The dragon's pole, the rosefinch's Zhang, the white beast's Hu, the yellow of Xuanwu, its face.

Legend has it that Xia Hou's six ritual vessels * * * were noble treasures used by the Xia emperor to worship the gods in the southeast and northwest when he held the ceremony of uniting heaven and earth. They are the laurel of Qinglong, the Zhang of Suzaku, the Hu of white beast, the yellow of Xuanwu, the treasure of Yan and Cang Ming. Judging from their names and colors, we also know that they are used to worship the east, south, west, north, earth and heaven in turn. However, as the Five Elements and the Four Gods have said, this time the jade culture in China is discussed through the ritual vessels in Xia Hou.

Jade is an important part of ancient civilization in China. In the late Neolithic period, jade production may have developed into an independent handicraft department. Yuan Kang of the Eastern Han Dynasty wrote Yue Jue Shu, which recorded the language of wind and beard, and divided the tools used by human beings into four stages: stone, jade, copper and iron, which may reflect the actual development process to some extent. At present, according to the archaeological remains of jade, it has been considered that jade was completely separated from stone tools in the "bronze stone tools" about 4000 to 5000 years ago, which was not only a symbol of people's wealth and power at that time, but also one of the main materials for people to manufacture tools, utensils, weapons and even religious ritual vessels, thus putting forward the proposition of "jade age".

The laurel of the dragon, the jade laurel in the form of the dragon, is a god beast of the East, so the laurel of the dragon is used to sacrifice to the gods of the East. In Shuowen, "the top is laurel" refers to flaky jade with a sharp top and a flat bottom. Gui originated from the tool stone shovel and axe in the Neolithic Age, so many jade shovels and square-headed jade articles from the Neolithic Age to the Shang and Zhou Dynasties are named after Gui. The real standard pointed ghost first appeared in Shang Dynasty and prevailed in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Yugui is an important ritual vessel in ancient times, which is widely used as a sacrificial vessel to mark the status of Ruiyu and swear to ancestors. The real jade hairpin was found in Shang Dynasty, and there are two forms, one is flat head with double hook strings, and the other is pointed flat head, which is similar to later generations. Before Shang Dynasty, it was not a real jade in a strict sense. This kind of long flat-headed jade is more common in Longshan culture, with mostly plain faces, a few lower ends decorated with yinxian chords, and exquisite ones engraved with animal faces. The pattern is carved with Sok Li, and there are obvious carving marks. Therefore, if Gui of Qinglong belongs to Xia Dynasty, it should not be Yu Gui according to strict definition.

Suzaku's Zhang and Suzaku's jade Zhang are sacred animals in the south, so Suzaku's Zhang is used to worship the southern gods. Zhang Yu is a flat rectangular object with an inclined blade at one end in a semi-GUI shape. Zhang Yu first appeared in Longshan culture and prevailed in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Zhang, like Gui, was once the hierarchical object of the Li Dynasty, but it became scarce after the Spring and Autumn Period. According to Zhou Li, there are five kinds of palms: red palm, big palm, middle palm, side palm and toothed palm. We can divide them into three categories: the first category of "red Zhang" is to pay homage to the god of the south; The second type of "large, middle and side sheets" is used by the emperor for inspection; The third "Zhang Ya Zhong Zhang" is used by Jeff. "Anthurium andraeanum" is a palm made of ruby (agate), and it is a sacrificial vessel for Suzaku, the god of the South. In addition to being one of the six instruments, yu zhang also recorded in Li Zhoukao Gong Ji that "Zhang Da is also like this, and governors hire women".

The white beast's beard, the white tiger's jade beard, the white tiger is a western god beast, so the white tiger's Zhang is used to worship the western gods. Tiger, a kind of jade, was originally made of tigers. It has a circular sculpture, a relief and a tiger pattern carved by a plane line, which is most commonly used as an ornament. Jade pot is located at the end of six kinds of jade. According to documents, Hu appeared in the west as a white tiger. Send troops as a symbol of the tiger. However, judging from the current excavation situation, we haven't seen the original work of Hu. For tiger-shaped jade articles, those with holes can be called tiger-shaped Yu Pei, and those without holes can be called jade pots.

Xuanwu yellow, jade yellow in Xuanwu form, is a god beast in the north, so Xuanwu yellow is used to worship the gods in the north. Yellow is an arc-shaped flaky jade. Shuowen said, "Half jade is yellow." In fact, the ancient jade Huang was not limited to the regular semi-wall (semi-circle) shape. Huang is a ritual vessel in the "Six Vessels", and "Da Zongbo" contains: "Courtesy to the North." However, in archaeological excavations, it is often found that there is an ornament hanging on people's chest and abdomen, which is often an accessory in jade ornaments. According to the data, in addition to the circular arc shape, the shape of Yuhuan in each era has changed greatly, and only a few are half of the rules. Judging from the actual situation of archaeological excavations, most of the Jade Emperor is still used as a typical ornament at this time, and the use of the ritual vessels of the Yellow Emperor remains to be studied in the future. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the jade emperor appeared in large numbers as a part of it, with extremely rich shapes and ornamentation, and many special-shaped yellows appeared.

In fact, Cong in Huang Lin and Yu Cong in Huang Lin didn't give the central government any sacred animals according to the five elements, but according to the color of yellow, they should be used as places of sacrifice. Kirin should be written by the DOMO team. As the head of all animals, Kirin is more suitable as the representative of the earth, but it is different from the five-element spell in the scar of Heaven. The ultimate spell "Huanglong Qi Hao" of Xiaoxue in the sky mark should be DOMO's view of the middle-earth beast in the five elements at that time, but it seems a bit imprecise to say that it has become a unicorn in the sea of the sky. Jade Cong is a kind of cylindrical jade with an inner circle and an outer circle, and it is one of the important ritual vessels in ancient China. Jade Qiong in Liangzhu, discovered in Neolithic Age, is tremolite jade produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Its texture is impure, mostly cyan and partly yellow, and it is foggy and milky white after soaking in soil. Except for a few cylinders, most of them are made into regular inner circles and outer circles. The valve body is cut regularly, the middle hole is drilled with a pipe, and two layers are often left at the middle joint. Jade cong vary in size, generally short in the early stage and high in the late stage. From the body decorated with animal facial patterns, divided into four groups with four corners as the center. With the different heights of the cong, they are decorated on the cong with the same decoration score.

This is the only fly-shaped jadeite jade, which is naturally used to worship heaven. As the son of a dragon, it's not bad to be the son of a dragon. I believe everyone knows this kind of jade. The most famous jade in China is Hetian Jade. Bi is a flat round jade with a hole in the middle, which is one of the traditional jade ritual vessels in China. "Erya Shi Qi" contains: "The meat (body) is twice as good as the wall (perforation), the meat is twice as good as the wall, and the meat is as good as a ring." According to the size of the central pore, this flaky circular jade can be divided into three types: wall, temperature and ring. Judging from the artifacts unearthed in recent years, when the ancients made jade, there was no strict regulation on the ratio of the aperture to the body of the jade. So today, we are used to calling round vessels with wide sides and small holes as vessel walls, and those with narrow sides and large diameters as rings. Generally, the name "Ai" is no longer used.