[SPEAKING CHINESE]
I am the president of Jingyu Mantang Jadeite Carving
Workshop.
My name is Fang Xingchun.
This jadeite was obtained by myself
and Mazu Jade Articleco, Ltd., in 2004.
We bought it at a public auction in Myanmar.
The stone has black, sandy skin, indicating
that it is from an old mine in Myanmar.
The background color is purple.
It's rare to see purple and green in one jadeite specimen.
We polished the surface you see here
so we could view the inside of the boulder.
The stone was about one meter thick at first.
It is now about 30 centimeters thick.
When we opened it, we knew that we had won the gamble.
This stone weighs more than two tons, nearly three tons.
I started designing the piece when
we bought the jadeite in 2004.
But after many attempts, it was still
difficult to decide on a good subject.
There was a dynamic Qingming shanghe
tu being exhibited at Shanghai Expo 2010,
and I went to see it.
Figures in the river were in motion on the scroll.
When I saw the dynamic scroll, I immediately
associated this jadeite with it.
I made the connection at once because of this raw material's
slender shape.
As soon as I came back, I informed the president
of Mazu Jade that we were about to make a work representing
Chinese traditional jade culture.
It was then that I chose Qingming
shanghe tu as the subject.
I'm afraid you cannot find another carving like this one,
made out of purple jadeite from an old mine,
in the whole country, even the whole world.
There are large but thin carvings in the market,
usually carved screens.
In contrast, this one will show strong dimensional effects
once completed.
Each figure will be three-dimensional.
This bridge will be hollowed out,
which is the main part of the Qingming shanghe
tu, the subject we decided on.
There are many versions of Qingming shanghe tu in China,
such as the one from the Song Dynasty.
This carving imitates the Song Dynasty version.
The scene portrays a prosperous life along the Bian River
and the capital of North Song Dynasty.
It presents a busy street of that time to the whole world.
Since my raw material is not as long as the painting,
I selected three parts from it.
The first one is this area.
I chose to show the prosperity in the capital of the North
Song Dynasty.
Here is a city wall gate.
Since the painting presents scenes from the Qingming
Festival, the people I carved are
carrying stuff for worshipping mountains.
People here are all from different social classes,
as reflected in their clothes and accessories,
the donkeys they're riding, and even the pendants
on their waists.
Ancient figures' accessories are related to their social class.
For example, a prince and a duke would
be wearing different accessories.
The three parts I talked about represent prosperous life
in North Song Dynasty.
Since this stone has two sides, I
would like to detail all the customs
on both sides of the Grand Canal.
The Grand Canal will extend to the backside of this stone,
so it is a carving with two sides.
There's an old saying that people will nourish a jadeite
as they wear it, and the jadeite will do the same in return.
We are not afraid to use such good material for carvings.
I did not start carving until 2012.
It'll take five to six years to finish this work,
if six to eight people are working at the same time.
It might take a single person more than 10 years,
or even 20 years, to carve it.
The artisans we invited are all highly skilled.
Would you like to see the backside?
We carved the backside according to this painting too.
Come around.
The Grand Canal is also on the backside.
This is how we carve different colors
to follow different shapes.
Into the purple parts, we will carve
the river of the Grand Canal.
There's an old saying in Chinese.
"The purple air comes from the east."
The stone has a delightful meaning.
From these green areas, we will make flowers, grasses,
and trees, and the cyan areas will
be carved as rocks and hills.
There's a stone forest in Henan province.
The rocks and hills will look like that natural shape.
There are three artisans working on the backside.
First, we prepare the outline.
Then, they carve the front and the backsides of the stone.
After that, highly skilled artisans
will handle the details.
We will carve the facial expressions by ourselves.
President Zheng and I come here every night
to see if there are any details to complete.
It took eight years to finally settle on this subject.
It was quite difficult.
People like us, who are engaged in this occupation,
cherish jadeite very much.
When we look at the good material,
we feel that we are communicating with it.
This scene, showing the prosperous lives in North Song
Dynasty, appears in front of me every night
when I close my eyes.
I apply my inspiration and thoughts to bring it to life.
This stone has another half.
These are the Chinese traditional characters, Fu, Lu,
Shou.
Good fortune, wealth, social position, and longevity
are pursued by every family all over the world.
This Fu Lu Shou must be the biggest one on the market.
Among materials this large, it is of the highest quality.
The god of longevity represents long life.
This is the god of wealth and social class
in our Chinese cultural tradition,
representing professional promotion and its accompanying
wealth.
The last one is the god of good fortune,
representing blessedness.
He is holding a little boy in his hand,
meaning that this family will have
good fortune and many children.
I've drawn these images on the front.
There are many colors on the side.
This stone is still being designed.
Many details need to be completed.
A lot of work still needs to be done.
In jadeite, colors are hard to predict.
We might see different colors inside as we carve.
We might not carve the stone based on this current drawing.
There's an old saying that God cannot predict what changes
a jadeite might present over time.
For example, the green color you see here
might change to purple when the surface is removed,
so it might not turn out to be the mushroom I drew here,
but a lotus leaf.
Green color might appear in the large inner area.
Purple might possibly appear.
So, we need to adjust all the time.
You can see purple through the whole stone.
Purple represents wealth and honor.
It is very precious.
This Fu Lu Shou is a very popular and very representative
theme in China.
We wish for good fortune, wealth, social class,
and longevity.
These are the dreams of Chinese people, as well as people all
over the world.