Jade and the Chinese Imagination
In the material and spiritual world of China, jade has never been a mere mineral. It is neither the sharp brilliance of metal nor the ostentation of gemstones, but a substance whose value has been repeatedly affirmed by time, ritual, and belief. From the ritual jades of the Neolithic period, through the legendary He Shi Bi of the Spring and Autumn era, to the imperial seals transmitted across dynasties, jade has occupied a central position in Chinese civilization.
The story of He Shi Bi may be regarded as a key to understanding how the Chinese perceive jade. According to tradition, during the Spring and Autumn period a man of Chu named Bian He discovered an uncut jade stone in the Jing Mountains. In his effort to present this jade to the king of Chu, he suffered repeated rejection and punishment, even losing both of his feet. Only during the reign of King Wen of Chu was the stone finally recognized, cut, and polished into a bi disc, thereafter known as He Shi Bi. This narrative is not simply about the fate of a precious object; it is a parable of value, recognition, and conviction. What is truly precious often demands time—and sacrifice—before it can be acknowledged.
Historical texts and archaeological evidence suggest that He Shi Bi was not a monumental object, but a jade disc only slightly larger than the palm of the hand, pierced at the center. This understanding is visually confirmed by the Eastern Han stone relief from Jiaxiang, Shandong, illustrating the story of “Returning the Jade Intact to Zhao,” where Lin Xiangru holds a pale, round bi disc. Its worth was never measured by size or weight, but by its rarity, purity, and the symbolic meanings gradually attached to it.
It was precisely this symbolic power that allowed He Shi Bi to evolve through centuries of retelling. From its earliest mention in Han Feizi, through Records of the Grand Historian, and later historical romances, the jade came to be reimagined as the primordial material of the Imperial Seal of China—the Seal of State. From the Qin dynasty onward, this seal was transmitted through successive dynasties for more than sixteen centuries, embodying the concept of the “Mandate of Heaven.” Its sudden disappearance during the turmoil of the Five Dynasties period left one of the great unresolved mysteries of Chinese history.
Yet the loss of the Imperial Seal did not diminish jade’s significance. On the contrary, from the Song dynasty onward, claims of rediscovered or newly made “true” Imperial Seals repeatedly emerged. This phenomenon reveals a deeper truth: jade had long transcended the realm of physical objects, becoming a projection of authority, legitimacy, and cosmic order. Even in the early twentieth century, long after the end of imperial rule, figures such as Zhang Bi and Lu Zhonglin were still searching for the lost seal, demonstrating the enduring symbolic power jade continued to exert.
However, to understand jade solely as a symbol of imperial power would be incomplete. In Chinese thought, jade has always carried a more intimate and ethical dimension. Classical texts such as the Book of Rites liken jade to moral virtue, associating its qualities with benevolence, wisdom, righteousness, and integrity. Jade thus became not a display of wealth, but a mirror of character. For this reason, traditional Chinese jades favor restraint, warmth, and maturity over brilliance or ostentation.
Seen from this perspective, whether it is the legendary He Shi Bi or a small, time-worn jade held in a scholar’s hand, both participate in the same cultural logic: jade is valued for its inner restraint, its capacity to be nurtured over time, and its ability to be transmitted across generations. Jade may lie buried in the earth for centuries, or be polished by countless human hands; it belongs both to state ritual and to personal contemplation.
Perhaps this is why the Chinese imagination has never fully accepted the disappearance of He Shi Bi. Even if the physical object remains lost, the idea of jade endures. Jade, for the Chinese, has never been merely stone—it is a shared understanding of time, order, and belief, carried forward even when the object itself has vanished.
By Cangfeng Zhai · Owner
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