Taishan Stone Origin and Types

Taishan Stone is produced in the stream valleys around Mount Tai. It has a hard texture, and its tone is calm, dignified and thick. It often appears in the form of penetrating or semi-penetrating textures. It is famous for its beautiful and varied textures and its weathered appearance over a long period of time. Taishan Stone is famous at home and abroad for its simple, vigorous and dignified style. In addition, there is a folk legend that Taishan Stone can ward off evil spirits and protect the house. It means being as stable as Mount Tai and bringing good luck. In recent years, it has become a popular Feng Shui stone. The "text stone", "number stone", "figure stone", "astronomy and geography", "landscape", "flowers, birds, fish and insects", "Twelve Zodiac Signs" and so on in Taishan stone are either convex or concave, dynamic or static, with dragons flying and phoenixes dancing, ever-changing and all-encompassing, directly restoring the natural landscape.

Chinese name

Taishan Stone

Foreign name

Mount Tai stone

Pinyin

tai shan shi

Origin

Stream valleys around the Taishan Mountains

nature

The texture is hard, the tone is calm and solemn

Texture Screen

Permeability, semi-permeability

introduce

Taishan stone is mostly irregularly oval in shape, with coarse crystal grains, clear texture, prominent picture, strong contrasting colors, and a masculine and bold temperament. If you take a closer look, you will find that the Taishan Stone is as majestic as its mother Mount Tai, and is by no means delicate and pleasing to the eye. Its colors are simple and elegant, like the pure and simple Chinese ink paintings. Whether it is landscape, figures, words, or birds and beasts, each has its own charm. Because of its ruggedness, Taishan stone shows the charm of Chinese freehand brushwork at an appropriate visual distance. "Shi Ya" says that "there are patterns on the granite of Mount Tai that look like Arabic numerals, and Mount Tai is also called text granite." Granite with inscriptions accounts for a certain proportion of the stones in Mount Tai. Looking at its calligraphy, one can see strange lines, iron-like strokes and silver-like hooks, with force penetrating the back of the stone, combining hardness and softness, which can make people comprehend the style of heavenly writing that is older than oracle bones, better than bells and tripods, and even better than Yan, Liu, Mi, and Cai. "The fame of Mount Tai is known throughout the five continents, and legends have told of its connection to the wilderness for thousands of years. There are countless strange stones in China, but only the stone of Mount Tai can match them." The mysterious and rugged Taishan Stone is 2.5 billion years old and is one of the oldest rocks. Taishan stone is the descendant of the "No. 1 Mountain in the World" - Mother Taishan. It has won the reputation of being an elegant sight, which is actually due to the status of the mother mountain Taishan as a sacred mountain in the Chinese nation. The ancestors of Yan and Huang spread sacred stones on Mount Tai, burned firewood and performed sacrificial ceremonies, which was a primitive form of sacred stone worship. Ever since Qin Shihuang climbed Mount Tai and erected a stone to praise his virtues, emperors of every dynasty since then have placed stones during their sacrifices to the gods. For thousands of years, from the emperor to the common people, they have set up Taishan stones for Fengshan ceremonies, pressed Taishan stones to beg for children and blessings, offered Taishan stones to worship gods, used Taishan stones as the base for platforms, used Taishan stones to stabilize temples and pavilions, etc., thus gradually integrating the worship and belief of Mount Tai with the stone appreciation culture of Mount Tai.

texture

Taishan stone has a hard texture and fine structure, and some of its crystal grains are coarse; it is in the form of natural blocks, simple and thick, with sub-angular and round shapes, mostly irregular oval shapes, mainly to show patterns; the tone is steady, solemn and thick, and mostly appears in the form of penetrating and semi-penetrating textures. On the stone surfaces of gray, gray-black, gray-green, light river, dark green, yellow, brown, and black, white textures of various shapes and forms are interwoven, some convex and some concave, forming patterns of mountain waterfalls, ancient trees and dead branches, birds and beasts, and famous figures. They are smooth and shiny, with a balanced composition, clear and lifelike, each with its own merits. The colors are mostly black and white, with the elegance of ink painting, and some are cleverly embedded with red or yellow patterns.

Solid as a rock, rough stone

The rocks of Taishan stone are plagioclase gneiss, biotite hornblende plagioclase gneiss, gneissic granite, granite gneiss and fine-grained amphibole rock. The patterns are formed by the crystallization of late light-colored minerals such as plagioclase, potassium feldspar, and quartz filling in irregular primary cracks. Some are due to geological reasons, and the remelted plagioclase, quartz and other light-colored mineral rock juice rises and fills the cracks in shallow rocks, forming various network-shaped, branched, strip-shaped, and mass-shaped veins. During the movement of the earth's crust, these metamorphic rocks gradually emerged on the surface. After a long period of natural weathering, they formed isolated blocks, collapsed, rolled into valleys and rivers, and became strange stones after being washed by flowing water and polished by sand and gravel. The best Taishan stone patterns are those with prominent stone veins. The white lines that make up the picture are divided into stone veins and stone skins. Due to the different hardness of the stone tendons and the stone body, after tens of millions of years of weathering and grinding, the stone tendons gradually protrude from the stone surface, giving it a sense of relief.



Taishan stone is distributed in Dongxi, Xixi, Donglu Mata, Xiagang Canyon in the mountainous areas around the main peak of Mount Tai in Tai'an City, as well as in the stream valleys around the mountains. The quality of Taishan stone is especially good in Taohuayu Canyon west of the main peak. The black and white pebbles produced in Licheng and Changqing, Jinan are also classified as Taishan stone. The Taishan stones in Tai'an feel rougher and steeper because they are mixed with some mountain rocks, not just pebbles. The composition is mainly colorful patterns, mountains, rivers and trees. The pebbles in Jinan are mainly water-washed stones with a relatively fine texture, and the pictures are mostly people and animals. Most of the best Taishan stones are water-washed stones.



Mount Tai is China's first World Natural and Cultural Heritage, World Geopark, National Civilized Scenic Tourist Area, and National 5A-level Tourist Area. Mount Tai has been known as the "First of the Five Mountains" since ancient times. It has a profound history and culture, magnificent natural landscape, and integrates natural science, aesthetics, and historical and cultural values. It is known as a microcosm of Chinese cultural history and a symbol of the Chinese national spirit.

fcgc66

fcpf18