then follow eight yellow 

 ts'ung, here illustrated in Figs. 

 49-56, identical with those stated 

 in the Chou li as having been 

 used for the worship of Earth. 3 

 It is easy to understand from 

 these specimens what the com- 

 mentaries mean by calling them 

 octagonal or rather eight-cor- 

 nered (pa fang) whereby the 

 earth is symbolized, a notion 

 which has given rise to such gro- 

 tesque drawings in later days. 4 

 Of importance is the definition 



1 Giles No. 11590 tsang, in this case to be read tsu (see farther below). 



2 Giles No. 9793; translated by Biot (Vol. II, p. 527) arrow or projection. 

 'Compare Biot, Vol. I, p. 434 (i huang ts'ung li ti). 



4 Gingell has figured one of these on p. 38 which is drawn as the figure of an 

 eight-pointed star (!). The translation of the word ts'ung by "octagonal tablet," 

 as was the fashion up to now, will, of course, have to be dropped; it is neither octago- 

 nal nor a tablet, according to our way of thinking and speaking. But then there are 

 people ready to say that the Chinese language is not ambiguous. It is rather 



Fig. 48. 

 Black Jade Tube, la ts'ung. 



