The National Museum of China houses a white jade fish lotus pattern scarf ring from the Song Dynasty
Chinese jade has a long history. In the development process of jade culture for more than 8,000 years, countless moving artistic treasures have been created.
These remnants of jade culture, which have amazed the world, are not only outstanding representatives of the outstanding artistic models of Chinese civilization, but also a true portrayal of social culture in different historical periods.
In traditional Chinese culture, there has always been a traditional value concept of "gold is valuable and jade is priceless". Even with the rapid development of science and technology today, Chinese's love for jade is still in the ascendant.
In the eyes of many jade lovers, a piece of beautiful jade ornaments that is clean and warm has a much greater value connotation than ordinary precious metal jewelry.
It is no exaggeration to say that the important influence of jade in the Chinese emotional genes is insurmountable and irreplaceable.
Modern Wada jade ornaments
So the question is, how much is the precious jade in the eyes of modern people worth in the eyes of the ancient Chinese? Or how much did it cost to buy a piece of jade in ancient China?
In order to correctly answer this question, it is first necessary to distinguish between the different characteristics of the value attributes of jade at different historical stages in ancient China.
To put it simply, Chinese jade has gone through three different stages: "Divine Jade", "Wang Jade" and "Minyu".
First of all, the Shenyu period.
In the early Neolithic period of primitive society, as jade was stripped from stone tools, the budding of Chinese jade culture began.
Primitive society Neolithic early Xinglongwa culture Yujue
At this time, the jade no longer assumes the function of the original practical tool, but a gorgeous turn, which is endowed in the primitive religion with the attribute of "divine jade" that communicates with the gods of heaven and earth, and has since gained a unique valuable value.
Therefore, the jade of the divine jade period is not only precious and sacred, it is both a precious treasure and a manifestation of identity status, usually only the leaders of primitive tribes and wizards in primitive religions can have, ordinary people want to have, hehe, there is no existence.
The Museum of Los Angeles, USA, holds a collection of cylindrical jade ornaments of Liangzhu culture
Secondly, the Wang Yu period.
During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, with the development of private ownership of the means of production and the social hierarchy, power and wealth began to gradually concentrate, and jade at this time showed wealth and status to a greater extent while having a religious nature.
Ordinary people are completely unqualified to use jade, and if ordinary people dare to create a second time to own jade, they will directly pull it out and shoot it for five minutes! At this time, jade basically became a symbol of power for the ruling class.
So much so that when the Shang Emperor Xin Lutai set himself on fire, he was covered with jade - "dressed in pearls and jade, burned himself to death by fire."
The National Museum of China collects the Shang Dynasty Yufeng Pei
In the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the value of jade was even more at its peak.
For example, in 283 BC during the Warring States period, King Qin Zhao, when he heard that the Zhao state had obtained the Heshi Bi, for a time he envied and hated to take it for himself, and thus deduced the historical allusion of "returning the bi to Zhao".
It is worth mentioning that the King of Qin, for this most precious treasure in the world, once proposed to exchange fifteen cities for this jade bi, and thus gave birth to the idiom allusion of "valuable city", although the final sale was not discussed, but the precious value of jade at that time can be seen.
The Harvard University Museum in the United States has a collection of Warring States Dragon and Phoenix Double Jade Bi
What's more, in the Two Han Dynasties, in the context of the "Wang Yu" attribute, jade was not only expensive but also hierarchical.
Many Han Dynasty jades were not even used by ordinary princes and nobles, such as high-level jade such as jade clothes and jade.
The central government of the Han Dynasty had strict regulations on it, not only ordinary people had no right to own it, but even the princes and nobles who used jade for trespassing would be severely punished.
The Han tomb in Mancheng, Hebei Province, unearthed Liu Sheng's golden jade robes
The Han tomb in Mancheng, Hebei Province, unearthed Dou Qi's golden jade coat
Therefore, in the process of modern archaeology, it is often seen that some pre-Qin and Han Dynasty tombs that have been excavated in history, among which gold and silver and bronze treasures such as gold and silver and bronze have disappeared, but various jades are scattered sporadically and unnoticed.
The reason is that tomb robbers know very well that ordinary people will not use and buy jade at all, so even if the jade is stolen, it cannot be sold and sold, but will expose the whereabouts and cause trouble.
The National Palace Museum in Taipei houses jade dancers of the Han Dynasty
Finally, the Minyu era.
The Song Dynasty was a turning point in the history of Chinese jade.
From the Song Dynasty onwards, the situation of high-quality jade being monopolized by the government finally came to an end. Jade is no longer the exclusive property of the ruling class aristocracy, but really enters the folk, becomes a commodity and participates in circulation. Chinese jade has since opened a broader era of folk jade.
As jade becomes a commodity, its value changes from its original symbolic meaning to a specific commodity price.
We begin by discussing the question of "how much it cost the ancients to buy jade", and only then did it really become possible.
The reason why folk jade was rare before the Song Dynasty, in the final analysis, it is really not a matter of money, it is the attributes of jade that determine the value of jade at that time cannot be measured by commodity prices.
The Tianjin Museum houses a jade goose-shaped box from the Song Dynasty
Tianjin Museum Collection of Song Dynasty Green Jade Goose-shaped Box (Partial)
Having said all that, how much did it cost to buy jade in ancient times?
The standard answer to the less beaten is: not necessarily.
Regarding the value of jade, the "exchange rate" of different historical periods is not the same.
For example, in times of social unrest and peace, the same jade may have very different values, and the differences are even different.
Therefore, in different historical stages, in addition to the differences in social value orientation, the historical and cultural background is also one of the important conditions for measuring the price of jade.
Qingqianlong White Jade Sea House added a palace fan
Due to the long time, the price of jade in the Song Dynasty has been difficult to verify, but we can explore from many historical aspects.
For example, there is a very important detail in the CCTV 98 version of "Water Margin", and there is such a plot in the section of episode 9 "Yang Zhi Selling Knives": Yang Zhi, who was frustrated in the officialdom, took out all his savings and ordered a pair of white jade bottles to give to The Lieutenant Gao Li, when Gao Li asked about the price of this bottle, Yang Zhi replied that it cost about five or six hundred taels of silver.
Oh, let's just do a simple conversion.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the purchasing power of one or two pieces of silver was converted into about 500 yuan now, that is to say, a pair of white jade bottles customized by Yang Zhi was worth about 300,000 yuan now.
The Palace Museum in Beijing has a collection of Qing Dynasty topaz bracelets
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the development of social culture, the thick humanistic connotation of jade was more vividly displayed at the value level.
For example, the Ming Dynasty historian Zhang Dai recorded in the "Tao'an Dream Remembrance" that his uncle Zhang Eryun once received a jade hairpin made by the famous jade master Lu Zigang, and at that time someone bid for three hundred and two silver, but Zhang Eryun was still unwilling to transfer it.
It should be known that the annual income of ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty was only 20 taels of silver, according to the purchasing power conversion, one or two silver in the late Ming Dynasty was about equal to 800 yuan today, and three hundred and two silver was equivalent to the current 240,000 yuan.
The National Palace Museum in Taipei has a collection of Ming Dynasty Zigang jade hairpins
National Palace Museum, Taipei Ming Dynasty Zigang Jade Hairpin (Partial)
Coincidentally, Chen Sex, a Qing Dynasty jade connoisseur and collector who created the jade culture work "Jade Chronicle" in history, was influenced by his father, who was keen on collecting, and was more interested in jade from an early age.
Chen's experience in the identification of jade was also inherited from his family, and even most of his jade collection in his lifetime was inherited from his father.
However, Chen Sex's father and son were originally rich and surplus in their family business, and they were also too addicted to jade collection and fell into the family road. It can be seen that even in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, jade was also expensive.
The National Palace Museum in Taipei holds the Han jade cicada
In summary, whether it is the "priceless" of pre-Qin jade or the value of Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing jade, jade has never departed from the precious category in the minds of Chinese.
The ancients even proposed the value point of "pearl and jade is the upper coin, gold is the Middle currency, and the knife cloth is the lower coin".
The jade from ancient times to the present in the eyes of the Chinese is precious, the fundamental reason is that jade not only has economic value, but also contains humanistic connotation and spiritual significance, it is under the action of these comprehensive conditions, Chinese jade has become an important carrier of Chinese civilization, and in the endless development process of life, passed on the torch to be inherited for thousands of years, lasting!
The tomb of the Nanyue King of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed a carved dragon and phoenix pattern heavy ring jade pendant
The Palace Museum in Beijing holds a white jade spoon from the Tang Dynasty
The Liaoning Museum holds the Liao Dynasty gold chain white jade bamboo knot pattern relics bottle
The Shanghai Museum has a collection of gold grape-patterned jade ornaments
The National Palace Museum in Taipei has a collection of Qing jade boxes from the Ming Dynasty
Qingqianlong white jade sheep head melon petal cup