An Encounter with Jade

Zhang Yun

Tsinghua University Press

October 2022

45.00 （CNY）

Zhang Yun

A university professor who loves stories， a lady who makes field investigations into novels and essays.

This book is a collection of essays and novels based on field investigation and is also a rare book about Hetian jade， that leaves aside the market and price. With strong humanistic feelings， the author introduces all kinds of figures related to Hetian jade and described the stones “kept privately and unknown to the public” and the Hetian jade. Actually， it talks about different values reflected by the stones.

When a good piece of jade comes to the jade market in the city， it should have been exchanged five or six times.

The original jade pebble must come from the local elders. In some places where ethnic minorities live in compact communities in Xinjiang， there will always be some family leaders， regardless of age or seniority. In modern society， they are like the directors of rural cooperatives who take charge of distribution and decision-making.

Maliyan Village is one of the entrances of the ancient river channel to the desert. Villagers can also find some jade while transforming the desert. After generations， villagers living here have long been a community. According to the arrangement of elders， they will work in groups and shifts all day long. The elders check their results on the site every morning. Usually， they will keep the best ones. Then they will calculate the cost according to the day’s expenditure and define the scope of the total sales price of other jade pebbles. After that， the elders will leave. The person in charge will classify the remaining jade pebbles according to the total sales price and mark the prices. Of course， there are good and bad ones among a pile of jade pebbles. Someone lucky enough to grab a pile will immediately put them on a big disk made of iron. Some stones are stuck with hard sand. The elders will grind them off with sandpaper or steel balls and then classify them or sell them directly.

There are two kinds of jade vendors： One kind of vendor puts the stones in the vehicle’s trunk. They set aside， singing in the sun and waiting for buyers. If you ask the price， he would roughly give a high price. If you bargain， he would say， “Go， go around and look.” Such a vendor has good stones. He comes every day because he is looking for good buyers. The other kind of vendor takes jade in their hands and ask whomever they meet， “Would you like this good piece of jade？” You can bargain with such vendors， but the jade is not good. Although there are fakes in this market， people seldom lie. They will tell you the truth if you ask whether the jade is genuine.

The common fakes have fake skins. The concept of skin comes from the jade pebble. It means the color formed after the skin of jade is oxidized or infiltrated by other minerals. These skins are usually colorful， such as autumn pear skin， codiaeum skin， etc. Many people regard such skin as remaining on the jade for thousands of years. Generally， when the jade pebble is first watered or unearthed， it almost has no skin color （unless it has experienced channel change， sun exposure， or water erosion）. However， the skin will wear an oxidized color if the jade is oxidized or handled with using walnut oil or olive oil. After being treated and handled for half a year， the color will become increasingly full， and the jade is regarded as mature.

The jade pebbles from ancient river channels have been watered and polished many times， so the skin color is stronger. The strongest color should be dark skin. Dark skin jade has experienced channel changes and repeated erosion and exposure for hundreds and even thousands of years， and they have a high degree of oxidation. It is most fulfilling to play with such jade. You’d better first play with a piece of them. Thus， it is easy to see the effect by comparison. If you’ve got a plan for the shape， you can play with the skin to be left first until the skin shows a maroon color. It looks most beautiful when the internal jade color is partly visible. Of course， such dark skin jade is expensive， and the risk of purchasing such jade pebble is higher.

Playing with the codiaeum skin of little white jade pebbles is also fulfilling. However， codiaeum skin is too easily mistaken as fake because the jade handled with as soon as it is watered cannot be transferred to anyone else. If you buy a piece of used jade from someone， you should wash it for some time with warm water every day so that the sweat， oil and wax of others are removed. After the jade is cleaned thoroughly， you can play with it. Otherwise， you will feel like you are smelling other’s dirty hands or that your jade gives off a rough smell of sweat.

You can’t believe perfect genuine skin. Therefore， authenticating skin color becomes a necessary skill. Simply put， there is a transitional color on genuine skin， while fake skin tones are uniform. It is colored somewhere， while not colored in places high in density， and heavily colored in places with slurry. This is the easiest way to identify. The expertise report of such fake skins will write “the cause of color is unknown.” If you are lucky enough to play with several pieces of the jade pebble， and look closely into the skin color， you will find that genuine skins have fuller colors due to the effect of walnut oil. Fortunately， locals at the market of origin seldom cheat you.

Most buyers in Hetian have experienced jade merchants and often hire local interpreters. These interpreters also act as brokers. They are familiar with the trade. First， they will ask you to wear casual clothes， preferably clothes with no features. Then， they will drive you in their old vehicles to the market. The interpreter will also tell you that if you like some jade， bargain slowly. It’s not because the seller will look for trouble if you do not buy the jade after bargaining. However， you will find it unpleasant if the price is bid up. Once there was an expert who came here with great difficulty. He was excited to see a good piece of jade and asked the price. When he made a plan and began to bargain， a group surrounded him and joined in the fun. No matter what price he gave， someone would say， “I will add one thousand and have the jade.” The price of this stone increased by several thousand in a few minutes. At this moment， the expert was anxious about whether he would buy it. Because the jade was unique， it was a pity if he didn’t buy it. But the price was several thousand higher if he bought it. Of course， the bargainer was generally sure that he would buy it though the price was several thousand higher. Like this， many people live on their verbal tricks at the jade market. It is unique that they make money without paying any cost.