Some time ago I received from a close friend a beautiful jade pendant that he had bought for me during his last stay in China. Little did he know how much this gem meant to me, with my rising interest in China's lore and dragons.

In the Chinese Empire jade was considered the most noble of all gems; to the extent that it was simply designated under the name yü, "precious stone". Yü means "treasure" in Chinese the way "gold" means "wealth" in English. According to myth, the stone was born during a storm, and for this reason every home had jade in its foundations to keep lightning at bay. According to another myth, the stone was crystallized moonlight that came from the holy mountains. It was naturally the royal stone, and believed to be the incarnation of the cosmic principle. As such, it was said to possess the five essential virtues of Chinese philosophy: compassion, modesty, courage, justice and wisdom - but it was also credited with benevolence, knowledge, righteousness, virtuousness, purity, endurance, ingenuousness, morality and music. A disciple of Confucius once asked him why men valued jade more than serpentine. "Is it because jade is scarce and serpentine is abundant?" Confucius replied: "It is not, but it is because men of olden days regarded it as a symbol of the virtues. Its gentle, smooth, glossy appearance suggests charity of heart; its fine close texture and hardness suggests wisdom; it is firm and yet does not wound, suggesting duty to one's neighbor; it hangs down as though sinking, suggesting ceremony; struck, it gives a clear note, long drawn out, dying gradually away and suggesting music; its flaws do not hide its excellences, nor do its excellences hide its flaws, suggesting loyalty; it gains our confidence, suggesting truth; its spirituality is like the bright rainbow, suggesting the heavens above; its energy is manifested in hill and stream, suggesting the earth below; as articles of regalia it suggests the exemplification of that than which there is nothing in the world of equal value, and thereby is Tao itself."
As a tribute to its value, the classics of Chinese philosophy suggested the creation of a special ministry to manage the use of the stone.

Many elements of the Chinese language are connected to jade. The concept of "peace" and "friendship" is written "jade-silk" (yu-po) because a long time ago these two materials were used together during worship and diplomatic meetings. We can also note that the earliest character for magician (wu) represents pi discs, perhaps because they were the only ones entitled to perform rituals.

As for "ritual", it is written "to serve the gods with jade". Indeed, six ritual jade stones were used as offerings to the six directions in nature cults and funerary rites. The Liji or Book of Rites, compiled around 300 BC, states: "If a ruler perfectly observes the rites of the state, white jade will appear in the valley". The specifics of the sacrifice are also found in the Liji: "To give grace to the sky, one needs a sky-blue pi, to the earth a yellow t'sung, to the east a green kuei, to the south a red ch'ang, to the west a white hu, to the north a black huang". The attributes of the above stones are as follows:

pi or bi disc: Associated colour: blue. Direction: Heaven. Shape: flat disc with a hole in its center. History and symbolism: Plain at first, the pi was later decorated with auspicious animals such as dragons and bats , or motifs representing wind and waves. The pi is the most important of all the jade talismans, and was used as a funerary object to guide the spirit to heaven as well as an emblem of nobility. Its shape may originate in the circular path of the sun, with the central hole standing for the fixed Polar Star, or for the philosophical principle of the Absolute (t'ai chi) or "Absolute Oneness" (t'ai-i). The pi is still worn today as a talisman: my pendant is an example.	t'sung or cong: Associated colour: yellow. Direction: Earth. Shape: Square prism pierced with a round hole. History and symbolism: Its corners represent Water, Fire, Metal and Wood. Chinese cosmology considered the heavens to be round and the earth square, hence the pi and t'sung association.
kuei tablet: Associated colour: green. Element: Wood. Direction: East (guarded by the Dragon). Season: spring Shape: a stylized axe blade. History and symbolism: the Emperor gave a kuei to his dispatches to stand as a "tablet of authority". It was used by the nobility to show their social status, and was also the imperial symbol until it was replaced by a jade seal.	ch'ang tablet: Associated colour: red. Element: Fire. Direction: South. Season: summer. Shape: a half-kuei.
hu: Associated colour: white. Element: Metal. Direction: West (guarded by the Dragon of the West, or Demon). Season: autumn Shape: a tiger, guardian of tombs. History and symbolism: The hu was broken in two and one half given to a recruiter as a token, as a security measure -- by reuniting the halves one could verify his orders.	huang: Associated colour: black. Element: Water. Direction: North. Season: autumn Shape: a half-pi. History and symbolism: Because of its association to water, the huang was also connected to the hudra, the fish, and the water dragon. It was awarded to river engineers.

Bells and chimes used during ritual were also made of jade, for the clear tone it gives off when struck was said to banish evil. Tales circulated of magical varieties of jade: one that stayed warm in winter and cool in summer; "red fire jade" that gave off light and heat; and even one that glowed in the dark.

Although jade could not prevent death, it was believed that it could help preserve a body, and the above amulets were used to this end: a pi was placed under the deceased1s back, a t'sung on his stomach, a huang at his head, a ch'ang at his feet, a kuei at his left and a hu at his right. "If you place gold and jade in the nine orifices of a corpse, the latter will be preserved from putrefaction", wrote Ko Hung.

Jade was used for many other magical purposes; for instance jade bowls would be used in meals so that the energy of the stone would permeate the food. It was worn on the fist or around the neck; merchants and advisors of the Empire held it in their hand for advice during negociations. The black variety sculpted as a disk was used to invoke the dead. Jade also brought rain, scared away demons and poisonous animals, brought honor and victory, quenched the thirst, and insured longevity if carved in the shape of a stork or bat. Jade liquor would even be prepared by mixing in a copper bowl jade, rice and dew, that were then boiled and filtered; this drink was supposed to purify the blood and help one bear heat, cold and hunger. In some regions of China, jade bracelets are still believed to protect from rheumatism.

Somewhere along the way, when the combined influences of Confucianism and Taoism started to make themselves felt, jade became a symbol of love that endures in folkloric talismans until today. A small rooster sculpted in jade means devotion; a goose faithfulness; a butterfly love (a jade butterfly is the traditional gift from a young man to his fiancée). A bamboo stem sculpted in jade is offered to a bride to wish her eternal love and happiness. To favour the birth of a boy, jade carved with the silhouette of a man riding a unicorn and holding little bells is offered to a couple. If the names of two friends or two lovers are engraved into this stone, the feeling that unites them will be strong and lasting. Later on when Buddhism was imported into the Middle Kingdom, its deities were also sculpted in the sacred stone. To the left is a Double Dragon pendant -- a stylized representation of two intertwined dragons.

The phoenix (which is supposed to only land on stones of jade) and the dragon were believed to be the life source of family clans, and so effigies of the two animal deities were carved in jade and worn as ornaments that symbolized a man's noble bearing. A saying derived from this practice: "The gentleman's morals are like jade." A delightful jade-vocabulary can be found in Chinese:
. Jade gold speech: Fine words.
. Jade wife: used to refer to your host's.
. Let your jade toes benignly approach: a courteous way of issuing an invitation.
. Jade Stalk: the male sexual organ.
. Jade Gate: the female sexual organ.
. To burn both jade and stone: complete devastation in war.
. Jade step: the imperial throne.
. Jade chariot: the imperial transport.
. To wear the jade: to serve in the Imperial bureaucracy.

The Chinese used and still use many jade-related names for their children, such as Yü (jade) or Bao-Yü (precious jade), Lin (beautiful jade), Lin-Yao (beautiful jade treasure), Ling (tinkling of pieces of jade)... The word itself is written using the ideogram on the left: the upper part of this symbol means the sky, its lower part the earth, its central part man in-between the two. According to this interpretation, this is why the king, the traditional intermediate between earth and heaven, uses jade in his prayers. The ideogram for king does resemble that for jade; the only difference is a stroke at the bottom right that replaces the drop. Much as I would love this interpretation to be authentic, more reliable sources give a much more down-to-earth explanation: the original sign represented three pieces of jade on a string. This is clearly visible in earlier inscriptions, before the sign was simplified and the "drop" added (right symbol).

What matters to me personally is that the word for "pearl" ­ the meaning of my name Joumana -- is written in Chinese and Japanese with this very same ideogram. Jade is also kown in China as the Dragon Stone, and interestingly, Chinese dragons are always represented with one or more water pearls -- a chain of associations that return to me and that I have exploited in this website's concept.

. Larousse des Pierres Précieuses.

. Tuan, Laura, Pouvoir et Magie des Pierres Précieuses.

. Cunningham, Scott, Crystal, Gem and Metal Magic.

. Leyi, Li, Tracing the Roots of Chinese Characters: 500 cases.

. http://www.holymtn.com/jade/whatisjade.htm

. http://www.warriortours.com/intro/crafts_jade.htm

. http://www.homestead.com/u_lian_collectibles/about_Chinese_Jade.html

. http://www.npm.gov.tw/exhbition/jad9910/english/selections.htm

. http://www.npm.gov.tw/exhbition/jad9910/english/introduction.htm

. http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/culture/cultur13.html

. http://www.cowell.org/~yogo/den16.html

Article & illustrations © Joumana Medlej