Seven-hole Knife
Ch'i-chia Culture  and Shang Dynasty (ca. 2200-1800 B.C.)
Length: 57.5 cm, width: 10.2 cm, blade width: 2.4 cm, thickness: 0.81 cm

Carved from rare natural white jade during the Ch'i-chia culture.   The above pictured 7 hole axe is an excellent ancient jade specimen that expresses the rarity and beauty of Neolithic jade artifacts. The inscribed motifs were added 1,000 years latter during the Shang Dynasty.   Asymmetrical in shape, the blade of this knife is slightly concave and was ground to a fine edge. Near the spine of the knife, seven holes with straight walls were drilled from one side. The narrower ends of the knife to the right and left also has a curved notch spine on ends.

Traditional studies on Chang blades in "Illustrated Study of Ancient Jades" mention that there were different opinions regarding its terminology. This type of multi-holed jade blade was sometimes referred to as a Chang blade and at other times as a Kuei tablet.

My studies have revealed that the Chang Knife Blade design was inspired by an early agricultural tool used in the cutting of millet by the ancient Chinese Cultures. The early Chinese did not eat rice and to this day the North west Chinese people prefer millet to rice. Rice was not introduced into the Chinese diet until after 4,000 B.C. The holes on these types of artifacts were used to fashion a wooden handle to the stone or jade tool. Later the Chang blade became a ritual object of much reverence for ancestral worship. There is archeological evidence that the earliest Chang blades were made by a Neolithic culture in Thailand 9,000 years ago.

The motif on your left hand side was later inscribed into the ancient jade during the time of the Shaman King (End Period of Shang Dynasty). The symbol is clearly Zhou as it depicts the Royal Phoenix of the house of Zhou. Although the jade object was made a thousand years earlier, the Shang and the Zhou both greatly prized ancient Chang Knife Blade jades and sought them for their magical protective powers.