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The Jade Museum in Beijing is home to the largest jade sculptures in
the world. A tour guide there who spoke excellent English walked us through
the cutting and polishing area where jade sculptures were being made,
showed us how to distinguish authentic jade (Nephrite) from imitations and then
led us into the half-acre gift shop. Along the way we saw a larger than
life-size jade sculpture of an eagle, jade fountains over six feet tall
and the largest of all, a 20 foot long jade sculpture of a ship.
We were told about two basic tests for authentic jade. When held up to the light it should be possible to see cloudy white inclusions in the translucent material. When struck firmly with a wooden dowel the sound produced should be a reverberating tone reminiscent of a bell rather than a simple 'clink'. Jade has more toughness than some other materials and in primitive times it was used for axe heads, knives and other sorts of tools. One well-known anecdote about jade is during the aftermath of a San Francisco earthquake in a shop where sculptures were sold people found that among those which fell to the floor only the ones made of real jade were unbroken. |
more pictures from the Jade Museum |
We were surprised to learn that even the dust from the jade working process is collected and is used to make colorful paintings and other works of art.
The best prices were to be found on objects being produced in the museum. The jewelry was not significantly less expensive than what is usually found in the US although the typical quality of the material was probably higher here.
All prices were negotiable. My traveling companion bargained for a hand-painted globe. The initial asking price was over 1100RNB (close to $120US) He made several much lower counter-offers, the highest being 600RNB. When it was declined he began to walk away but a few moments later the vendor agreed to it. My friend kept walking and left the museum. As we were standing out front waiting for the car to arrive our guide came out and explained that the offer of 600RNB had been accepted. My friend said he would not pay more than 550RNB for it now. His final offer (around $70US) was quickly accepted.
Bus tours were available to this location as well and they served us lunch in an expansive mess hall. The quality and preparation of the food was unremarkable and at least for us, it was mostly inedible.