Copper Dangkang Auspicious Beast Bracelet

The beasts of the Classic of Mountains and Seas mostly carry odd names. Dangkang is a creature of the Eastern Mountains chapter. The text says its shape is like a pig and it has tusks, that its name is Dangkang, and that when it appears the whole land enjoys a great harvest. Qinshan stands at the head of that chapter, the entry runs only a few lines, and later commentators could not agree on what animal it actually was, settling for calling it a beast of good years. It is not a famous beast, and few people know it.

This Dangkang is made round, with a short body, tusks curling upward and a ridge of mane down the back. Auspicious-beast pieces fail when the animal turns into four animals at once, so that nothing can be recognized and only the impression of a beast is left. Dangkang is identified by that pair of tusks and by the pig snout; keep those two and the rest can be simplified. Short body and short legs: made small it looks like a pig, made large like a wild boar, and the balance sits in the tusks. The mane is pressed line by line, dense enough to read as hair from a distance. The roots of the tusks have to stay outside, because buried they lose the spirit of the face.

A bracelet is more trouble to build than a pendant. It has to turn with the wrist, so every link must move freely and none may pinch. This one uses ring links, one looped through the next, turning smoothly. The gaps between links are set just right: too tight and it will not turn, too loose and it catches hair. The length is worked out from the wrist measurement, with three holes at the clasp for a little adjustment.

The material is copper, in its own color, with no plating. Copper shifts color as it is worn, quickly in summer and slowly in winter, and it leaves a faint green mark on the wrist that washes off. Some people dislike that, and some like the change; the dark red a copper piece takes on after long wear is something a new piece cannot imitate. Sweat on the acidic side speeds the change, so the same piece goes two different ways on two different people. The change starts at the links, where the air does not move and sweat dries slowly.

Do not wear a bracelet into the shower. Soap works into the gaps between links, dries inside, and the joints go stiff. Rinse it in clean water every so often, dry it at once, and put a drop of oil on the joints, turning them a couple of times. In summer, when there is more sweat, turn the chain over and wipe it down when you get home, since the inside of the links collects first. Air-drying leaves water marks, so the drying step cannot be skipped.