White Copper Mountain Ghost Chinese Character Open Bangle

The bangle is open, with a gap left between the ends; once it is on, you pinch the ends toward each other and it sits below the wrist bone. The characters are cut on the outside of the band, two of them taking up more than half the circumference, strokes opened out and spacing widened, so from a distance it reads as a band of pattern and only close up resolves into words. The opening sits at the seam of the band and is kept narrow, almost invisible once worn. The width is even and the edges are pulled straight, with no section thicker than another.

The two characters, shan gui, come from the title of a poem in the Nine Songs. Qu Yuan wrote of a spirit in the mountains and never gave her a name; later readers used the title as one. The two characters carry no spell meaning in themselves. Carved on an object they carry antiquity, and the shop files the piece under charms because that is the subject. Written in seal script the strokes run round, in clerical script flat; this one takes the square-cut manner.

The advantage of an open bangle is that there is no size to choose. Bend it and it fits; a quarter size either way is a matter of a squeeze. White copper is tough and tolerates slow work, but bend it too far in one go and a crease stays, and the metal at the crease goes pale in a way no cloth will fix. Slide it on from the side of the wrist rather than forcing it over the metacarpals, which are wider than the wrist and will spread the band. The inside is finished finer than the outside; the face against the skin must carry no burr.

Two versions, gold and silver. Gold is bright and shows against dark clothing; silver is cool and steadier against a white shirt or a grey knit. The gold is a surface layer and wears away where it rubs, so keep it on a wrist of its own rather than stacked with a watch — a watch clasp is the worst offender. Side by side the gold jumps; alone, either looks well; together they fight. The color is only skin-deep, and worn spots go pale first.

White copper dulls with wear, especially in summer, and the inner face against the skin changes first, which is normal. Wipe with a dry cloth, not a wet wipe. The two ends are rounded and won't cut, but the gap collects sweat; every few days clean it with a cotton bud dipped in clean water and dry it immediately. When the bangle is off, pinch the opening back to shape — left spread for long, the gap stops closing. A bangle that fits is worth more than one sized on paper.