Page 62 - China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts

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demonic influences in Han dynasty religious ; .-_--. — -= §9
practice, had vision in four directions. The character
CD O
—for wu ("shaman") although not known textually
—until Eastern Zhou times is related in origin to ! @^ ~^§5

the Shang character (ox fang ("direction").- 7 As is e® O/ O
evident, one of the variations for fang in Shang
bone inscriptions is like the Greek cross, the same i (32P§>5) <s3

shape as the cong. And it may also be no accident

that in the ancient myth of China s origins the
eight cosmic pillars that upheld the universe when

the mythic Pan Gu created the world were axially

oriented. 28

The other popular ritual implement, the circular hi, o<°> <£>

is also probably significant in its association with the

heavens, the circular vault or dome mentioned later

in Huainanzi and the Chnci ("Songs of the South"):9

The few representations of birds and clouds that
decorate hi (fig. 6) are in keeping with what must
be a symbol of skyward power in which clouds and

birds are associated in all later Chinese lore.

The cong (cat. 3) that comes from the largest tomb, Fig. 3. Shape and decor of time exhibited jade prismatic tubes
No. 12, at Fanshan, in Zhejiang Province, is a
(cong): A. Cong (cat. 3) from tomb No. 12, Fanshan,
marvel of craftsmanship. Twenty-four tiny Zhejiang Province; B. Cong (cat. 4) from Fuquanshan tomb
representations of simple and complex mask types No. g, Qingpn county, Shanghai; C. Cong (cat. 3) from tomb

decorate all the flat surfaces of this vessel's exterior, No. 3,11'ujin county, Jiangsu Province. Neolithic period,

straddling all corners and intervening passages (fig. Liangzhu culture (ca. 3600-ca. 2000 BCE).

—5 A). Two alternating image types the semihuman

mask with horizontally striated headdress and the

Fig. 6A. T\ie bird and cloud motif on a jade disk (hi) Fig. SB.fade disk (bij. Neolithic period, Liangzhu
from the Freer Gallery ofArt, Smithsonian Institution,
culture (ca. 3600-ca. 2000 BCE). Freer Gallery ofArt,
Washington, D.C. (17.348). Neolithic period, Liangzhu
culture (ca. 3600—ca. 2000 BCE). DC.Smithsonian Institution, Washington, (17.348).

JADE AS MATERIAL AND EPOCH 60