Tanged Jade Blades

Published interpretations

The literature considers tool and weapon forms alongside ceremonial uses. A ge is a dagger-axe form; a jade ge need not have served in combat. For zhang, Zhu Naicheng (2014, p. 86) · archived reconstructs a short wooden handle aligned with the blade, using an Erlitou grave plan and a Sanxingdui bronze figure holding a zhang. He interprets their use as ceremonial display and also considers upright installation on a support. Neither reconstruction proves the mounting of every specimen here.

Qin Xiaoli (2017, pp. 85–90) · archived treats zhang, gui, large yue and jade knives as weapon-shaped ritual jades. Her authority interpretation rests on associated grave goods and changing regional distributions. These are contextual and typological comparisons, rather than cutting or sounding tests.

Niumendong exposes the uncertainty within the names. Wang Yuchang · archived observes that it resembles a zhang, knife and gui without fitting any neatly, and cites Zhu’s descriptive alternative, waisted-grip, toothed-rib, terminal-edged implement. Wang reads its three holes as wooden-shaft fastenings. The Qinghai catalogues call the back-pierced pieces knives, while Shandong University Museum · archived explicitly calls Jiaojia’s knife ceremonial. Hole arrangement and bevels support reconstructing attachment and an edge; the exact grip, action and ancient use still need object-specific evidence.

Three kinds of attachment

The comparison covers at least 41 specimens, including one fragment. It brings together several physical families rather than one ancient culture or one demonstrated use. The important division is between the free blade and the part intended to meet a hand, handle, shaft or binding. A tang is the shaped base that can enter or lie against a mounting; shoulders stop that mounting from sliding farther onto the blade.

Pointed ge, conventionally called dagger-axes, have a blade and tang. Toothed zhang often put an elaborate shoulder above a narrower base and carry a broad, sometimes concave terminal edge. Back-pierced knives place several holes beside a long edge, spreading possible attachment across the object. These arrangements deserve separate reconstructions. A cord through one convenient hole would bypass much of their design.

The objects below range from Dawenkou-period Jiaojia in eastern China to later Zhou burials in Shanxi. The dates refer to the stated burial, cultural attribution or museum assessment; they are not ten directly dated manufacturing events.

Ten blades, measured separately

Length comes first, then width and thickness. Ranges are retained; “unreported” means the cited description does not supply the measurement. The Hulinshan and second Taosi lengths describe surviving objects, without restoring their missing parts.

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A two-millimetre dagger-axe

The excavators describe Taosi M7:139 as ridgeless, with a short straight tang and a sloping blade converging on a triangular point. Its 163 mm blade is joined to a 29 mm tang. The drawing gives both face and edge views, making the thinness unusually well grounded. Yet the tang and junction hole are equally real. A transverse haft is a concrete rival to a freely suspended sounding blade. The report places this object in the northern interval between coffins, apart from the jades arranged on the body. Taosi excavation report, §III(2)2, Fig. 37:11.

The second ge from the same grave, M7:141, is stone, 6 mm thick, and has a damaged tang. It cannot inherit the jade specimen’s exceptional thinness. At Beizhao, also in Shanxi, M63:114 extends the comparison to a 560 mm jade ge with toothed shoulders and a long tang. Du Jinpeng reports three tang holes and a low central ridge. This is a much more elaborate mounting region; its numerical thickness is unreported. Du 2026, p. 11 · archived.

Teeth and a grip on a thin sheet

Niumendong in Gansu supplies the most arresting thin blade: 542 mm long and only 1–2 mm thick. Its waist and small sharp teeth create a differentiated grip. Three holes run along the basal axis, at 88, 142 and 188 mm from the grip. Wang describes their interiors as unfinished: that is a manufacturing observation, not evidence that binding or cord wear was absent. His shaft-binding interpretation is not a surviving wooden mount. The blade has been repaired from two sections. Wang 2022, photos 4–5 and accompanying description · archived.

Thinness varies substantially within these shouldered forms. The Yangzhuang blade from Zhengzhou is 660 mm long and 4 mm thick. Hulinshan M13 in Fujian preserves 514 mm of stone at 15 mm thick. Both have shaped basal attachment regions, but neither thickness nor a shared ceremonial name makes them mechanically interchangeable. Zhu’s handle reconstruction supplies a model to compare with each object’s shoulders and eye. Yang Boda 2013, p. 19 · archived; Zhu 2014, pp. 86, 90 · archived; Qin 2017, p. 90 · archived.

Holes along the back

The Qinghai knives offer a different arrangement. Shangsunjiazhai’s four holes follow its straight back above a curved edge beveled from both faces. Zongri catalogue 151 has two large back holes and a smaller hole near the narrow end. Several attachment points along a back can secure a blade differently from a single terminal cord. Neither catalogue entry reports a preserved mounting or a wear study. Their polished surfaces cannot supply those missing observations. Gu Fang, ed., 2005, vol. 15, entries 150–151 · archived.

Jiaojia in Shandong makes this especially interesting. Shandong University Museum describes a nearly rectangular ceremonial knife with lenticular sections: thickest in the middle, thinner toward the edges. Three evenly spaced back holes are closed with round jade plugs; an additional hole on a short side stays open. The plugs preserve an alteration in the object’s construction. A change of attachment is possible, but the description does not date the plugging or establish what passed through the remaining eye. Shandong University Museum, “Jade knife,” 2025 · archived.

Inspection, reuse, and further tests

Published inspection can go beyond names. Studying the related yue from Fu Hao’s Shang tomb, Wang Qing, pp. 61–62 · archived, reports band-like abrasion from haft bindings on M5:15, but no hafting or lashing traces visible under light on M5:462. He also identifies earlier-made jades reburied in the Shang tomb through form and manufacturing technique. These observations concern those particular objects: they show why working use, ceremonial use and later reuse must be examined separately. They are not tests of the ten blades above.

For those blades, mass, complete sections, hole walls and contact around tangs, teeth and shoulders would help distinguish a fixed mount from moving cord. Jiaojia also needs a sequence for its drilling and plugging. The cited descriptions supply no sounding experiment for these specimens. Replica trials preserving the measured section and attachment architecture could establish capability; comparison with ancient wear, residues and context would still be needed to identify historical use.

The comparative catalogue

Measurements are length × width × thickness in millimetres. A dash means unreported; ≈ marks an estimate. Groups and possible duplicate objects remain labelled. Download the specimen table.