Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t14.1

v1.c5.s2.t14.1

Cat’s Eye is a kind of chrysoberyl (which is also known as chrysoberyl jade). Zhao Rushi’s *Records of Foreign Countries* (Juan 2), written in the Song period, had this description of it: “Cat’s Eye was thumb-sized ie it was a small stone and was as clear as a Cat’s Eye, and so it got its name.” Juan 2 of Zhou Qufei’s *Lingwai daida* (Notes from the land beyond the passes) in the Southern Song Dynasty pointed out that in the Chola kingdom in South India, “to make ring agate, they always use things like Cat’s Eye.”