JADE

We had a chance to visit a jade factory while in Beijing. I am not a great fan of jade and neither is my wife. My encounter with jade was mainly with the jade bracelet and pendant that my mum wears. It is said that the greener the jade, the more valuable it is. It is also said that the longer one wears the jade, the greener it becomes. I don't know if this is true but as far as I could tell, the jades that my mum wears has always been that hue of green, ever since I was knee high. :-P

At the factory, we were taught how to identify a fake jade (where the green is actually infused dye) and a real jade. If you want to know, you gotta make a personal trip to Beijing because I forgot how...

Anyway, at the show room, we were shown jades of all sizes, colours and, in the hands of a skilled carver, simple rough jade could be turned into objects of marvel and beauty (read: very very expensive).

To say the least, the jades there were real pricey. Some of the people in our group bought stuffs like bracelets and pendants. I heard one even bought a jade horse for about RMB 4000! I just hope it survived the trip back to Malaysia.

I will just let the pics speak for themselves....

Some jade are just plain and simple (and green). Price varies.

I particularly love horses made of jade. It's my zodiac sign.

Jade cabbages are a big thing in China it seems. You have to place it in a certain way in the house to attract good feng-sui. Place it wrongly and you could end up with financial ruin.

Apparently the narrow end of the cabbage jade must be placed facing the door way so that bad feng sui can flow out and good feng sui can flow in. I am not a believer in feng sui and I really doubt a piece of cabbage (no matter how nicely carved) can influence good or bad.

Jade earrings of all shapes and sizes, not to mention color. Not too pricey I guess, you can see the price for them was RMB 350. Wait a minute!! That's rather pricey isn't it?! Must remind myself that RMB is not Indian RUPEE!!!!

Cheap jades selling for RMB 50 a piece. Even I can tell they are of inferior quality!

Anyone taker for a really green jade bracelet going for RMB 1800???

Jade tomatoes!!!!

Place mats made of 'Ice Jades'. It feels really nice and cold when you touch it with your hands. Apparently in ancient days, only royalties get to use them as a pillow cover. Those days their pillows were merely a block of wood. It is said that these jade covers can soothe the head and presses on vital acupuncture points leading to good health, great wealth, many children, great strength, great victory in battle...blah blah blah... I was stretching it a bit there. Sorry..

I regretted not getting a jade place mat. It was selling for RMB 160 each there. Elsewhere, we found out later, the price varied from RMB 260 to RMB400!!!!! My mum would have loved one of these.

We left without buying anything. Too pricey, too pricey!!! But I had a good time and I enjoyed seeing the many beautiful things that could be made from jade. I doubt any of them would have survived long in my house had I bought one. I do have a 2 year old boy running around you know....