I want to research further into the Chinese ornamental stone, jade, for my final project. My high school Mandarin teacher’s love for the gem inspired me to want to learn more about how its religious and spiritual meaning evolved. Jade is known for being very auspicious and representing good fortune as it was a common practice for monarchs to offer the gem to other leaders in order to establish a cordial relationship. In addition, elders would give children jade jewelry as a symbol of love and protection. As jade can symbolize good luck, my Mandarin teacher would give her seniors a gift of jade when they graduated from her program in order to provide them with her best wishes before heading off to college. I would always associate jade with a positive connotation and couldn’t wait to earn my very own piece of jade.
Although I am not sure if I specifically want to focus on the symbolic meaning of jade across various aspects, I know that I want to select a prominent piece of jade or two to analyze. I will be able to use the object I select as a source of gaining insight about the hidden meanings that exist. As jade dates back to the Shang Dynasty, I am intrigued as to how its meaning has transformed over time. I will be using Jade by Roger Keverne from the Trexler Library in order to learn more about specific pieces of jade that are essential to different areas of the world. I will also look into the resouce: Chinese jades from Han to Ch’ing. I think it would be interesting to explore how it is determined whether jade is truly real. We are often tricked by fake pieces of the gem and I am curious as to what specifically defines the gem and makes it real. I think it could also be interesting to investigate why jade is so important to the Chinese culture but not mined by ethnic people. I feel as if the topic of jade has endless possibilities as there are many existing objects of utility and pleasure, vessels used in the worship of the gods, as well as sculptures, that are made of jade. I believe that once I dive deeper into the text I will be able to further narrow my research.
