Eucalyptus's mother gave her a pendant inlaid with gold and jade.

In traditional Chinese culture, gold and jade are a good match, and this concept is reflected in the design of handicrafts, that is, "gold inlaid with jade".

"There are eyes but you don't know gold and jade" is a popular saying in China, which is often used as a metaphor for shallow knowledge and lack of ability to recognize things. But if we think about it carefully, it is not difficult to find that this proverb is quite puzzling.

"Gold inlaid jade" originally referred to a special gold and jade processing technology, and sometimes it also referred to gold and jade artifacts made by this processing technology.

For example: the twentieth chapter of "Golden Vase Plum": "The rest will be one more for me, according to the gold-inlaid jade Guanyin worn by his aunt on the front of the pond Jiao is distracted." ”

The seventy-second chapter: "The Lin family has long been wearing a head full of pearls, wearing a robe with red sleeves, a gold-inlaid jasper belt around the waist, and a skirt of brocade and flowers. ”

This kind of "gold inlaid jade" utensils were originally very easy to identify, how could people "have eyes and not see"?

In fact, tracing back to the roots, the saying "there are eyes but you don't know gold and jade" is a homonym from "you have eyes but don't know Jingshan jade".

And the saying "you have eyes but don't know Jingshan jade" is alluded to "Han Feizi He": During the Spring and Autumn Period, Bian He, a Chu person, saw a phoenix fall on a bluestone in Jingshan.

Because people at that time believed that the phoenix god bird did not fall into the land of treasure. So, Bian He decided that there must be a treasure jade in the bluestone, so he dedicated it to King Chu Li.

King Chu Li ordered the jade worker to identify it, and the jade worker said that it was just a stone. King Chu Li was furious and ordered Bian He's left foot to be cut off. After the death of King Chu Li, King Chu Wu succeeded to the throne, and Bian He went to offer treasure again. King Wu of Chu ordered the jade worker to identify it, but the jade worker still said that it was just a stone.

As a result, Bian He lost his right foot because of the crime of bullying the king. After the death of King Wu of Chu, King Wen of Chu succeeded to the throne. Bian He hugged Puyu and cried bitterly at the foot of Chu Mountain, crying until tears flowed and blood dripped from his eyes.

When King Wen of Chu heard about this, he felt very strange, so he sent someone to ask him: "There are many people in the world who have been tortured and their feet have been cut off, why are you so sad?" ”

Bian He replied: "My sadness is not that my feet were cut off, but that Meiyu was treated as a stone and loyal people were treated as liars. ”

After hearing this, King Wen of Chu ordered the jade worker to dissect the jade and found that it was really a rare treasure jade. Later, in order to highlight the name of Bian He, King Wen of Chu named this jade "He's Bi".

Because He's bi comes from Jingshan, later generations also call it "Jingshan jade", such as the Three Kingdoms Cao Zhi's "Book with Yang Zude" There is a sentence: "Everyone claims to hold the pearl of the spirit snake, and every family claims to hold the jade of Jingshan." ”

Gold inlaid jade, as the name suggests, is to inlay all kinds of beautiful jade on the gold, this special gold and jade inlay process is unique to our country, and has a long history and exquisite production.

In traditional Chinese culture, gold and jade symbolize nobility and purity, just as the poet Li Bai praised "the golden bottle of sake bucket is ten thousand, and the jade plate is worth ten thousand dollars", so the gold inlaid jade means "gold and jade good fate", which can be called the perfect combination of noble auspiciousness and otherworldliness.

Interestingly, the appearance of "gold inlaid jade" was also, like many inventions, purely accidental. Legend has it that in the Spring and Autumn Period, the people of Chu Bian and De Meiyu were dedicated to King Wen of Chu and made a bi, called "He's Bi".

This bi is warm in winter and cool in summer, and mosquitoes and flies are not close within 100 steps, which is a rare treasure of great value. After Qin unified China, "Heshi Bi" was acquired by Qin Shi Huang.

The first emperor asked people to carve it into a jade seal, engraved with Li - >>