By BI Weizi 

A hand pushing spinning wheel is on exhibition at the Farming Culture of the Central Plains Museum. (PHOTO: VCG)

A spinning pendant is an ancient spinning tool, which can be traced back to at least the Neolithic Age.

According to archaeological data, major components of the spinning pendant have been excavated in more than thirty provinces and cities throughout China. They are usually made of stone, bone, pottery or jade, suitable for spinning thick yarn. By the late Neolithic Age, spinning pendants had become lighter and could spin more delicate yarn.

The working principle of the spinning pendant is to use one hand to turn the flicking rod, and the other hand to pull the fiber. As its spinning efficiency was low and the yarn produced was uneven, a one hand pushing spinning wheel with a single spindle was invented and its working efficiency and the quality of yarn produced were improved.

The Song and Yuan dynasties witnessed substantial social and economic development, along with the emergence of a new large-size water-driven spinning wheel with dozens of spindles, which was suitable for mass production and was the most advanced spinning machinery in the world at the time. In the West, a water driven spinning machines was not invented until 1769, a few centuries after China.

The invention of the spinning pendant not only changed textile production in primitive societies, but also exerted a profound impact on the development of later spinning tools. It has been used for thousands of years as a simple spinning tool, right up to the 20th century when some Chinese people still used it to spin yarn.