Jade, a "luxury product" we can afford!

In the Chinese concept, luxury goods are almost equivalent to greed, extravagance and waste. In fact, from an economic perspective, luxury goods are essentially a form of high-end consumption behavior, which is neither good nor bad in itself. From a social perspective, it is an improvement in personal taste and quality of life.

China's initial understanding of luxury goods can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty more than 400 years ago, when Western missionaries Matteo Ricci and Pontiac came to Beijing and presented two chiming clocks as gifts to the emperor. China's love affair with luxury goods began.

During the Qing Dynasty, due to enlightenment from the West, the Qing Palace Workshop was established. It mainly produced various luxury items for the royal family of the Qing Dynasty.

In the middle of the last century, the development of China's high-end consumer market stagnated. However, after the reform and opening up, Western high-end watches, leather goods, and jewelry flooded into China. At one time, Chinese customers blindly worshipped imported luxury goods and accepted almost all of them. Many Western brands looked down on them as rich people who only recognized brands and were easy to deal with.

In the absence of luxury brands, these foreign luxury goods quickly occupied the Chinese consumer market and even changed some cultural concepts of the Chinese people. "Diamonds are forever" is an advertising slogan that almost everyone knows. Diamonds are the symbol of steadfast and eternal love. This concept is deeply rooted in people's minds, leading to the fact that diamond rings are now a must-have for young Chinese people when they get married.

The main reason for this phenomenon is the general loss of spiritual beliefs among Chinese people and their lack of confidence in their national culture. We have not done enough to inherit, educate, publicize and promote China's excellent traditional culture and artistic essence.

But in the past, jade was a token of love. Therefore, the power of cultural concepts is enormous. If we still cannot create luxury goods with Chinese cultural characteristics, we will still not be able to withstand this impact, and the Chinese market will continue to be firmly occupied by foreign brands. This is not just an economic loss, but also a cultural loss.

With the development of society, Chinese people no longer blindly pursue luxury goods. It’s not just about the brand, the most important thing is its value.

Jade has become a luxury item that Chinese people are vying for. Jadeite is China's national jade and its resources are extremely scarce. A piece of good jadeite can easily cost tens of millions.

According to the "History of Five Dynasties" , the King of Khotan, Li Shengtian, sent his governor Liu Zaikai to pay tribute to Emperor Gaozong of Jin with "a thousand pounds of jade and a jade seal to subdue demons".

"History of Song Dynasty" records that during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, the Kingdom of Khotan paid tribute of pearls and jade every year, even twice a year. This shows that jade was already valued by the Chinese people in ancient times. Now it is named as the national jade.

From the history of jadeite from ancient times to the present, we can see the importance Chinese people attach to it and its noble status. Now it is praised as the "Oriental luxury" in the jewelry industry both at home and abroad.

Historically, we have been almost a net exporter of luxury goods.

China is not only a country with a large population, but also a cultural power. We should not be without our own luxury brands. Moreover, historically, we have been the world's largest exporter of luxury goods. Both the Silk Road on land and the Ceramic Road on the sea were trade routes for us to export luxury goods to the West.

When building a luxury brand, products are the core. Based on thousands of years of historical heritage and the efforts of several generations, contemporary Chinese jade carving is now flourishing and many masters are emerging. These excellent works and the classic culture they contain need to be known to the world.

fruit

fcgc33