After a day of tossing, it was already evening, Kowloon found a hotel to live in, briefly freshen up, went to the street to have a fast food, went back to the hotel, made an appointment with Mr. Luo in advance to meet the next day, fell asleep, and said nothing all night.

At nine o'clock the next morning, Kowloon came to Yongzhou Old Street.

"Yongzhou Old Street" is located on the bank of the Yongjiang River, the whole street is 1.8 kilometers long, there are nearly 300 commercial shops imitating the architectural style of the Ming and Qing dynasties on the street, the architectural style of the whole street is simple and majestic, the eaves are picked, the beams are staggered, the rows are one after another, among which the antique gold-lettered signboard makes the old street appear deep and extraordinary, and there is a strong cultural charm everywhere.

The street is dominated by collectibles such as strange stones, calligraphy and paintings, antiques, bonsai, root carvings, handicrafts, etc., and Kowloon soon found the stone museum in Luohua Mountain.

See all of his collection here.

The sheer volume and quality of his collection is truly astonishing.

What makes Kowloon strange is that Mr. Luo seems to be obsessed with large fossils, and other stone species are only used as decorations in its museum.

When asked Mr. Luo what stones he had, he was able to talk about them, indicating that he still knew about the local stones, and Mr. Zhang did not choose the wrong object.

Mr. Luo introduced that the Gui Autonomous Region is one of the most important provinces and regions in China's contemporary stone appreciation industry, and the capital of Guizhou has a unique and important role in Guangxi's stone appreciation culture.

As one of the upstream rivers of the Pearl River, the Yongjiang River is not only the mother river of the capital, but also the source and cradle of the capital's history and culture.

The contemporary stone appreciation culture in the capital is a cultural phenomenon that has gradually developed on the basis of the discovery of ornamental stones (including mineral crystals and paleontological fossils) in the Yongjiang River Basin, and has its unique historical development and characteristics.

The origin of the ancient stone culture of Yongjiang can be traced back to the primitive religious worship of the stone culture "stone burial" and the stone (jade) tools used and sacrificed from the prehistoric Neolithic period to the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

The history of the ancestors' use of stone tools, Kowloon has long understood, what does this have to do with stone appreciation?

Aren't these stone tools all unearthed cultural relics? The surface must be rough, we are all playing with water stones, paying attention to water flush and slurry.

Jiulong really didn't understand what these stone tools had to do with ornamental stones, and listened to what Mr. Luo said.

Mr. Luo also saw the confusion of Kowloon, and told Kowloon that it is inseparable from ancient stone tools to explain the development of contemporary stone appreciation culture and its characteristics in the capital.

The phenomenon of "stone or stone burial" is developed from primitive religious consciousness, which is the origin of China's primitive stone appreciation cultural concept, which has gone through two stages: the early Neolithic Age, about 7 or 8,000 years ago, the stage of the unity of primitive religious consciousness and social utilitarian values, and the middle of the Neolithic Age, about 5,000 years ago, the stage of the unity of primitive religious consciousness, primitive aesthetic consciousness and social utilitarian value.

Among the large number of Neolithic shell mound sites found in the Yongjiang River basin of the capital, for example, the famous Yongning "Dingshi Mountain Site" has the phenomenon of "stone burial", which is the origin of the original stone appreciation culture concept of the capital Yongjiang.

In addition, the archaeological excavation of the Neolithic shell mound site on both sides of the Yongjiang River and the sand fishing boats operating in the Yongjiang River before found a lot of prehistoric Neolithic to Shang and Zhou used and sacrificial stone (jade) tools in the sand fishing operation, which shows that nearly 10,000 years ago in the early Neolithic Age, about 4 or 5,000 years ago in the middle and late Neolithic Age until the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the ancestors of Nanning made stone axes, stone adzes, stone pestles, stone knives, stone spears, stone net pendants, stone mills and other polished stone tools, mussel tools, bone tools and red sand-filled pottery pieces, shouldered and shoulderless stone tools, Perforators, large stone shovels, grinders, etc., there are also many jade shovels and jade adzes made of jade produced in Yongjiang, which is the origin of the ancient stone culture and even the "jade culture" of the capital Yongjiang.

In addition to the discovery of stone tools in the Yongjiang River, in the 80s of the last century, in the upper reaches of the Yongjiang River, stone tools were also found in the left and right rivers in the sand mining production process, which were salvaged from the river, and these water rushing stone tools gradually flowed into the ornamental stone world and were used as ornamental stones.

Since then, the staff of the sand mining boat, some stone farmers and stone friends in the left and right river areas have participated in the rescue and picking up of water washing stones.

Different from the relevant strata and corresponding references of the unearthed stone tools, it is difficult to accurately correspond to the stratigraphic relationship of the surrounding riverbed due to the movement of the water flow, and picking up the water has become an important inheritance factor to confirm the authenticity of modern ornamental stone tools.

Water stone washing tools have been widely available with modern construction and sand mining.

From the 90s of the last century to about ten years after 2000, the stone tools of the left and right rivers were mainly connected to the outside world through the capital stone market.

In the past ten years, the production area has become a radiation center for external circulation, and the stone tools mainly flow to Guangdong, Shanghai, Beijing, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi and other places, and are collected by local museums and private collectors.

So, Kowloon, I want to tell you that the history of playing with stones did not start now, but began as early as the prehistoric Neolithic Age.

I'm going to tell you what it means to play with stones.

In the Neolithic Age, in order to survive and protect themselves, the ancestors used stones to make stone axes, stone adzes, stone pestles, stone knives, stone spears, stone net pendants, stone mills and other polished stone tools, mussels, bone tools and red sand-filled pottery shards, shouldered and shoulderless stone tools, perforators, large stone shovels, grinders, etc., one for hunting, and the other to drive away birds of prey and beasts of prey and protect themselves.

This time the history of playing with stones has been pushed forward to the prehistoric Neolithic Age, so to speak, the history of playing with stones is longer than any antique, and Kowloon suddenly has a sense of glory.

But can stone tools be used as ornamental stones? Kowloon threw the question aside.

Mr. Luo smiled: "It's very simple, the stone tools I am talking about here are mainly about the stones fished up from the Yongjiang River, they are not only very good at water flushing, first-class pulp, and some also have a jade texture, all of which are stone tools of various shapes made by the ancestors, which are stylish enough." ”

Kowloon suddenly realized, this is not just a matter of shape, but concrete, fully in line with the requirements of ornamental stones, more importantly, it also has historical value and cultural relics value, no wonder the people of the capital like to play.

In addition to stone tools, what other ornamental stones are there in the capital?

Mr. Luo introduced that since the 80s of the 20th century, the ships engaged in sand fishing operations in the upper and lower reaches of the Yongjiang River have fished out a large number of natural stones, mineral crystals and paleontological fossils from the bottom of the Yongjiang River, etc., which have flowed into the strange stone market and folk collections in Nanning, and gradually formed the contemporary cultural phenomenon of stone appreciation in Nanning.