“Stone Dearer than Gold”

What would you think if you're told that a tiny stone, just once ounce in weight, can be sold for 20,000 yuan, or 2,466 U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange, or even more?

Most probably you would dismiss it as nonsense. But don't be impetuous. We are not kidding. In China, the jade-like Shoushan stone has always been sold by the ounce. For Tianhuang (meaning "heavenly yellow"), the best variety of Shoushan stones, the price can exceed 100,000 yuan, or 12,330 U.S. dollars, per ounce.

Tianhuang is known as the "king of Chinese stones." Here is the old saying: "An ounce of Tianhuang is as dear as several ounces of pure gold."

Archeologists found two figurines of Shoushan stone in the shape of pigs in a tomb that dates from the Southern Dynasties Period about 1,500 years ago, and this is the earliest evidence to the use of the precious stone as material for art carving. As time goes by, artworks of Shoustone, mostly statues and seal cuttings, have come to be recognized as an independent branch of the Chinese culture, which virtually embraces all aspects of the Chinese culture - religions, philosophies, ethics, history, aesthetics, arts, etc.

Central Philosophy of Chinese Culture

As the Chinese proverb goes, "When a thing is scarce, it is expensive." Shoushan stones are dearer than gold largely because it is found in limited quantities, only at a small village named Shoushan in Fujian Province, southeast China.

Shoushan stones feature dazzling colors and exquisite veins on them, a natural beauty which, scientists believe, resulted from complicated chemical reactions that took place in lava forced out by the earth's crust movement 230 million to 67 million years ago. That may also explain why they are so valuable.

There are other things that make Shoushan stone so valuable. The most important of all, however, is that the stone is seen as epitomizing the spirit of the mainstream Chinese philosophy based on a "trinity" of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

Confucianism was China's dominant ideology for well over 2,000 years after feudalism was institutionalized with the founding of the Qin, the first imperial dynasty in the country. Though not a religion in its true sense, it was revered as such. Buddhism found its way into China in the first century AD, and was to incorporate with the Chinese culture in the course of its spreading, to become what is known as the "Chinese school of Buddhism." Taoism was founded about 1,800 years ago, on the basis of some indigenous beliefs. As time went by, there was a fusion of the "three religions," which have until today exerted an all-embracing influence on the minds of the Chinese people, in fact on every aspect of their lives.

Shoushan stones look elegant and at the same time, can be put to practical use. That suits the taste of the ancient Chinese intelligentsia who, in following the teachings of Confucius, always held themselves aloof from the vulgar while seeking to go in for public service.

During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Buddhists were already carving Shoushan stones into Buddha images. In the Shoushan area where the stone is produced, numerous places have their names associated with the religion - the Monk's Cave, the Nun's Pavillion, the Buddha Pit, to mention just three. We can safely say that Buddhists were the earliest contributors to the building of the Shoushan Stone culture.

Taoism calls for harmony between Man and Nature, for doing things by the following Tao the Great Way - the laws governing the development of everything in the universe. Shoushan stone is not so hard like precious stones, and neither does it contain exceptionally rare elements. It commands a beauty beyond description by mere words, something Taoists believe to have stemmed from nature. That explains why the stone is seen as embodying the spirit of Taoism.