Lào zi

', also called ' , is an ancient appellation for knots in China. In ancient Chinese literature, the actually refers to what is now known as   in Chinese and Chinese knotting in English. The term Chinese knotting only became known in recent years when it was summarized by Lydia Chen in the 1980s. It was a tradition to use the and/or  as a form of   in  where it was tied to the waist by using silk or cotton ribbon.

Etymology
The meaning of the two terms and  are quite similar.

The Chinese character for, in traditional Chinese and  in simplified Chinese, is a specific term which refers to knotting, enmeshing, and wrapping.

The Chinese character for, , refers to the lace or flat ribbon woven from silk thread which can used to decorate clothing.

Usage
According to Dream of the Red Chamber, making means making knots that can be used on waist as knotting belt; the  could also be as decorative knots with tassel hanging for small object or furnishing (similar to the  used in the ). As a form of knot-craft, it could be used to knot a net sachet for containing small objects.

The knot at the waist by ribbon can be seen from many artworks especially in the beauty painting, and ancient literature description recorded that the tradition of knot ribbon can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn period (770 – 76 BCE); for example, in the chapter  of the , the tradition of tying ribbon as knots to the belt is recorded.