Posted 2017/9/4
There are many paraphrases of “玉环”. Its basic meaning is a jade article - jade ring; it can be a metaphor of the round moon; it also refers to Yuhuan County in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. Besides, Yuhuan is also the given name of the famous consort Lady Yang in the Tang Dynasty.
Jade rings were popular ornaments from the Neolithic Age until the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Neolithic Age, most of the jade rings were in the shape of flat and round rings and made of white and yellow jade. Smooth and shining as a whole, the jade rings often featured flat and straight inner and outer surfaces. Some of the rings might have two small opposite drilled holes, whose surfaces are slanting and smooth. The central area of the ring was often thicker than the edge. With the whole body polished, they were very exquisite products. The jade rings of the Warring States Period had various types, including threadlike ring (sishu huan), cloud-pattern ring (yunwen huan), grain-pattern ring (guwen huan), ring with three coiled dragons on the edge (sanlong waipan huan), double-ring (chonghuan) and agate ring. In the Tang Dynasty, the jade pendants are round and thick ornaments in the shape of the six-pedal lotus flower, which are to be tied on the waist. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the rings are mostly engraved with a crouching dragon, tortuous dragons and bamboo joints. The dragon is often decorated with fish scales and cloud.
