It is true that the Chinese themselves didn't use many glass beads except at certain periods. They produced some very elaborate beads before the Han dynasty, but afterwards most glass beads were made to imitate precious stones, especially jade the "stone of heaven." Sometimes these imitations were fairly good, and at other times a little too obvious.

They were also mariners, a fact that becomes important to our story. The Chinese slowly moved south, establishing their first customs office at Guangzhou (Canton) only in the eighth century.

Lead is an important clue when considering Chinese beads. It was rarely used in glass made in the West. Lead does several things to glass, including making it more brilliant and easier to cut (think of Swarovski crystals, at right). I think the Chinese used it because it makes glass easier to remelt, so that a factory could send glass to villages where the beads were actually made.

The earliest exported Chinese beads were small, wound "coil beads" that look like they were cut from springs. They became very common all over Southeast Asia and elsewhere for a long time and are still made today.

At Barus, Sumatra, the port for camphor that the Chinese loved so much, coil beads already outnumber Indo-Pacific beads (right) in the Northern Song period (960-1127 AD). Indo-Pacific beads were the greatest trade bead of all time (2/3 of all beads of all materials in the Philippines for more than 1200 years). Soon coil beads replaced them everywhere.

An unusual aspect of coil beads is that wherever they are found one color dominates. This is not true with Indo-Pacific beads and is likely significant. I suspect that the households or villages making coil beads were given one color of glass at a time and the resulting batch moved through the system. Left: the valuable mutiraja of eastern Indonesia.

The people had to be fed, so there was a concentrated industrial policy. Shandong province (the peninsula at the north of Map 2) became a focal point of iron, pottery, and glass industries due to its mineral riches and transportation facilities.

Chinese accounts written for sailors telling them what to take to trade for local products often mention beads. The lead-heavy beads found throughout Southeast Asia (and eastern Africa) match the time and distribution of Chinese trade. These multi-wound beads (especially in blue) are one such type now identified as Chinese.

Another bead is a dusky translucent (ruby) red. First known from Suzhou (Soochow on Map 2) in 1013 AD, they made up 15% of all beads in the Philippines at one point. They are colored with copper and are not as beautiful as ruby glass made with gold nor as garish as that colored with selenium.

While many of the beads above are found along both routes, some beads are found only along the eastern route, strongly suggesting that they were made at Qanzhou.

Combing is unknown in other Chinese glass products, but was also used in celedons made in Quanzhou.

When the Spanish set up their Galleon Trade linking Manila to Spain via Mexico, other markets for Chinese beads opened. Padre beads (left), copper ruby beads, multi-wound beads and other Chinese types are known in the Americas archaeologically or ethnographically.

A group of beads not positively identified as Chinese (they have little or no lead, but fit the distribution) are opaque oblates and very short bicones (the red and yellow ones). They are found in Southeast Asia and East Africa from about the 12^th century and were important for some time, especially in Africa (Arab traders probably brought them there).

By the 14^th century or a little earlier we have the appearance of beads that are easily recognized as Chinese (mistakenly called "Peking glass") by their large holes, bubbly glass, imperfect shapes, and "peaks" around the apertures. These are clearly products of Boshan in Shandong; Boshan never used lead in its glass.

This type of bead became the only one recognized as Chinese for a long time. Beginning in the Qing dynasty, especially under Qian Long (1736-1796), distinctive colors were developed for glazes and glass, becoming another marker of typical later Chinese beads.

During the Qing dynasty all members of the court, military officers, their wives, and their children were required to wear "court chains" modeled after the rosary of Tibet. Glass was a very popular material for these beads. Unlike those made for export (above) these beads are well formed with good glass and small holes. They were also often special in shape or design.

Following the "opening" of Japan in the mid 19^th century, many Japanese went abroad to learn new technologies, including beadmaking. Japan invested heavily in Chinese glass factories early in the 20^th century. These beads, made by mechanical drawing and silvered inside may have been made both in Japan and Japanese owned-Chinese factories. 

The current Chinese glass bead industry makes many products, some traditional and some quite new, as for these power bracelets. Given its size and economic strength, China may well be a dominant bead power again as we move along in the 21^st century.