Feb., 191 2. Jade. 301 



portion in the upper end with a narrow bluish stripe below it. On the 

 upper side, the two wings of the insect are brought out by lines engraved, 

 as in the other specimens. Only two of them are provided with a con- 

 trivance by which they can be fastened. That in No. 5 has two small 

 holes of about 2 mm in length drilled in the upper edge; they communi- 

 cate in the interior and thus allow the passage of a wire or cord. The 

 object in No. 6 is provided with a small perforated rounded handle. 



Also the Ku yii Vu illustrates a han yii of the cicada shape, and Wu 

 Ta-ch'eng has two of them in his collection. The opinion of archaeolo- 

 gists is undivided in regard to this subject. Why the cicada was chosen 

 for this amulet, seems not to be known. This idea may be connected 

 with the memento mori brought out by the figures of a cicada and mantis 

 on the Han jade buckles (see above p. 264). 



But still more the peculiar manner of transformation of the insect 

 from the larva to the pupa, well known to the ancient Chinese, may have 

 a share in the shaping of this amulet. The young hatch out in a few 

 weeks, drop to the ground, and may penetrate as deep as twenty feet 

 below the surface. After a long subterranean existence, the pupa trans- 

 formed from the larva crawls out of the ground, the skin splits, and the 

 adult winged insect emerges. The observation of this wonderful process 

 of nature seems to be the basic idea of this amulet. The dead will 

 awaken to a new life from his grave, as the chirping cicada rises from the 

 pupa buried in the ground. 1 This amulet, accordingly, was an emblem 

 of resurrection. 



The third type of tongue-amulets is represented on Plate XXXVII, 

 Figs. 4 and 5. From their miniature size we may safely conclude that 

 they were employed for children and women, judging from the fairly 

 established rule that all objects relating to them are made on a smaller 

 scale than those relating to man. They are flat, only 1-3 mm thick 

 and not ornamented on the lower side; from a trapezoidal base in which 

 two incisions are deeply cut merges the oval tongue-shaped part set 

 off by two parallel engraved lines at the lower end to which another band 

 of two lines corresponds in the upper portion. All these incisions are 

 filled with a hardened reddish clay. It will be noticed that there are 

 two perforations, one in the upper left part and another in the lower 

 right part drilled through the incised line. Thus, these objects must 

 have been fastened, and it seems plausible to infer that the silk thread 



1 The notion which the ancient Chinese affiliated with the cicada will be best 

 gleaned from a passage in the philosopher Wang Ch'ung (Forke, Lun-Hfing, Part I, 

 p. 200): "Prior to its casting off the exuviae, a cicada is a chrysalis. When it casts 

 them off, it leaves the pupa state, and is transformed into a cicada. The vital spirit 

 of a dead man leaving the body may be compared to the cicada emerging from the 

 chrysalis." 



