Jade Story: The Story of Empress Dowager Cixi and Jade

The Chinese people have an indissoluble bond with jade for thousands of years, and there are many stories about jade, the most famous of which is the story of Empress Dowager Cixi. Empress Dowager Cixi played a very important role in promoting jadeite. The reason why the value of jade is so high today is inseparable from Cixi's extraordinary love for jade. Today we will talk about the story of Empress Dowager Cixi and jade.

Empress Dowager Cixi had many hobbies in her life. She liked celebrating the New Year and watching plays. But her real reason for liking the Chinese New Year is not just to have fun and enjoy the good times, but to receive New Year gifts. Whenever someone sent her gifts, Cixi would carefully examine them one by one. She would keep the ones she liked and lock the ones she didn't like into a warehouse, perhaps never to be looked at again.

These gifts include small items, jewelry, silk, clothes, jade and so on. From the time Cixi was 28 years old and ruled the country together with Ci'an, to her death at the age of 74, she accepted gifts every New Year. Sometimes I receive enough gifts to fill several rooms in a single year. Among these gifts, Empress Dowager Cixi's favorite was jadeite. Therefore, the ministers regarded the gift of jade as a great opportunity to curry favor with the Buddha and seek personal fortune.

Once, a minister presented a green jade from Myanmar to the Empress Dowager Cixi. Facing this green and moist little object, the old Buddha's eyes lit up and she couldn't wait to shout, "What a good thing! It deserves a reward! It deserves a reward!" Afterwards, the presenter naturally received a valuable reward. The jade that Empress Dowager Cixi loved was jadeite from Myanmar.

Empress Dowager Cixi's love for jade was almost crazy. Various jade artifacts can be seen everywhere in the Changchun Palace where he lived. She used jade chopsticks for dining, jade covered bowls for drinking tea, jade hairpins in her hair, jade earrings on her ears, jade rings on her fingers, jade bracelets on her wrists, and jade cabbages as playthings. Everything that can be made of jade is made of jade.

Empress Dowager Cixi collected all the finest goods in the world during her lifetime and used them as her burial objects after her death. Among the 700 items buried with him were 27 jadeite and jade Buddha statues, 2 jadeite watermelons, 2 pairs of jadeite melons, and 2 jadeite cabbages. There is also a green lotus leaf on its head, which is full of green and translucent, and exquisite. Industry insiders estimate that the current market value of these jades is over 10 billion, which is truly priceless. Unfortunately, many of these treasures were lost later.

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