The gray jade hair stick underheated in the tomb of Fuhao

photo/ Henan Museum

In the primitive society, the ancestors had long hair in disheveled which was inconvenient to do labour works, so they secure the hair with a long “pin” , which was a type of hairpin later known as the Ji. It has been found that there were bone-made hairpins in the Neolithic Age.

The gray jade hair stick,is a hair accessory of the late Shang Dynasty. It is 16 cm long and 0.8 cm in diameter. It was unearthed from tomb of Fu Hao in Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan Province in 1976 and is now preserved in Henan Museum.

photo/ Henan Museum

In Shang and Zhou Dynasties, wearing hair sticks of both men and women marked adulthood.

It’s recorded in the book Etiquette that when a girl reaches 15,her hair should be tied back in a bun with ji, which means she is of age and could get married. There is also a ritual for that named “Yin qiang ti”. After Han Dynasty, the wearing of the hair sticks was no longer constrained by the strict etiquette system, and developed in various forms and became more decorated.

The excavated gray jade hair stick of Shang Dynasty, has demonstrated the basic skills of jade in Chinese Shang Dynasty, and the aesthetic of businessman when choosing jades.