If you’ve ever been to a Chinatown in America or a market in China you’ve probably seen them. They look like a cross between a bead and a pendant. Imagine a small doughnut, flattened out, and turned to stone; usually jade. They’ve been used and revered steadily for 6000 years.
In ancient times the round shape symbolized heaven because heaven was thought to be round. Since a circle has no beginning or end, it also represents eternal life, or at least longevity. The pi disc, incorporating two circles -- the outer circumference and the inner hole, became embodied with the powers of heaven doubled. When it was made of jade, it became even more powerful since jade, being rare, beautiful, and nearly indestructible, was considered the stone of heaven; thus sacred. Even today jade is worn daily by many because of the sense that it embodies vital forces.
The circle’s elegant, symmetrical form was also interpreted as a symbol of perfection, and consequently became representative of Chinese nobles and royals. This connection between the highest born and heaven enabled the jade pi disc to become an important ritual object for communicating with the gods and ancestors. Reinforcing this connection and as a way of advertising their high position of power and wealth, the upper classes had jade pi discs sewn onto their clothing, mounted and strung to be worn as talismans at the neck and waist, and hung about the imperial palace.
If you go to a museum with a Chinese collection, you will see jade pi discs, both plain and carved, of all sizes and colors. The carving can be just on the surface, it can pierce the surface, and it can depict such auspucious creatures as dragons perched along the outer edge.
Should you be lucky enough to find stores that sells them, you will see find a wide range of pi discs. They are made in a variety of sizes, stones, color, and quality. Jewelry stores will sell them mounted as rings, hung as earrings, and set into elaborate bezels as pins. Curio shops sell carved ones perched on their own wooden stands.
You can enjoy the Chinese pi discs in jewelry you make yourself. Here are a few suggestions of easy techniques that don’t require any metal findings or jewelry tools.
• Braid teeny ones into a bracelet. Use red cord. It’s an auspicious color.
• Sew small ones onto a ribbon to make a choker. Sizes and colors can be the same or be varied.
• Use medium-sized ones as buttons. To do this you will need a bead slightly larger than the pi disc’s opening. Just pull your thread through the fabric, then the disc’s opening, then the bead and back down through the disc and fabric. Either use very strong thread or repeat the stitching a couple more times.
• Hang a large pi disc from a cord. String it on using the knot known as a lark’s head. To do this just fold your cord in half, push the loop through the disc’s hole and pull the two cord ends through the loop, then tighten and tie the ends together.
• Hang two different colors and sizes of pi discs together for a bolder statement.
Jewelry and clothing reminiscent of or derived from traditional cultures is very much in style today. Wearing pi discs enables you to connect to 6000 years of Chinese history and culture.
