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Bi Pendant

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 (3400–2250 BCE).

Blue Bi Pendant 2021
Blue chalcedony, cotton and hemp string
From these earliest times they were buried with the dead, as a sky symbol, accompanying the dead into the after world or “heaven”, 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.

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Blue Bi Pendant 2021
Blue chalcedony, cotton and hemp string
From these earliest times they were buried with the dead, as a sky symbol, accompanying the dead into the after world or “heaven”, 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.

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It is found that these objects testify to early stages of development of cosmological concepts that remained important in Chinese culture during the Warring States and Han periods: the notion of a covering sky (gaitian) that revolves around a central axis, the cycle of the Ten Suns, and the use of an early form of the carpenter's square. These objects were handled by shamans who were the religious leaders of Liangzhu society and the transmitters of cosmological knowledge.

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