Pick up bargains in Chinatown and make 10,000 times the profit at the beginning

Chapter 116: The Three Treasures in Prince Beile's Hands

Paul accepted it without hesitation. He just knew that what Lin Yuan gave must be valuable.

His current admiration for Lin Yuan is even deeper than Henry's. After these days of study, he can already communicate with Lin Yuan in simple Chinese.

In fact, it’s not just about studying, but also about Lin Yuan, Henry and others chatting with him in Chinese on a daily basis.

This kind of daily chat is an important way for him to improve his Chinese. When you are in an environment where Chinese is spoken, you will learn to speak it quickly.

It is enough for him to be able to speak and listen; he does not expect himself to be able to write.

Relatively speaking, Chinese characters are still too complicated.

Henry picked a jade ring and asked Lin Yuan, "Brother Lin, how do you think this is?"

He had seen this traditional Chinese handicraft when he was studying in China.

Lin Yuan nodded at him: "Not bad."

Many people may not know that the jade ring, also known as jade braid, is a tool used to hold the bowstring when shooting arrows. It is a special device that is put on the archer's right thumb to protect the archer's right thumb from being injured by the bowstring.

Speaking of jade rings, everyone may involuntarily think of the three treasures in the hands of the prince: walnuts, rings, and birds in cages.

In fact, he was just an ordinary member of the Eight Banners, although he could barely be called a Beile. The real Beile had many treasures in his hands!
Walnuts, rings and birds in cages are nothing!

But to be honest, the thumb ring was very popular in the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, some people have the illusion that the jade thumb ring was created in the Qing Dynasty.

In fact, the existence of thumb rings was discovered as early as the late Neolithic Age and the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Initially, thumb rings may have been made of softer materials such as leather, and better ones would be made of harder materials.

With the changes and gradual evolution of the times, the materials and shapes of jade rings have varied in different dynasties.

For example, the jade thumb rings of the Shang Dynasty also had the function of protecting the fingers when drawing bows. Not only were they longer than later thumb rings, but they also had grooves on them. They began to become shorter during the Warring States Period. The thumb rings of the Han Dynasty appeared in the shape of jade pieces, similar to jade pendants, with a small hook for drawing the string.

In the Song Dynasty, some thumb rings imitating those of the Han Dynasty appeared, and their styles were even more diverse, including flat-shaped ones and short tube-shaped ones.

By the Qing Dynasty, the thumb ring was cylindrical in shape, with one end concave and the other convex. Because its material was rounder and smoother, it was more difficult to use for archery, and instead became a symbol of decoration, identity, and fashion trends.

It was originally a thumb ring used to assist in practicing martial arts, but due to the admiration and imitation of the vast majority of men from both the Manchu and Han ethnic groups, it became an extremely fashionable accessory. From the emperor and princes and ministers to the children of the Manchu and Han banners and wealthy businessmen, all of them, regardless of their social status, liked to wear it.

"It's an inlaid ring." Lin Yuan added.

Henry was surprised: "Is there a distinction between civil and military finger rings?"

"Yes! Most martial arts rings are plain, while literary rings are often cast with poems or patterns on the outer wall. Martial arts rings are more practical, while literary rings are more ornamental, so literary rings have more artistic value and collection value.

However, its grade is not very high, it is a ring used to celebrate birthdays."

In the Qing Dynasty, there were clear levels of rings, and there were rules about who wore what ring. If you violated the rules, you could get into big trouble.

My uncle said, "I saw a ring given by the emperor at Uncle De's place."

Lin Yuan: "The level of the imperial ring is very high, second only to the imperial ring."

Although there is only one word difference, they are two different levels of items. The imperial ring is used by the emperor himself, while the imperial ring is the ring given by the emperor to ministers and others, so they are naturally different.

The rings used by the emperor are subject to strict conventions and regulations.

The Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty first ordered jade and ivory workshops and other professional institutions to make patterns according to the emperor's wishes and preferences in accordance with the emperor's edict, and then the patterns could be produced after being modified and confirmed by the emperor himself.

It is said that in order to make a suitable ring, Emperor Qianlong would send orders and the actual ring back and forth seven times in a row when he was away from the summer heat, asking the craftsmen to make modifications.

The imperial rings often have carvings with a strong humanistic atmosphere, such as imperial poems, poetic paintings, and court-specific patterns.

This type of ring is the masterpiece of the most skilled craftsmen of the time, and is also a concentrated expression of the court culture of the time and the emperor's own temperament, hobbies, cultural ideals and aesthetic taste.

However, the number of such levers is very limited.

As for the rings that were presented as tribute by high-ranking officials from various places, vassal states, or custom-made by the court in Jiangnan, the emperor often did not wear them himself, but rewarded them to high-ranking officials, favorites, and royal relatives.

In addition to the rings used by the emperor and bestowed by the emperor, the "Tanhua" rings are custom-made by princes, dukes, beile, beizi and other royal family members for themselves, and are often engraved with the royal family member's own seal.

The rings that princes give as rewards to their slaves, subordinates, or as gifts to relatives and friends also fall into this category.

The hierarchy in the Qing Dynasty was extremely strict, and even princes could not exceed the rules, so they rarely wrote poems or carved pictures on it. The craftsmanship and materials did not dare to exceed the emperor's preferences, so the value was naturally slightly inferior.

Next in order are the rings used by General Wang, General Fuyuan and his colleagues and subordinate generals, birthday rings, dowry rings, commemorative or divination rings, commercial rings, and so on.

The jade ring that Henry found himself is slightly less valuable than the round ring that Lin Yuan gave to Paul just now.

However, even though Henry knew that this jade ring was slightly inferior to the round bracelet, he was still happy. After all, he had chosen it himself and it was more meaningful.

Lin Yuan's hand did not stop and picked up another thing, also made of jade and in cylindrical shape.

He handed it to Tony.

Lin Yuan thought, did these three people poke the nest of the Qing Dynasty old men? These things seemed to be the standard equipment of the Qing Dynasty old men!

Tony didn't think much about it, paid a thousand dollars, and played with the thing with great joy. As expected, it was good to follow the boss, and any money that slipped through the boss' fingers was enough for them to make a fortune.

"Is this a feather tube?" asked my uncle.

Lin Yuan nodded and said, "That's right!"

The feather tube is a unique product of the Qing Dynasty, which was born with the reform of the crown system. To put it simply, it is the tube used to insert the feather branches under the top bead of the official hat that we see in Qing operas. It is generally as thick as a dry tobacco pipe and about two inches long.

The feather tube is mostly cylindrical, with a nose at the main end and a hollow part at the bottom, as big as a cigarette holder, through which the feather is inserted. The materials of the feather tube include jadeite, white jade, tourmaline, amber, lapis lazuli, crystal, glass, porcelain, copper, etc.

According to the Qing Dynasty law, civil officials of the first rank of Zhenguogong and Fuguogong were allowed to use jadeite plume tubes, and military officials of the first rank of Zhenguojiangjun and Fuguojiangjun were allowed to use white jade plume tubes. Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, wearing jadeite plume tubes and white jade plume tubes was often a symbol of first-rank civil and military officials.

This feather tube is more expensive than Paul's round bridle and Henry's jade ring.

(End of this chapter)