ABSTRACT
For the princely sum of the equivalent of £4 I was able to acquire for myself some iron balls in Hong Kong’s Stanley Market. They are hollow balls containing a ‘rattle mechanism’ which sounds when one rotates the pair around in either the left or right hand. Designs are available in various colours with different Chinese symbols, including dragons. Reproduced below is part of the text from the instruction booklet, which also contains a testimonial from the Light Industry Ministry of the People’s Republic of China, together with the following quotation from one Pujie: ‘The king of the treasures. Strengthen the ball players and make our country powerful’.
‘Manufactured by the Iron Balls Factory, of Baoding City, Hebei Province, PR China, they are a traditional product dating back to the Ming Dynasty of 1368–1644. Originally the balls were solid but afterwards were designed hollow with a sounding plate. Of the pair, one sounds high and the other sounds low and they are for the elderly to build up physical strength and to remove disease.
