Another one where I don't have the physical magazine, just the text and picture files.
Notes:
The Wenxin Road Jade Market is long gone. I think it moved to somewhere on Wuchuan West Road, near Liming Road.
My wife has not gone to either jade market in over a decade, but she still has a nice collection of old cool stuff.
Zhonggang Road is now "Taiwan Dadao."
I really wanted to buy a PDA back then. LOL.
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Jaded
Over the last 5000 years,
There are two jade markets - the old one in that weird
building on
Since we here at the Taichung Voice are all about sharing what we know, what follows are some pictures of sample pieces and some brief descriptions.
Longevity Lock
It’s a lucky lock. Locket. Whatever. |
The facts: Called 長命鎖 [Chángmìng suǒ] or 及命鎖 [Jí mìng suǒ] in Chinese, these originated in the Ming dynasty. They are in the shape of the locks used in that era, and were given to children in order to ward off danger and disasters, thereby ensuring a long life for the child. They are usually silver, but sometimes they are made from jade or wood. Often they will be inscribed with Chinese characters like “longevity” or “wealth”, to make it luckier, and the hanging beads will represent even more lucky stuff.
The comments: When
I was a young child, a relative gave me a medallion of Saint Francis, which I
was supposed to wear for protection. I lost it within the first week. I hope
that the Chinese children who wore these longevity locks were more responsible
than I was.
Silver rings
Amazing detail for a hand crafted piece |
The facts: Also originating
in the Ming dynasty, the impressed images on silver rings such as these refer
to classical Chinese stories. Rings like this were custom ordered and engraved,
though modern versions are mass produced. When the rings did not tell some
classical story in the engraving, they would show an auspicious animal or character.
The problem: I
have never been able to fit any rings I found at the jade market onto my fat
fingers. And how many of these silver rings am I going to need to melt down in
order to make a battleaxe?
Double Happiness Broach
The facts: This decorative silver piece shows a doubled 喜 ‘xi’ character. ‘Xi’ means happy, but also gets used in Chinese to describe almost anything about a wedding. Pieces like were worn by a bride as a necklace or adorning a bridal headdress. It was also used as a decoration on boxes made from a tortoise shell.
The questions: A box made of a tortoise shell? And what is the deal with tortoises in Chinese culture? There are four important animals in Chinese cosmology and 風水 feng shui: dragon, tiger, bird and… tortoise?
Silver buttons
In case you can’t tell, that’s a frog on the left button
The facts: While
made of silver, sometimes these antique buttons are painted with a colored
enamel coating. Buttons like this were more than just functional articles, they
could be worn anywhere as decoration and good luck totems. The actual painted
images on the buttons shown are of a frog and a lotus seed. These are
auspicious symbols that were thought to make it more likely for a couple to
have a son, and were given as wedding gifts accordingly. The non-painted button
shows a (male) child, and was thought to have the same lucky, son-bringing
properties.
The gripes: My
wife spends our hard-earned money on antique silver buttons. Surely I should be
allowed to buy a new PDA. And I’m not an expert on biology or anything, but
what is the connection between frogs, lotus seeds and male children?
So, after all of my forced visits to the jade market, I’ve
finally got the silver stuff sort of figured out. Unfortunately, antique silver
jewelry only represents about 10% of everything they sell there. There are also
tons of things like jade (obviously), teapots, crystals, imported ethnic
clothing, gemstones, and coins. At my current rate of learning, I’ll be
knowledgeable about everything at the jade market in fifty more years. So I’d
better start wearing about a dozen Longevity locks now.
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