Understanding China’s Stone Age and Jade Rituals

There are stones everywhere on Earth. Every civilization has experienced the Stone Age. Stone cultures are also well-developed around the world. But in the Neolithic Age, stone ritual vessels represented by jade gradually appeared on Chinese soil. Since then, China’s stone culture has diverged from other civilizations’ stone cultures and ultimately established its own unique cultural attributes.

On the assembly line where a large amount of stones were touched, utilized, processed, and handled, our ancestors faced a challenge: if the stones were too soft and easy to process, but not durable and could not be used for a long time; If the stone is too hard and wear-resistant, it can be used for a long time, but processing is extremely difficult. When faced with a choice, most people tend to choose a compromise solution, which is to choose stones with moderate hardness, not too hard, relatively suitable for the purpose of use, and wear-resistant for processing. That is to say, stones that are too hard will be eliminated. However, in the process of social division of labor, the processing of harder stones has not disappeared, but gradually emerged. Our ancestors discovered that these items, which require more manpower and material costs to process, inherently contain an equal amount of value as the cost, and as a formal carrier of this value, can be exchanged for an equal amount of value. Subsequently, this exchange gradually evolved into a concept that everyone agreed upon – the possession of similar stone tools is equivalent to the possession of productive forces. So the meaning of processing stone tools was changed: their practical value began to gradually decrease, even disappear, without any practical value, but instead opened up a space that could accept more other meanings.

In addition to their hardness, delicacy, and durability, colorful, warm, and uniquely textured stones have also been selected during the extensive processing of stone tools and gradually become specialized materials for making ritual vessels. This is jade. When beautiful stones were called jade, they were not specifically referring to a certain type of stone as they are now, but rather representatives of all beautiful stones that meet the above characteristics and are produced locally. The establishment of the status of jade is entirely due to its multiple characteristics – these characteristics convinced our ancestors that jade is the best representative that can accommodate faith, power, wealth, aesthetics, and even heaven and earth. High quality jade ritual vessels have been unearthed in numerous cultural relics such as Hongshan in Liaoning, Liangzhu in Zhejiang, and Jinsha in Sichuan, China. They are like a kaleidoscope, reflecting various information about social life at that time.

Jade, which is made into ritual vessels, is not only inherited from rituals, but also implemented as utensils.

The ancestors endowed some representative objects with specific properties, such as sacredness, which gave them their own meaning and seemed to be their inherent attributes, which in turn governed people’s attitudes towards objects – although these attributes were endowed by humans and absorbed by objects after being formulated by the sages through complex ritual systems. Thus, from personal cultivation to “governing the country and pacifying the world”, as well as ethical norms such as benevolence, righteousness, and morality, can all exist attached to specific objects. Our ancestors made it possible to ‘hide gifts in jade’.

The practice of ‘hiding etiquette in jade’, coupled with the difficulty and mysterious environment of jade mining, not only makes the price of jade expensive, but also cloaks it in the cloak of faith. In the Han Dynasty, places where jade was produced were already considered inhabited by immortals. The myth of Kunlun Mountain, the belief in Queen Mother of the West, jade burial, jade eating, the immortal mountains with a large number of jade carvings, and the three mountains on the sea in the garden are all closely related to this. The peak moment of jade culture in Chinese history has arrived. Even if the “collapse of ritual and music” occurs later, jade no longer becomes a symbol of power, and “hiding ritual in jade” can quickly be replaced by “hiding faith in jade” and “hiding wealth in jade”, until it is replaced by “hiding emotions in jade”. The history of the next 2000 years also proves with facts that the significance of jade has not decreased but increased. Chinese people prefer jade.

Jade can never return to its natural simplicity in Chinese culture. From the selection of beautiful stones among the stones to the splendor of local jade among the beautiful stones, Hotan Jade finally stood out from all the jades. Then, the jade represented by Hotan Jade, in turn, replaces all stones, as well as the nature, history, culture and politics behind them. This thread almost covers the thousands of years of civilization development history in China. The influence of jade permeates all aspects of social life, even in the blood of Chinese people, and becomes a part of Chinese cultural genes.

The development of ritual has made jade and jade like stones particularly favored by Chinese people. The books “Guanzi”, “Xunzi”, “Li Ji”, “Shuowen”, etc. all mention that jade has various beautiful virtues. In addition to discussing some of the natural properties of jade, these texts are actually emphasizing that a noble person and jade share a common cultural connotation. Under the influence of Confucius’ philosophy of “the virtue of a gentleman is better than jade”, these stones beloved by ancestors are not only endowed with mysterious colors, but also generate rich aesthetic attributes in the continuous evolution of history.

First of all, Chinese people like people like jade. It is easy to find some words that use jade to describe people, such as “gentle and gentle, then gentleman”, “jade trees face the wind”, “graceful and graceful”, “would rather be broken than destroyed”, which all prove the close relationship between the beauty of stone and Chinese people at a deeper level. Then the Chinese like stones like those of the most noble people. From liking jade, to liking people like jade, to liking stones like those of the most noble people, these three progressive relationships seem to be revealing the historical truth of Chinese stone culture – that is, on the premise of preserving the excellent natural attributes of stones, Chinese people like stones like themselves.

Those who are like jade will surely be enveloped by gifts. The temperament of jade is characterized by moderation, chaos, gentleness, and introversion, which are also highly valued by later Confucian scholars who revered jade. Many powers are attached to Confucian theory, becoming the foundation of China’s future social development. A society composed of people like jade must be exceptionally stable, strong, and peaceful like jade. There are also those ‘golden rules’ that can be engraved on stones and also engraved in our brains.