Did the Expensiveness of Jade Start from the Qing Palace? The real reason turned out to be——

Everyone knows that jade is produced in Myanmar , and jade became popular in China during the Qing Dynasty . So what was the opportunity that led to the introduction of jade, and how did it become popular?

The real rise of jadeite was in the mid-Qing Dynasty , because something happened at that time that changed the relationship between the two countries! During the Qianlong period, due to constant wars on the Myanmar border, Emperor Qianlong sent troops to ancient Myanmar twice .

(Emperor Qianlong's Grand Review)

The victory of the Qing Dynasty made ancient Myanmar submit to the Qing Dynasty and become a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, which greatly reduced the difficulty of importing jade raw materials . A large number of jade products have been unearthed from historical relics since this period. Historical documents also record the large-scale import of jadeite raw stones from ancient Myanmar.

According to the Tengyue Local Chronicles written by Cun Kaitai, a Jinshi in the Qing Dynasty, "Teng is the gathering place for jade, with thousands of jade craftsmen who make utensils and sell them to various provinces in Yunnan." It can be seen that the jadeite produced in Myanmar is imported into my country through border towns such as Tengchong and Ruili in Yunnan, and then sent to various places.

A caravan carrying raw jadeite stones walking on the mountain road

Although the official road from Myanmar to Yunnan is steep, there are often caravans of seven or eight thousand or even tens of thousands of horses transporting jade and other materials. Hundreds of years of trade have formed the current scale of jade and the unique jade culture.

(Partial view of the scroll of Emperor Qianlong's Southern Tour)

Tengchong Customs once recorded that in 1902, there were 271 dan, each dan had 100 jin, and each jin was 16 liang. In 1915, there were 328 dan, and in 1917, there were 801 dan. It increased year by year. Every time the jadeite raw stones arrived, merchants from all over the place came with huge sums of money in order to get the best jadeite raw stones. Someone chanted: "In the past, the prosperous Baibao Street was full of powerful merchants and merchants with money."

In the Qing Dynasty, jade was not only an ornament but also a symbol of status. The most representative ones were thumb rings, feather tubes, and court beads . It is said that at that time, especially during the Tongzhi and Guangxu periods of the late Qing Dynasty, the best gift for doing business in the palace was a set of jade rings and feather tubes.

Jadeite feather tube is an ornament used on officials' hats in the Qing Dynasty. The ornaments worn vary depending on the official position. Those who can wear jadeite feather tube are all civil officials of the first rank . The complete jadeite feather tube official hat is only collected by the Palace Museum.

The thumb ring was once a tool for protecting the hands. Ancient people invented the thumb ring as a wearable item to prevent their hands from getting hurt when shooting arrows. Later, it gradually evolved into an ornament.

The most famous ring among the Qing Dynasty is the jade ring that belonged to the eunuch Li Lianying. It is of very good quality and has a bright color. It is rumored online to be worth 200 million yuan, but its exact value is unknown.

Jade court beads are a unique ornament of the Qing Dynasty and were used to match court robes. There are 108 court beads in total, with a large bead inserted between every 27 beads. There are four large beads in total, called dividing beads. The beads and ribbon colors used are different depending on the size of the official rank and the status.

This necklace was Cixi's favorite among many jade ornaments. It was given by Cixi to Emperor Guangxu, who then gave it to Concubine Zhen who was later drowned in a well. The starting price in 2014 was 180 million yuan , but it failed to sell for various reasons. Some people said that this necklace was unlucky.

In addition, common jade products from the Qing Dynasty include bracelets, bracelets, rings, hairpins, snuff bottles, and mountain ornaments, etc. The variety can be said to be very rich. Some of them are enduring, while others gradually decline with the changes of the times.

Since the history is relatively short, and most of the Qing Dynasty jadeite with cultural value is collected by museums, so except for the jadeite worn or collected by a few celebrities, some old jadeite circulated among the people is not only questionable in authenticity , but also not very valuable in practice. It is more about quality . If you like to collect, please pay attention to it.

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