Chapter 1 Wushan Jade Yun - Wushan Mandarin Duck Jade and Qi Family Culture

Wushan Mandarin Duck Jade and Qijia Culture

The scientific name of Mandarin Duck Jade is "Serpentine", Panlong Mountain in the west of Wushan County and north of the Wei River in Tianshui City contains a large number of black-green serpentine mines, because it was first found in the North Mountain of Qiujiaxia in Yuanyang Town, so it is called Mandarin Duck Jade. Wushan mandarin duck jade has been developed and utilized in the Yangshao cultural period. The production area of mandarin duck jade is close to the western section of the upper reaches of the Wei River, and Qin'an Dadiwan is located in the Qingshui River, a tributary of the Hulu River in the upper reaches of the Wei River, and the two places are about 100 miles apart. Among the 23 jade specimens unearthed in Dadiwan, there are 7 tremolite jade, 9 serpentine jade, and 3 jade raw materials, of which serpentine jade was unearthed in the second period (6500-5900 years ago), and a tremolite jade was unearthed in the fourth period. This shows that between 5500 and 4900 years ago, the ancestors of the Hulu River Basin in Gansu Province had already used tremolite jade resources, and at the same time, the ancestors of Yangguanzhai in Gaoling, Shaanxi Province, and the ancestors of Yangshao culture in the western slope of Lingbao, Henan Province still only had serpentine and calcite materials.

The physical characteristics of mandarin duck jade are relatively obvious, and it is easier to identify than the various local jade materials. In 2012, when I visited the Jingning Museum in Gansu Province, the two earliest jade objects on display in the museum, a jade and a jade axe, were ink-colored on the surface, which were the dark tones of mandarin duck jade seeds. In the summer of 2015, the fifth jade silk road (grassland jade road) investigation in Ningxia Guyuan Museum, two Neolithic jade chisels on display, one was unearthed in 1986 at the Shatang Township of Shatang Township, Longde County, Ningxia, and the other was collected in Guyuan County in 1987. In addition, a large jade bi (18.2 cm in diameter) unearthed from the Shengli site in Fengling Township, Longde County, in 1988 in the collection of Guyuan Museum, also looks like it was processed from mandarin duck jade.

Mandarin duck jade is widely distributed in Panlongshan, north of the Weihe River in Wushan County, with proven reserves of 324 million cubic meters, ranking second in the world. Mainly composed of magnesium oxide, silicon dioxide, calcium oxide, etc., it is dark green, emerald green, olive green, fluorescent light green and other colors, its colorful colors, implying natural textures, just like the dragon and snake dancing, the clouds are swirling, elegant and magnificent, the pattern is wonderful, like a snake pattern, if a waterfall, and like the clouds in the sky, it is extraordinarily gorgeous. Mandarin duck jade carving products are crystal clear, excellent texture, natural texture, exquisite and beautiful craftsmanship, novel and generous, unique and delicate style, vivid and beautiful shape. All kinds of cups and plates are as thin as eggshells, small and delicate, or changeable. Its solemn and elegant natural texture makes it an ideal material for jade carving crafts, high-end furniture inlays and high-quality panels. Its texture is delicate and tough, compression-resistant, weather-resistant, and has excellent grindability, making it the best raw material for all kinds of high-grade jade handicrafts.

Qijia culture jade is a highly influential independent cultural system in the prehistoric jade culture of the mainland, and it has become an important part of the rich connotation of Qijia culture with its unique cultural appearance. Qijia culture was named after the discovery in Qijiaping, Guanghe County, Gansu Province in 1942. The Qijia culture dates back to about 3500 to 4200 years ago, and its distribution is very extensive, mainly distributed along the Yellow River and its tributaries in Qinghai, Gansu, northwest Shaanxi, western Inner Mongolia and parts of Ningxia. Wushan County is located in the central area of the Qijia cultural range, and a large number of Qijia cultural jades have been unearthed in many Qijia cultural sites in the territory, and many of these jade materials are mandarin duck jade native to today's Wushan.

The site of Dapingtou in Wushan, located on the secondary platform north of the Wei River at the junction of Chengguan Town and Luomen Town, was discovered by Guo Deyong and other experts of the Gansu Provincial Museum during the archaeological investigation in the upper reaches of the Wei River from the autumn of 1956 to the spring of 1957. In 2003, it was announced as a key cultural relics protection unit in Gansu Province. It is adjacent to Lubangou in the east, Yangou in the west, Pingyuan Village in the north, and Chengzui Highway in the south, with a length of 1,000 meters from east to west, a width of 500 meters from north to south, and a protection area of 500,000 square meters. The site is adjacent to Weishui in the south, the mountain in the north, leeward to the sun, the terrain is open, suitable for the primitive ancestors to multiply, and the cultural layer is 1-3 meters thick. The ruins of cliffs, ditches, ridges can be seen ash layers, ash pits, white ash ground, red clay and other cultural relics, collected stone, pottery, bone and other specimens, of which pottery and stone tools are more numerous, according to these relics, the provincial museum experts identified that include Yangshao culture, Qijia culture two stages of development, but the most important relics and relics have Qijia cultural characteristics.

The jade artifacts of Qijia culture unearthed from the Dapingtou site mainly include Yubi, Yuhuang, Yugui, Yucong and so on. These jade artifacts carry the spiritual and cultural beliefs of the ancestors of the Qi family, and are one of the important sources of ancient jade culture in the mainland, with high academic research and cultural and artistic value.

Tracing the source of jade materials of Qijia culture, in the early understanding, influenced by the source of jade materials of Yinxu jade, it is believed that the jade materials of Qijia culture jade should come from the Kunlun Mountains. However, according to Professor Han Jianye's view, the Qijia culture developed in the southeast of Gansu in the early days, represented by the remains of the seventh phase of Tianshui Shizhao Village. This site is located on the Wei River, very close to the Wushan Mandarin Duck Jade Mine. In the middle of the Qijia culture, it expanded to the Hexi Corridor and most of Gansu to the east, the eastern edge of Qinghai and the southern part of Ningxia.

In recent years, jade ore resources represented by the Mabitshan Jade Mine, the Mamanshan Jade Mine and the Dunhuang Dry Gorge Jade Mine have been discovered and exploited. In particular, the jade ore resources found in Gansu, such as the Horsehair Mountain Jade Mine, the Mabitshan Jade Mine, and the Wushan Mandarin Duck Jade Mine, completely solved the problem of large differences in the jade quality of the Qijia culture, and concluded that the jade materials of the Qijia culture were mainly made from local materials, and a very small amount of jade materials came from the Kunlun Mountains. This understanding is also of great benefit to the discussion of the origin of jade materials from other cultures.

Now in the Jingning County Museum's national treasure cultural relics Qijia culture (4000 years ago) jade, Wushan County Museum collection unearthed in the Dapingtou site of the jade cong (Zhou Dynasty, Luomen West Dryping site unearthed. width 6.5 cm, thickness 4.5 cm, upper aperture 5 cm, lower aperture 3.5 cm, weight 340 grams; Mandarin duck jade, cube, plain surface, perforated for two tables, the lower end is larger, the upper end is smaller, and the pair is drilled; The large-caliber wall is polished slightly close to the two parts, open and flat, and the small-caliber wall opening is primitive, which seems to be made and rough-processed), which is a representative artifact of the Mandarin Duck jade of Qijia culture. In addition, the surrounding counties and districts of Wushan, Dingxi City Museum, Longxi County Museum, Dadiwan Museum, Anding District Museum, Gangu County Museum, and Zhenyuan County Museum also have Qijia cultural jade made of mandarin duck jade.

From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Qin and Han dynasties, mandarin duck jade was more widely processed and used. Now the imperial bowl and wine dendrobium used by Qin Shi Huang on display in the Forest of Steles Museum in Shaanxi are carved from serpentine similar to mandarin duck jade. The jade unearthed from the archaeological excavations of the early Qin culture of Maojiaping in Gangu in recent years (2800 years ago) is made of mandarin duck jade.

In the east of Hedong, Guanzhong and the Central Plains appeared in the jade road from Gansu to the east during the Qijia cultural period. The two dark green jade ornaments unearthed from the Fulinbao site in the western suburbs of Baoji, Guanzhong, about 5,000 years ago, are serpentine stones; The jade artifacts of Yangshao ruins, such as the jade axe of Fengxi Township, Chang'an County, the jade shovel of Kexingzhuang, and the three-hole jade knife of Tongchuan City, are also serpentine; Of the 14 pieces of jade unearthed from the cemetery on the western slope of Lingbao County, about 5,300 years ago in the East Qinling Mountains, 13 of them are dark green and dark green jade, which are also serpentine - they are all mandarin duck jade from Wushan. As for Lantian jade, some people believe that it was located in the Western Regions in ancient times, not Lantian in Shaanxi. Now the varieties of Lantian jade found in Lantian County are black jade, white jade, colored jade, the main mineral composition is serpentine marble, which is a metamorphic rock, and the origin and mineral composition of Jiuquan jade and mandarin duck jade produced in the rock mass are completely different. It can be seen that about 5,000 years ago, Wushan in Gansu became the source of serpentine jade (mandarin duck jade), and formed a jade road along the Wei River to the east through the Guanzhong Plain into the Central Plains, which may as well be called the Wei River Jade Road.

Gansu's abundant tremolite jade resources have laid a material foundation for the formation of the "Jade Road" and the occurrence and development of Qijia culture. The Qijia culture spans from about 2200 BC to 1600 BC, and has entered the stage of copper and stone combination, mainly distributed in Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and other four provinces and regions. Since the discovery of the Qijiaping site in Guanghe County, Gansu Province in 1924, more than 1,500 Qijia cultural sites have been discovered, including more than 450 in Qinghai Province, more than 10 in Ningxia, and more than 1,000 in Gansu. Since the 50s of the 20th century, archaeologists have carried out investigation, excavation and research on Qijia cultural sites, and excavated Gansu Wuwei Huangniangniangtai, Yongjing Dahezhuang, Qin Weijia, Zhangjiazui, Jijiachuan, Tianshui Shizhao Village and Xishanping, Wushan Fujiamen, Qinghai Ledu Liuwan Cemetery, Minhe Lajia Ruins and Lintan Mozuizi and other sites.

From July 26 to 27, 2016, Ye Shuxian led a team to Wushan County to explore the Mandarin Duck jade mine that was missed due to heavy rain. After sampling, it is pointed out that comparing the representative specimens of mandarin duck jade with the unearthed cultural relics can preliminarily verify which of the unearthed jade artifacts of Yangshao culture, Longshan culture, lower Changshan culture and Qijia culture may have been made of Weihe jade, so as to provide clues to the new hypothesis that the Weihe River of the Jade Road preceded the Yellow River Road. In this way, the history of the west-to-east transmission may be pushed up to nearly 2000 years, from 4000 years ago in the Qijia cultural period to 6000 years ago in the Yangshao cultural period.

In the context of the "Belt and Road", it is of great significance to re-understand the connotation and value of this east-west cultural exchange channel, explore the origin, development and inheritance of Chinese civilization, and help the development of jade cultural industry and tourism. At the same time, in the context of increasingly close international exchanges and cooperation, it provides valuable experience for science to inherit, promote and disseminate China's excellent cultural heritage and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Today, Wushan Mandarin Duck jade carving is exquisite and beautiful, well-known at home and abroad, the products are exported to Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and other more than 20 provinces and cities, some products into the United States, Britain, Japan, Singapore and other international markets, favored by people. Mandarin duck jade carving, unique shape, vivid and beautiful, in October 2006 included in the first batch of Tianshui City intangible cultural heritage list, in 2010 was rated as one of the top ten most popular tourism products in the country.

(Contributed by Pei Yingdong)