Dazhong Daily reporter Yu Guopeng
During the Spring Festival this year, the Shandong Museum launched the "Jade Run ShengXiang - Jade Collection Jade Fine Exhibition", hoping to show the "most elegant jade" to everyone. Since the opening of the exhibition on January 30, the audience has been enthusiastic. People like jade and jade, not only love its beauty, value its elegance, but also respect its spirit.
There are many words related to jade, and the ancients created qiong, yao, huan, cui, 琮, jue, heng, mei, wei, long, long, long, 琬 and other characters to identify various kinds of jade. Whether ancient or modern, many people like to choose these words when they take names, which are used to convey good wishes and emotions.
According to the famous popular science writer Yu Yuan, "Jade comes from high-temperature magma tens of kilometers deep underground, and these high-temperature magma gushes from the underground along the cracks to the surface of the earth, and after cooling, it forms hard stones." "Are these stones all jade?" Apparently not. Yu Yuan introduced, "Only when certain elements slowly crystallize can hard jade or gemstones be formed. "Jade and gemstones are not the same concept, a gemstone is usually taken from a single crystal, and jade is composed of polycrystallines.
Human understanding of jade also has a historical process. In the book "Entering the Shandong Museum: Qi Feng Lu Yun", edited by Li Dong and Gao Zhen, it is introduced that early humans did not process and use jade on a large scale. The first germ of mainland jade known to date was a tool made of crystal by the "Peking people" between 700,000 and 200,000 years ago. However, throughout the Paleolithic Age, the processing and use of jade by humans was more of an unconscious act. In the Neolithic Age, only important people in the upper echelons, clan leaders or religious leaders within clan communes could possess high-grade jade products such as jade. "With the development of prehistoric social history, especially the increasingly obvious social stratification, jade has gradually become a symbol of wealth, power and status, and has the function of a ceremonial vessel."
By the Spring and Autumn Period, the idea of "taking jade as a bede" gradually arose, and jade was endowed with more and more moral and ethical connotations. In the "Sayings of Confucius", there is a special chapter of "Asking Jade", the first part of which records the matter of Zigong Asking Jade. Zigong was puzzled by the idea that "a gentleman is precious and jade is lowly", so he asked Confucius whether this was caused by the lack of jade and the large number of min. Min is a jade-like stone. For Zigong's question, Confucius gave a detailed explanation: "It is not for the jade to be low, so it is expensive, and the min is too much to be lowly." Fu Shi Junzi Bede Yu Yu: Gentle and Zeze, Ren Ye; Meticulous With Chestnut, Zhi Ye; Honest but Not Sharp, Righteous Also; Hanging as Falling, Li Ye; Knocking, Its Voice Is Clearer and Longer, and Its End is Cursed, Happy; Flawed Not Hidden, Yu Not Concealed, Loyal; Fu Yin Panda, Faith Also; Qi Like White Rainbow, Heaven Also; Spirit Seen in Mountains and Rivers, Earth Also; Jue Zhang Te Da, De Ye; The World is Not Noble, Dao Ye. "Poetry" Yun: 'Words and gentlemen, gentle as jade.' 'Therefore, the gentleman is also noble. ”
Regarding this passage of Confucius's words, The General Explanation of Confucius's Language edited by Professor Yang Chaoming and Song Lilin of Qufu Normal University explained it this way: "It is not because of the lack of jade that we regard jade as noble and minduo because of minduo. In the past, gentlemen compared virtue to jade: jade is gentle and soft and lustrous, like a kernel; delicate and precise and solid, like wisdom; angular without hurting people, like righteousness; hanging down, like a ceremony; tapping it, making a crisp and melodious sound, and ending abruptly, like music; the spots of jade do not hide the brilliance of jade, the brilliance of jade does not cover the spots of jade, like loyalty; the color of jade is crystal clear, reaching all directions, like faith; the phosgene is like a white rainbow, like heaven; the essence is presented between mountains and rivers, like the earth The jade made of jade does not need to be delivered to the lord alone by virtue of other things, like virtue; jade is honored under the heavens, like the Tao. The poem says, 'I miss my husband, who is gentle and soft, like jade.' So a gentleman values jade. ”
The two scholars further interpreted that in this answer, Confucius believes that the reason why "a gentleman is precious and jade is lowly" is because jade can symbolize virtue, "Here, Confucius shows us the understanding of virtue in the contemporaries. According to Confucius's explanation, virtue has eleven categories of benevolence, wisdom, righteousness, etiquette, pleasure, loyalty, faith, heaven, earth, virtue, and Tao, and Confucius's understanding of these eleven categories can be described as layer by layer, from benevolence, wisdom, etiquette, music, loyalty, faith, and heaven and earth, and then reduced to virtue and tao. Confucius's perfect combination of figurative metaphors and abstract speculation is breathtaking. ”
These thoughts, as the spiritual core, support the Chinese love jade wind. In the description of characters in literary works, or the tasting of characters, people also often use "jade" to express. For example, to describe the handsomeness of men, it is often described as "Yushu Linfeng". An interesting story about Xie An is recorded in the "New Language of the World", and Xie An asked his sons and nephews: Why do the younger generations not participate in political affairs and the like, so why do they desperately try to cultivate them to be very good? Just when everyone didn't know how to deal with it, Xie Xuan replied, "For example, Zhilan Yushu wants to make it born in the Jieting Ear." "It means that, like those Zhilan jade trees, everyone wants to grow in their own yard." Here, "Yushu" is clearly synonymous with excellence. Two of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" also have a short story, in which ShanTao described Ji Kang as drunk, calling him "the general collapse of the Golem Ruoyu Mountain". Drunkenness must not be beautiful, but the use of the word "jade mountain" not only makes people have no unbeautiful associations, but also instantly feels that they have a sense of wind and spirit. What about depicting women? It is often described as "pavilion and jade", and when you see this word, you can't help but imagine the beauty of "outstanding". In addition, Yu Ren's character is innocent, and it is often said that "ice is clean and jade" and "guarding the body like jade". The praisers are fierce in righteousness, and often use "rather than jade crushing, not tile whole". If the good and the bad are destroyed together, they are burned with "jade". Sighing turns enemies into friends, often summarized as "turning dry things into jade". Looking at these, all of them are related to jade, and all of them are related to beauty, and it is no wonder that everyone has liked jade throughout the ages.
In this process, there is also a special point, our ancestors early noticed the health care and medical function of jade, or polished into exquisite jade ornaments to wear on the body, or made into jade pillows and other daily use. In particular, it is worth mentioning that the ancients attached great importance to the therapy of "eating jade", that is, to treat diseases by eating jade. In the Ming Dynasty Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica", it is recorded that taking jade crumbs can "remove the heat in the stomach, wheezing and irritation, quench thirst, and take crumbs such as madou to serve it, take it lightly for a long time" and "moisturize the heart and lungs, help the voice and throat, nourish the hair", "nourish the five viscera, and stop irritability", and the book also records many prescriptions and methods of taking. However, these jade-eating formulas seem to have rarely been used today.
The long-standing jade culture has become one of the distinctive symbols of Chinese culture. To this day, jade is not only an important cultural symbol, but also an important cultural carrier, constantly inheriting and enriching chinese jade culture. In terms of attitude and opinion on jade, it is actually very vivid to reflect the romantic color of Chinese culture. Obviously, it is precisely because people regard every piece of jade and every piece of jade as a flesh-and-blood and emotional life body, so that jade culture can gradually enrich and develop in the in-depth dialogue and exchange with jade, and in a high degree of conformity with the rhythm of life of jade. Take jade as a friend, discuss with it, ponder for it, experience the cultural spirit of "jade beide", and feel the way of dealing with the world that is strong and soft, and the movement and stillness are suitable. Good at "asking jade", constantly pursuing the beauty of the article of "embellishing jade beads", diligent in "Bede", and finally achieving the quality beauty of "white jade flawless".