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



Archery is a very ancient practice in China, and these thumb-rings 

 as also the arm-guards are mentioned as early as in the Shi king ! under 

 two different names, kiieh (Giles No. 3220) and shih. They were worn 

 on the thumb of the right hand to protect it from being injured by the 

 bow-string after the release of the arrow, or as Mr. Morse 2 explains, 

 the thick edge of the ring is brought to bear upon the string as it is 



drawn back, and at the 



/ 7— 



1 //£d© 



/ / A ^ .y 



/», 



same time the string is 

 quickly released by straight- 

 ening the thumb. 



Wu Ta-ch'eng figures 

 also a specimen of pure 

 white jade which it is not 

 necessary to reproduce, as 

 it has the same shape as 

 ours, and arrives at the 



// / Vr^ \&# [[(&J) \\ \ conclusion that this partic- 



/ \ \ ular piece was reserved for 



imperial use, on the ground 

 that such rings of white 

 jade were permitted to the 

 emperor only, while those 

 of the officials were of ivory. 

 These thumb -rings are 

 still used in archery and 

 manufactured in Peking 

 from the antler of an elk 

 which is there designated 

 also by the Chinese with 

 the Manchu name hantahan. 

 The mode of wearing the 

 ring may be seen in a Chinese illustration given by P. Etienne Zi 

 (Pratique des examens militaires en Chine, p. 18, Shanghai, 1896). 

 Father Zi remarks that the most prized rings are those made of jade of 

 the Han period {Han yii) of a white gray with red veins and green stripes; 

 those taken from the graves of students who were graduated at the 

 time of the military examinations are reddish in color, and a notion 

 that they afford protection against spirits is attached to them. Morse 

 (/. c.) has made a most careful technical study of this question and gives 



1 Legge, Vol. I, p. 103, ed. Couvreur, pp. 72, 208. Compare also Li ki, ed. 

 Couvreur, Vol. I, p. 621. 



2 Edward S. Morse, Ancient and Modern Methods of Arrow-Release {Bulletin 

 of the Essex Institute, Vol. XVII, 1885, p. 17). 



Fig. 188. 

 Jade Ornaments for Scabbard (from K'ao ku t'u). 



