A small silver lock, the changming suo or ‘long-life lock’, worn by children in China. We found no early record of the lock itself: it is later folk silver. It is linked with an older custom, the five-colour long-life thread.
Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.
We found no early record of the silver lock itself: no dated text, object or picture in our files. It is later folk silver. The custom it is linked with is older, and is told in the next layer. If you know of an early dated lock, we would like to hear of it.
In China, children wear a silver lock, the changming suo. It is linked with the five-colour ‘long-life thread’, changming lü, which Ying Shao’s Fengsu Tongyi records being tied on the arm at the Duanwu festival in the Eastern Han.
To verify: When the silver lock first appears, and where
Silver locks are still sold for children. Ours is an adult pendant only: we make no baby jewellery, because of the risk of choking and strangling, and children’s products fall under UK toy-safety rules. If you give one for a new child, give it to the grown-up to keep.
