A Belief – in every Chinese closet!

Today I am not going to write about a trend or an art; it’s more about a belief; a belief that every person in China has on a simple beautiful stone. This stone is said to bring good luck to the person wearing it. It releases negative thoughts and welcomes positivity and harmony to the mind and body. If you have already made the guess, lets see if you are right; it’s the Green Jade!

The history of jade is as long as the Chinese civilization. Archaeologists have found jade objects from the early Neolithic period (about 5000 BC). The Chinese love jade not only for its beauty, but also more importantly for its culture, meaning and humanity.

Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, praises the stone in pure lines saying – ‘The wise have likened jade to virtue. For them, its polish and brilliancy represent the whole of purity; its perfect compactness and extreme hardness represent the sureness of intelligence; its angles, which do not cut, although they seem sharp, represent justice; the pure and prolonged sound, which it gives forth when one strikes it, represents music. Its colour represents loyalty; its interior flaws, always showing themselves through the transparency, call to mind sincerity; its iridescent brightness represents heaven; its admirable substance, born of mountain and of water, represents the earth. Used alone without ornamentation it represents chastity. The price that the entire world attaches to it represents the truth. To support these comparisons, the Book of Verse says: “When I think of a wise man, his merits appear to be like jade.”‘

While talking to some of the people in Hong Kong, I came to know that people here often give a gift of a jade piece they wear all the time, because they believe that the jade has become part of them and by giving it to a family member or close friend, they are giving a part of themselves.

Adding more to it, they told that if you are healthy and happy, the jade that you wear every day will become more beautiful. If you see your jade looking dull or flat, you might want to take extra care of your health, because perhaps you are getting ill. There are many people who have survived dangerous accidents due to the green jade. The jade breaks but they just minor scratches on their body.

Jade jewellery can be seen in the show window of each and every jeweller in China. Some jade stones are also carved and each carving too depicts something. Gifting a jade is considered lucky for not only the receiver but the giver too!