Feb., 1912. Jade. 197 



ment. "O you with the girdle-gems strung on blue silken bands, 

 long, long do I think of you; I cannot go to see you, but why do you 

 not come to me?" laments a young lady mourning the indifference 

 and the absence of her lover, in the Shi king (Legge, Vol. I, p. 144). 



In the Po hu Vung (Ch. 4, p. 4) 1 by Pan Ku (f 92 a. d.) it is on 

 record: "The girdle-ornaments symbolized the respective occupations 

 of people: the farmers wore girdle-ornaments in the shape of their 

 plough-handles and shares; workmen those in the shape of axes and 

 adzes; married women wore their needles and pins in the girdles to 

 make known thereby that they were married women, but they sus- 

 pended also jade objects from the girdle." This passage is interesting 

 in showing that among the people girdle-ornaments indicated also their 

 callings. We thus recognize altogether a fourfold symbolism associated 

 with them during the Chou period : rhythmical movement and sonorous 

 qualities enjoyed by the wearer and impressing his fellow-mates ; 2 their 

 character as trinkets of friendship and love; their indication of rank 

 among the official class according to the material; and their character 

 emblematic of the vocation among the people at large. 



The general arrangement of this ancient girdle-pendant may be 

 gathered from Fig. 95 derived from the Ku yii Vu p x u (Ch. 53). Al- 

 though not correct in details, and nothing more than an attempt at 

 reconstruction, yet it may give a fair idea of what the conception of 

 the Chinese archaeologists in regard to the appearance and disposition 

 of the single ornaments is; for no complete sets have survived, only 

 single components, and as we shall have to discuss a number of these, 

 the wrong impressions gained from this afterthought of the Sung 

 period may be corrected. We notice that this ancient girdle-pendant 

 is a chatelaine consisting of seven separate articles, to each of which a 

 special name is assigned. There is a top-piece or brooch called heng 

 serving as the support from which the six other ornamental pieces are 

 suspended. There is a circular central plaque {yii) surrounded by two 

 square ornaments (kit) ; below, an ornament in the shape of a segment 

 (ch'ung yd) in the center, and two bow-shaped ornaments on either 

 side (huang). For brevity's sake, and to avoid the Chinese names 

 as much as possible, my nomenclature will simply be: head-piece, 

 central piece, lower piece, central side-pieces, lower side-pieces. 



In the ancient songs of the Shi king (Wei feng, X; Legge, Vol. I, 

 p. 107), there is a little ditty under the title "The Quince" as follows: 



1 Reprinted in the collection Han Wei ts'ung shu. 



2 At the sacrifices to Heaven and Earth during the Han dynasty, the dancers 

 singing the hymns and accompanying them with a dance, wore also girdle- pendants 

 of pearls and jade to chime in with the rhythm of the music (Chavannes, Se-ma 

 Ts'ien, Vol. Ill, pp. 613, 617, 621). 



