A jade collector's paradise

Jade has long been a symbol of power in China. In the Neolithic Age, it was already being used to make ritual items. For long periods of history, the use of jade was the perquisite of imperial or royal families.

The Beauty of Jade and its Culture in East Asia Display (玉之華2 -- 東亞玉器與玉文化大展), showing until July 16 at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國父紀念館), which claims to be the biggest exhibition of jade ever held in Taiwan, is an great opportunity to see jade through the ages. Comprising 2,500 pieces and spanning 7,500 years, the exhibition brings together items from over 100 private collectors. This is the second time this exhibition has been held, the first time being five years ago, also at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial. On that occasion, the exhibition attracted 100,000 people.

According to Tsai Sheng-hsiung (蔡勝雄), the head of the Yuyaji Association (玉雅集協會), a society of jade collectors, Taiwan has bought up large quantities of the recently excavated old jade that has come onto the market over the last 20 years, since China opened its market to outside buyers. Many of the collectors who have contributed to this exhibition are members of a five-year program to study and understand jade and jade culture (認識古玉與玉文化社教研究班), an evening class for enthusiasts of jade, many of whom are already experts in their own right.

Among the collectors who contributed to the show is U Chu Pharmaceutical (五洲製藥) owner Wu hsien-wang (吳先旺), who owns the exhibition's most valuable jade, which cost NT$120,000,000 at an auction in Hong Kong. Because it is so valuable, it is only brought out for display on weekends. His son is usually on hand just to keep an eye on it.

This is a piece of white jade with a color and texture described as being like lanolin cream (羊脂白玉). It's size alone makes it extremely rare, for large pieces of high quality jade are difficult to come by. Moreover, the characters on the stone are carved by the Qianlong emperor himself. There are many pieces of jade that originated from Qianlong's collection.

For sheer size, there is also a 40kg rock of jade. It is said to be worth over NT$20 million, but because of its size, the organizers are not unduly concerned that anyone will walk away with it.

Because of the enormous value put on jade, many ways have been found to fake precious jade. There is a special section of the exhibition devoted to this.

"People burn it, oil it and tint it to make the jade look older and add to its value," said Chen Chung-chung (陳仲中), who works as a guide at the show. Fake jades are on display to show the tricks the ancients would get up to.

While many of the Jade objects on display come from China, there are also a selection of jade pieces made by local artists.

There are six pieces in the show carved by Huang Fu-shou (黃福壽), a well-know jade carver from Hualien. He made a name for himself carving the locally quarried Fengtien jade (豐田玉), which is almost as hard as quartz. His works exhibit a delicacy totally in contrast to the extreme hardness of his material.