Pei Yan
The bright scarlet dye known as "xingxingxue" 猩猩血 "gibbon's blood" was not used by the Chinese, but observed in imported Western textiles. Although the source for this tradition of the bloody dye remains untraced, Edward H. Schafer notes a Western analogue in "St. John's blood", a variety of the red dye kermes, which derives from the insect kermes. The Tang dynasty chancellor Pei Yan wrote,