In ancient times, first-class jade was called "ball" and second-class jade was called "blue". Because of its rich second-class jade, it is named Lantian.
Lantian
Mention Lantian, the average person will think of two things:
One is Lantian ape-man. According to the "Outline of General History of China" edited by Bai Shouyi, "from 1963 to 1997, an ape-man skull, maxilla, mandible and three teeth fossils, as well as paleolithic and animal fossils were found in Lantian County, Shaanxi Province. The monks here are called Lantian monks, about 500,000 to 600,000 years ago. " Its site is on the slope of Gongwangling Mountain, 20 kilometers east of the county seat. I have been to Shangzhou before (my wife's hometown is in Shangzhou), but I haven't actually been there so far.
The other is lantian jade. Lantian is named after lantian jade. The Lantian chapter of "Three Ji Qin" said: "Jade and the like are all sought, followed by blue, and the county produces beautiful jade, hence the name Lantian." According to the cloud, lantian jade is a famous jade in ancient times, and the famous jade is lantian jade. The famous sentence in Li Shangyin's poem Jinse, "Men shed pearl-like tears on the moon green sea, and the blue fields breathe their jade on the sun", made lantian jade immortal. Today, if you walk on the street in Lantian County, jade shops can be seen everywhere. I am a layman in jade, and I don't know if these are true or not. A few years ago, I heard Timi Zhuo sing in a song: "I heard that it was always true at first, and then it will gradually become false." Lantian jade, like feelings, is probably the same.
I first heard of Lantian during the Cultural Revolution. At that time, beggars from other places often came to our village. Those people, holding a broken porcelain bowl in one hand and a dog stick in the other, carrying thick cloth bags on their backs, begged from door to door: "wife, aunt!" Uncle Han! Poor thing! Send a little! " When my mother meets them at home, she usually gives them a cornmeal steamed bread or a piece of steamed sweet potato (even if we lived in the rich Guanzhong Plain at that time, we could only live on corn and sweet potatoes because almost all wheat is public grain). By the way, "Where is your home?" The man often says, "Shang Xian or Lantian." Therefore, in my young mind, Lantian is not as beautiful as its name.
The first time I went to Lantian was in the summer vacation of 199 1. When I was in normal school, I had a good friend named Ru who lived in Lantian. When I was idle during the summer vacation, I remembered the message he gave me in the graduation photo album: "... don't forget my brother at the foot of the Qinling Mountains. One day, my brother will come to Lantian to play with his beautiful wife. I will definitely be my guide and take him to visit Lantian ape-man site, amphibious temple and Luanchuan ... Address: Lijiagou, Mengcun Township, Lantian County. "
So I killed Lantian by bike, went west along National Highway 3 10 to Baqiao, and turned south on National Highway 3 12. On the east side of the road is the plateau, and on the west side of the road is the gurgling water. Nice scenery. On the way, I saw a town called Hua Xu Town, and I remembered a passage in Liezi: "(The Yellow Emperor) sleeps by day and swims in the country of Hua Xushi." "The country has no teachers, naturally. It is natural that people are not addicted. " Is this the legendary Kingdom of Hua Xu? Ask the locals to confirm my guess is good. Further on, I saw a tombstone on the side of the road, which read "Tomb of Han Caiwen Ji". Behind the grave is a low mound covered with miscellaneous trees. Then I remembered the poem of grief and indignation written by this talented woman: "The Han Dynasty lost power and influence, and Dong Zhuo was in chaos. If you want to usurp the throne, you must first harm the virtuous. Forced to move to the old state to help the Lord strengthen himself. Haixing's righteous teacher wants to be ominous. " After singing, I continued to walk south and soon arrived at the county seat. Ask the local people the location of Mengcun, and say that it takes about an hour to ride a bike on Bailuyuan in the southwest of the county.
At this time, it was getting late, and I quickly drove forward. After many twists and turns, I finally found Lijiagou Confucianism in the evening. I haven't seen my old classmates for years, so I'm naturally excited. After eating a big bowl of clear soup and dried noodles made by his mother, we slept together and talked for a long night. As for the sex scene the next day, it is not clear here.
In recent years, my wife and daughter and I have been to Lantian many times. I love Lantian mainly because it is different from the customs, scenery and mountains and rivers in Guanzhong. Walking on the streets of Lantian county, you can often see unicycles, which is rare in Guanzhong. The walls of farmhouses are often made of stone, which is different from Guanzhong. On both sides of the river, there are green rice fields, which are even less in Guanzhong. As for the tall and straight green hills and clear and bright water, it is even more cordial. "Climbing a mountain and overlooking Wangchuan, the paddy field is still woody; I want to know whether it is deep in the desert or in Qinghe in April. " This is Wang Wei's Wangchuan landscape. "Clear water falls from a thousand streams, and two peaks in Yushan are cold. Who will be healthy at this meeting next year? Look at the dogwood carefully when you are drunk. " This is the clear water and jade mountain in Du Fu's eyes. "Where is the home of the cloud across the Qinling Mountains? The heavy snow hindered the blue horse's progress. I know you should be interested in coming from afar so that I can collect my bones by the river! " This is Han Yu's idea of the Gulan Road. Wangchuan, Yushan and Languan, these beautiful scenery are all in Lantian. It's a pity that I haven't visited it carefully, or paid attention to it. If I have time tomorrow, I should go to them one by one.
Archaeological data prove that lantian jade is one of the earliest jade species developed and utilized in China, with a history of more than 4,000 years.
Lantian county is located in the southeast of Xi, 40 kilometers away from Xi. Except for the Qinling Mountains in the east and south of the county seat, the rest are all hilly areas of Chuanyuan. Both the Ba River and the Shanghai River in Bashui, which flows through Chang 'an, originate here, and the famous Bailuyuan is sandwiched between Ba and Shanghai. During the Warring States Period, Qin set Lantian County, which was named Lantian because the beauty of jade was blue and the county produced beautiful jade. Now it is one of the counties under the jurisdiction of Xi 'an.
Lantian jade is brightly colored, mostly green, so it is commonly known as "Cai Yu", just like the tender leaves of Chinese cabbage, but some people's colors are milky white, blue, yellow and red, which is called serpentine marble in mineralogy. Because it contains silicon oxide, aluminum, magnesium, sodium, calcium, copper and other elements, it presents a variety of beautiful colors, and the Mohs hardness reaches 5 ~ 7 degrees. Jade is produced in Walnut Valley in the Qinling Mountains of Wangchuan.
Our clever ancestors discovered lantian jade's hard texture, delicate texture and gorgeous colors at least in the late Neolithic period, and used them to make tools and ritual vessels. Among the 125 pieces of Shenmu Longshan cultural jade collected by Shaanxi History Museum, there is a vegetable jade shovel made in lantian jade. The shovel grass is green, the blade end is light brown, long trapezoidal, flat and thin, with broken corners on the straight back, slightly inclined blade, round and eccentric to one side, long 16.8 cm, wide 7.5 cm, extremely thin and sharp, and only 0.2 cm thick. During the Warring States Period, lantian jade was developed on a large scale. The Warring States Hotel discovered in Tianshui City, Gansu Province, has a unique blue-gray mottled texture in the lantian jade. The large graupel body is flat, shovel-shaped, with wide arc edge and protruding corners. There are beautiful internal arcs on both sides of the graupel body, and there are two rectangular holes on each side. Because its function is a ritual vessel, it is not convenient to install the handle, so a square gap is opened at the location where the handle is installed to indicate the location where the handle is installed. The end of the graupel is in the shape of a phoenix or a cloud, followed by a tiger with a mouth and a tail. The patterns on both sides of the body are the same, and the animal's face is engraved with bas-relief. Its image has a cross eyebrow with a hook inside, a "ministerial" eye, a U-shaped nose and a long beard hanging from both sides of the nose. Above the lines of the animal's face, there are arch ridges which are symmetrical left and right, and extend downward to cover the animal's face and close it, thus forming an arc parallel to the convex arc edge. The cymbal surface near the through hole is decorated with a square-folded cirrus cloud pattern unique to the Warring States and Qin Dynasties, with an S pattern next to it. Two parallel straight lines are engraved near the notch of the handle, and there are two dotted lines corresponding to the notch of the handle. Both sides of the end are also decorated with square folded moire and round moire. Gorgeous and magnificent, exquisite and extraordinary, giving people a solemn mystery and strong shock.
There is a saying in Lin Yulang by Han Yuefu that "lantian jade is on his head and Zhu Qin is behind his ear", which shows that lantian jade was made into a lot of jewelry in Han Dynasty. A Yu Pei unearthed in Tianshui City is a dancer's portrait made of lantian jade. It is very long and 9.5 cm high. Jade has a big head, a thin waist, long sleeves, a mop skirt, and a swinging arm dance. A jade shop with four gods was unearthed in Maoling, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which is the most exquisite jade carving in Lantian, Han Dynasty. It is 36.5 cm wide, gray-green, with convex buttons under it and slightly rounded corners, respectively grinding out the popular images of the four gods at that time: Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu. The lower part of the device is a ring buckle as the bridge of the nose, with thick eyebrows and protruding eyes on it, forming a big animal face, and a row of wide teeth are outlined with 8 vertical stripes on the lower edge. The pattern image is solemn and dignified, the craft is exquisite, and the thread is both rigid and flexible, which is very royal. It is the first time to see such a huge jade shop, which represents the highest level of jade attack in Han Dynasty. In addition, a jade used to ward off evil spirits was unearthed in Baoji, which is also made of lantian jade. It is green, striped and carved into a circle, with a height of 18.2 cm. To ward off evil spirits, look up, open your mouth and erect your ears in a growling shape, your jaw droops and your chest is muddy, your front hip is covered with wings, your body is strong and your limbs are stout. It's a pity that your three legs are disabled, and sockets are carved on your back and back, and there are sockets on your tail. Powerful and powerful, it is a national first-class cultural relic and is now in Baoji Museum.
The statue of Bodhisattva in Sui Dynasty displayed in the Stone Carving Hall of Xi 'an Beilin Museum is the largest sculpture in lantian jade. The original site is at the site of Xi 'an Anfo Temple, with a height of 65,438 0.85 meters. Bodhisattva wears a high crown, a reunion face, double earlobes and shoulders, is calm and kind, dressed in a robe, shirtless on his chest, and has monk branches inside. A complicated wreath hangs below the abdomen, the arm bends forward to print, and the hands are saved from the wrist. Sitting cross-legged on the Lotus Pier. Lantian jade's beautiful yellow-green color is everywhere, especially her knees that make people feel smooth.
Since the reform and opening up, lantian jade's mining has opened a new chapter. Jade workshops have blossomed everywhere, and jade shops have become markets. The transaction volume is unprecedented, and they are thriving. The main jade carving products are bracelets, fitness balls, Yu Pei, stationery, daily cups and cups, and even daily necessities and building materials such as pillows, floor tiles and railings are made in lantian jade. The development and utilization of lantian jade is in full swing.
Any natural mineral resources are non-renewable, so they are limited and will be exhausted one day. So I think the development and utilization of lantian jade should take the road of less development, fine processing and high foreign exchange earning. From the above historical relics, we can know that lantian jade can also carve brilliant works. The problem is that we are going to train first-class jade designers and ten thousand skilled craftsmen in Qian Qian today.
Lantian is a poor county with a narrow population. Lantian jade endowed by nature can't be wasted in our generation, especially the building materials, which produce a lot of leftovers. I have witnessed this kind of jade chips piled up like mountains, abandoned by the roadside or dumped into the river beach, and I feel very sad. Lantian jade, a beautiful jade species with limited resources, should be treasured a hundred times and used sparingly a hundred times. We should not be greedy for small things and cheap, let alone pick and dig indiscriminately and rough-process. Hetian jade has been nearly extinct after thousands of years of use, and the cultural complex that China people attach importance to and love jade from generation to generation will be passed down from generation to generation. Lantian jade's mission is self-evident. Lantian jade's moderns will definitely come.