Bàn Jī and the Thieves' Purse

Chinese Tactile Study Aid (Thieves' Purse) v1.0- by SexyCyborg
June 2016- updated August 2022
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1600732
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Bàn Jī and the Thieves' Purse

Once Upon a Time, in a small and ancient Chinese city there was a Guild of Thieves. Like the Carpenters’ Guild, the Weavers' Guild, and all guilds of the time, they took apprentices to both learn and assist in their trade.

Few parents would want their children to become thieves of course so most of the Thieves' Guild apprentices were orphans or particularly obstinate and disobedient children who had been rejected by all the other guilds. Once enrolled in the Thieves' Guild the punishments for disobedience were so severe it’s best we not even discuss them here my little darlings. Suffice to say- not doing the bidding of the Guild Master was not an option worth considering.

As we all know, one of the many things the Chinese invented is coins. At this time, nearly all were small bronze discs, very close to the size of the coins today. Those coins were minted by many kingdoms and cities all over China, roughly made so they came in a staggering number of sizes, weights, shapes, and denominations. A tiny coin from one province might have the same value as a coin twice the size from another. Any merchant would happily exchange those coins, but the only way to determine their value was by reading the Chinese characters stamped on the coins themselves.

Apprentices are students and all students make mistakes. A mistake as a dumpling maker's apprentice simply resulted in some rubbery dumplings and perhaps a beating from the Master Dumpling Maker. A mistake as a thieves apprentice was quite a bit more serious. A thief caught with more than 10 Zhū of stolen coins in their possession (perhaps a day's wages for a laborer) would be sentenced to having one of their hands or feet cut off! If less than 10 Zhū had been stolen, the maximum legal penalty was two strikes with a rattan cane.

Unfortunately, should an apprentice thief return to the guild hall with less than 9 Zhū they could count on a thorough beating from the Guild Master for laziness and no meals for a full day. This made it absolutely critical for the unfortunate apprentice to steal just the right amount from a purse and no more.

This presented quite a challenge for the apprentice pick-pockets of the thieves guild. How to pick only the correct amount from a purse when you cannot tell the value by size and weight- only the writing on the coin?

After seeing many of her fellow apprentices lose hands and feet, the smallest and most clever of them- a young girl named Bàn Jī came up with a solution. She would train her fingers to read the characters on the coins by touch alone, so she could quickly select the coins in a purse of the appropriate value and slip away with their victim none the wiser.

It was through reading coins in this way that Bàn Jī became literate, and, disguised as a man, became the first woman to achieve the top score on the Imperial Exam. Bàn Jī went on to invent and personally pilot the first War Kite in the Emperor’s service, and many more adventures that no doubt all of you have heard of- but these are stories for another day. It all started with a young girl who decided she rather liked her hands and feet firmly attached- and the Thieves' Purse.