Bi (jade)
The bi is a type of circular ancient Chinese jade artifact. The earliest bi were produced in the Neolithic period, particularly by the Liangzhu culture. Later examples date mainly from the Shang, Zhou and Han dynasties. They were also made in glass.
Description
A bi is a flat jade disc with a circular hole in the centre. Neolithic bi are undecorated, while those of later periods of China, like the Zhou dynasty, bear increasingly ornate surface carving whose motifs represented deities associated with the sky as well as standing for qualities and powers the wearer wanted to invoke or embody.As laboriously crafted objects, they testify to the concentration of power and resources in the hands of a small elite.
Meaning
Later traditions associate the bi with heaven, and the cong with the earth. Bi discs are consistently found with heaven and earth-like imagery, suggesting that the disk's circular shape also bears symbolic significance as this description explains:Function
From these earliest times they were buried with the dead, as a sky symbol, accompanying the dead into the after world or "sky", with the cong which connected the body with the earth. They were placed ceremonially on the body in the grave of persons of high social status. Bi are sometimes found near the stomach and chest in Neolithic burials.Jade, like bi disks, has been used throughout Chinese history to indicate an individual of moral quality, and has also served as an important symbol of rank. They were used in worship and ceremony – as ceremonial items they symbolised the ranks of emperor, king, duke, marquis, viscount, and baron with four different guis and two different bi disks.
In war during the Zhou dynasty period, bi disks belonging to the leaders of the defeated forces were handed over to the victor as a sign of submission.
Scholars "are unsure of their exact use or meaning".