220 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. X. 



fish (yin yii fu) . In 690, the Empress Wu decreed that the form of the 

 tortoise (kuei) should replace that of the fish; but in 705, when Chung- 

 tsung mounted the throne, he restored the former fish-symbol which was 

 perpetuated till after the end of the T'ang dynasty and appears again in 

 the epoch of the Kin and the Sung. 1 



Under the Khitan reigning as the Liao dynasty (983-1055 a. d.) 

 mention is constantly made of the gold-fish tallies (kin yii fu) worn in 

 the girdle as part of the court dress, an inheritance of the custom of 

 the T'ang. These badges were six inches long, moulded in the shape 

 of a fish, split, as it were, longitudinally into two halves, and the flat 

 surface of each half was engraved with an identical inscription. The 

 left half was kept in the palace when the right half was given to the com- 

 mander of an army, who had to return it to the treasury when the 

 expedition was over. The halves fitted exactly so that they might 

 be tested whenever necessary. 2 



We must, however, distinguish between such badges conferred upon 

 as a mark of honor or rank, and real tallies of legal force. Thus, we 

 read in the "History of the Liao" that in 1036 a. d. the Emperor Hing- 

 tsung examined a band of scholars and bestowed on them red garments 

 and silver fishes, 3 which, in this case, were mere tokens of recognition, 

 but of no lawful consequence; while in the kingdom of the Liao where 

 military service was compulsory, a cast-bronze tally representing a fish 

 was used for the conscription of troops, and two hundred silver tablets 

 (p'ai-tse) were employed to transmit orders for the supply of horses. 4 

 When the army was mobilized, as ordered by the delivery of one-half 

 tally, it did not march until the emperor despatched a commander with 

 the other half; the two halves were then joined together, and if found 

 to fit, the army began to advance. The " History of the Kin Dynasty " 

 relates that the Princes of the blood used to wear a fish of jade (p'ei 

 yii yii) and the officers from the first to the fourth grade, a fish of gold, 

 while a double-fish pendant was reserved for the heir-apparent. These 

 were purely ceremonial badges without giving legal rights, as also the 

 "Sung History" says that they were only worn then as distinctive 

 marks of rank, and not inscribed and tested in the palace as had been 

 the case under the T'ang. 



At that period, frequent mention is made also of fish-purses (yii tai) 



1 Compare Chavannes in T'oung Pao, 1904, p. 36. 



2 Bushell in Actes du Xle Congres international des Orientalistes, IP section, 

 pp. 17, 18 (Paris, 1898). 



3 H. C. v. D. Gabelentz, Geschichte der grossen Liao, p. 123 (St. Petersburg, 

 1877). 



4 L. c, p. 189. Compare also T. de Lacouperie, Beginnings of Writing, pp. 69-70 

 (London, 1894). 



