What was the trigger finger used for in ancient times?

The predecessor of the thumb ring was called the archer's thumb ring (韘), which was used in ancient times for archery. In ancient times, the archery thumb ring was worn on the thumb when shooting arrows. When the bow was opened, the bowstring was embedded in the deep groove on the back to prevent the thumb from being strangled. The archer's thumb ring was first seen in the Shang Dynasty and was popular from the Warring States period to the Western Han Dynasty, but its original function was gradually weakened in the later period and it evolved into a kind of decorative ornament

--Soldier's Protective Gear

The trigger finger was an auxiliary launching aid for the bow and arrow during the Cold War era, and was used to protect the fingers from injury when drawing the bow and releasing the arrows. Trigger finger is initially made of hairy cooked leather, tied to the right thumb, used to hook the string to open the bow. With the development of tools and the improvement of people's understanding of things, the simple finger protector developed into the well-known art treasure of the Chinese people today - the trigger finger. Today's most intuitive understanding of it, is the ancient film and television drama in the man set in the right thumb on the tube-like ornaments.

Although the trigger finger with the Manchu deep roots, but not the patent of the Manchu. As early as the late Neolithic period of the Shang and Zhou have appeared equivalent to the later known as "trigger finger" supplies. Traditional Han trigger finger and Manchu, Mongolian trigger finger slightly different: Han trigger finger from the side view is trapezoidal, that is, one side of the high side of the low, while Mongolia, Manchu trigger finger is generally cylindrical. Trigger finger in the Manchu language known as the "Bean Bean", to the Qing army before the entry of customs, the Manchu people general deer bone trigger finger, yellow, light brown over the years, to "have eyes" for the expensive.

--Man's jewelry

Trigger finger such ornaments, ultimately did not pass on, an important reason is that it is not convenient. Think often in the thumb set with a large jade ring, to do things for the person is always a burden; Moreover, the evolution of dynasties, historical changes, with the end of the cold weapons era, men no longer martial arts, martial arts, more important civilization and wisdom. Thus, the trigger finger will be in the posture of men's jewelry lasted a hundred years. This may also be its fourfold identity, the most widely known one.