Records the history, legends and practical buying points of jade.

A compelling and richly textured journey to Burma into the heart of Imperial Green Jade, the rare and stunning stone more precious than diamonds, interconnects the modern story of the miners of jadeite who are dying of AIDS because they are being paid in the form of heroin with the mythology and secret history of this unusual jewel that goes back to the Burmese court. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

The Chinese have revered the mystery and magic of jade since ancient times. This authoritative book provides an up-to-date and comprehensive survey of six thousand years of development, from the earliest cultures to the twentieth century. The author describes and assesses the variety of roles and functions, ritual and ceremonial, which jade has played in China. Recent discoveries from hitherto little known neolithic cultures of around 3000 BC have highlighted the extraordinary skills of the craftsmen and the complexity of the cultures that supported them. Other remarkable finds include the precursors of the famous jade suits, which range from jade plaques and shrouds dating from about 900 BC to superb pendants and sword fittings carved for a king buried near Canton in around 122 BC. This catalogue describes over 300 outstanding pieces from Sir Joseph Hotung's collection, which spans the history of jade in China. Drawing upon the very latest archaeological reseach to set jade in its historical and artistic context, this work will stand as a definitive reference for many years to come. In her wide-ranging introduction to the catalogue the author analyses the arguments and sets out new views, supplementing this major essay with a series of shorter introductions to the chronological sections into which the jades of different types, shapes and functions have been divided. The book is fully illustrated throughout with specially commisioned photographs of each piece from the collection, all in color, along with comparative examples from the rich collection of the British Museum.

Provides a history of jade culture and industry and includes jade buying tips.

In this pathbreaking study of three of the most familiar texts in the Chinese tradition--all concerning stones endowed with magical properties--Jing Wang develops a monumental reconstruction of ancient Chinese stone lore. Wang's thorough and systematic comparison of these classic works illuminates the various tellings of the stone story and provides new insight into major topics in traditional Chinese literature. Bringing together Chinese myth, religion, folklore, art, and literature, this book is the first in any language to amass the sources of stone myth and stone lore in Chinese culture. Uniting classical Chinese studies with contemporary Western theoretical concerns, Wang examines these stone narratives by analyzing intertextuality within Chinese traditions. She offers revelatory interpretations to long-standing critical issues, such as the paradoxical character of the monkey in The Journey to the West, the circularity of narrative logic in The Dream of the Red Chamber, and the structural necessity of the stone tablet in Water Margin. By both challenging and incorporating traditional sinological scholarship, Wang's The Story of Stone reveals the ideological ramifications of these three literary works on Chinese cultural history and makes the past relevant to contemporary intellectual discourse. Specialists in Chinese literature and culture, comparative literature, literary theory, and religious studies will find much of interest in this outstanding work, which is sure to become a standard reference on the subject.