The term Chinese knotting only became known in recent years when it was summarized by Lydia Chen in the 1980s.

'waist girdle ornament') in Hanfu where it was tied to the waist by using silk or cotton ribbon.

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

As a form of knot-craft, it could be used to knot a net sachet for containing small objects.

[5] 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 Zhaogong (昭公) of the Zuo Zhuan (左傳), the tradition of tying ribbon as knots to the belt is recorded.