The Chinese have been loving jade for 5000 years

Have you noticed that Chinese people harbor a special fondness of jade jewelry? In mandarin Chinese, it is pronounced as "yu" and written as "玉“. The Chinese character "玉" looks very similar to the character "王" which means the king. In ancient times, "yu" is a symbol of royalty and power.

If you wonder since when "yu" became so important to the Chinese, we probably have to go back to around 3300 B.C. to 2000 B.C. About one thousand years after Hemudu, another representative Neolithic culture, the Liangzhu Culture, emerged in the Yangtze River delta of China, almost around the same area as Hemudu. Like Hemudu, Liangzhu Culture is named after the place where the relics were first discovered. A large number of exquisite jade handicrafts were unearthed since excavations began in the 1930s. Archeologists were stunned not only by the large quantities of jade art crafts but also by the advancement of carving on the extremely tough translucent stone at such an early time.

The pictures below are two jade axes from Liangzhu Culture. The cutting edge was smoothly arched and thinned.The straight side used to be secured to a wooden handle using ropes which passes through the hole. Archaeologists has found no sign of use in these excavated jade axes and hence infer that they were very likely used for ritual purposes as a symbol of social status.

Figure 1: Jade axe

Figure 2: Jade axe

"Cong" (琮) is another common form of jade handcraft at that time. It typically has a square outer body with a cylinder inner part. Ancient Chinese believed that through the cylinder tube they can communicate with God.

Figure 3: Cong

If you look closely at the above pictures of jade axes and the "Cong", you can see a man-like figure carved on the surface. Do not worry if the motif is too small to see; we have drawn an enlarged image for you below. This motif was widely found on various types of tools excavated from the Liangzhu relics and scholars believe it may be some form of god that Liangzhu people worshiped at that time.

Figure 4: Man-like motif on the jade objects

Figure 5: Our drawing of the motif

Liangzhu people are believed to be among the earliest Chinese people who developed an aesthetic obsession with jade objects. Ever since then thanks to the Chinese scholars, philosophers, and poets, "yu" has gradually become more than just a symbol of authority or power. It started to feel resonant and more alive. For example, Confucius (about 551-479 B.C.) liked to connect jade with a man's virtue. He once described "yu" as  "Soft, smooth and glossy, it appeared to them like benevolence; fine, compact and strong, like intelligence". And such resemblance has influenced generations of Chinese even today.

For those of you live near Washington D.C., there is an ongoing exhibition on ancient Chinese jades at the Freer and Sackler Museum where you can see the real jade handcrafts made from 5000 years ago. (https://www.freersackler.si.edu/exhibition/afterlife-ancient-chinese-jades/)

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