Does jade ward off evil spirits?

To ward off evil spirits, also known as Tianlu, is a mythical beast in ancient Chinese legends, and there are often stories about its legend in Han, Tang and later ancient books. There are different opinions about the form of exorcism. Generally speaking, it is a winged animal, which looks like a lion, with single or double horns, consistent with the stone carving in front of the tomb of the Six Dynasties to ward off evil spirits. Its function, as the name implies, should be to ward off evil spirits.

Jade carving to ward off evil spirits was first seen in the Western Han Dynasty and was popular from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Since the Song Dynasty, it has been made in past dynasties. But when it comes to the highest production achievement, it is the jade of the Han Dynasty to ward off evil spirits.

Jade to ward off evil spirits was rare from the Tang Dynasty, and reappeared in a new form in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, especially during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. For example, I once saw a jade exorcist in the middle of Qing Dynasty, including vertical carving, engraving relief and line carving. The sub-line and three exorcism devices of different sizes are combined into one. Every evil animal has two horns, a tooth ridge on its back, a naked body without feathers and wings, a pair of horns on its head and a beard under its chin, all of which are different in size and shape and lifelike. Similar to ward off evil spirits, you can also see those who regard its shape as an antique vessel. Throughout the exorcism in the Qing Dynasty, there are some situations as follows: ① The jade exorcism materials in this period were all made of Hetian high-quality jade materials, and the surface was smooth and polished, which was also convenient to preserve the original jade skin color, but the overall air was not as simple, elegant and majestic as that in the Han and Wei Dynasties. ② The specific forms of jade to ward off evil spirits in this period, such as double horns, sheep whiskers and animal bodies, have been preserved, but we know that it has a continuation and inheritance relationship with the previous period. (3) There is also an obvious change and difference between jade articles in this period to ward off evil spirits, which is mainly manifested in the rare unicorn (also called "horned tail" according to this period), which has no feather wings in the abdomen, teeth ridges on the back, hooves and feet, etc.