Torques

The Yao are an ancient Chinese "minority" cultural group, also known as the Dong people, most of whom migrated slowly from the central part of China to Guangxi and the southern and southwestern provinces. Many migrated further, settling into northern Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and parts of northern Burma in various waves over the past two hundred years or more. Through the centuries they have retained their identity, their cultural traits, their religion (Taoism) and their customs. The Yao tribes are known by many other names, which include numerous sub-groups having the prefixes Mien and Mun. The great majority make their living from agriculture, mostly in rugged mountainous terrains. In these regions they have been the main cultivators of opium.

The Yao believe that wearing silver "keeps the souls within the body", dispels evil and ensures safety. Yao tribes placed a silver ring over a newborn infant’s neck in a special ceremony that culminates in the child receiving the name of an animal guardian. Silver plays a very important role in Yao social and economic life at the time of marriage; a certain amount of silver must be paid by the groom or his family to the bride’s family to compensate for the loss of that working person within the family. The exact amount is generally discussed with both families by a go-between before the wedding takes place, and relates to the family wealth. Sometimes the bride’s mother also gives her daughter some old and cherished heirloom, such as single or multiple torque neck-pieces, worn for the first time on her wedding day. During the Lunar New Year celebrations, silver torques are worn as a display of wealth and status.

Torques first became popular during China’s Tang dynasty (618-907 AD.) and these styles influenced Chinese tribal cultures through the Ching dynasty (1644-1911 AD.). Tribal Yao torques and other Yao jewelry is expertly made by their own silversmiths from native or former colonial silver coins or bars of at least 65-75 % purity, and very often more. The motifs in repousse, cast, embossed or engraved, commonly include dragons (the power of heaven), paired dragons biting pearls (a mythic theme), imaginary and real animals, rabbits (fertility), butterflies, twin fishes (marital harmony), bats (fortune), spirit figures, flowers, solar symbols, stars, Taoist glyphs such as the Yin-Yang, associated with good luck, fertility, prosperity, harmony and spiritual protection.
From: "The Yao: The Mien and Mun Yao in China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand" by Jess. G Pouret and "Four Centuries of Silver: Ritual Adornment in the Qing dynasty and After" by Margaret Duda.