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The beauty in stone -- Yuhua Stone

Look at these glittering and translucent pebbles! They are the specialties of my hometown, Nanjing in China, called Yuhua Stone. In Chinese, ‘Yuhua’ means raining and flowers. Therefore, It was also translated into ‘Rain Flower Stone’ or ‘riverstone’ in English.

The Yuhua stone (Chinese: 雨花石; pinyin: yuhua shi; literally: "rain flower stone") is a special kind of stone found in Nanjing, China, due to the unique geology of the area. Yuhua stones, or pebbles, are of sedimentary origin and consist of minerals including quartz and other silicates.—From Wikipedia

Appreciating the Yuhua stone, people can not only enjoy the beauty of them, but also can appreciate the interesting culture behind them.

[1] Why so many people love Yuhua stone?

Yuhua stone is an ornamental stone with a long history. In Song Dynasty, its aesthetic value has been found gradually. More and more people enjoy appreciating it because its charming in many ways.

First, the shape. Yuhua stone itself has different shape. Some are smooth globe, some have edges. The patterns on them also different. Some are regular rectangle or triangle, some are irregular shape. Both of them are creating a huge space for people to imagine what scenery or story they see on the stone. Do not forget all of them are forming naturally.

(the regular and irregular)

Second, the color. Yuhua stone is like a beautiful girl, wearing colorful coat, with glabrous skin. One stone usually has more than one color. The combination of different color makes themselves more charming. The more colors one stone has, the more valuable it is. Nowadays, many designers can get inspiration of matching colors from the Yuhua stone.

(the colorful stone)

Amazingly, the color itself is not the only aspect to make it charming. People usually put them into the water(the water can protect them). Therefore, when you appreciate Yuhua stone, the different time, different light, different seasons, the size of vessel, the depth of water…all the aspects can make Yuhua stone become unique treasure.

(Yuhua stone in water)

Last but not least, the patterns.

What can you see on the stone? Someone sees just black irregular lines, someone thinks that represents dancing people, someone thinks they are people who are on the trip. The various patterns provides a good platform where they can imagine freely.

Of course, the professional appreciation has more deep research on the different meaning of different colors or patterns. If you are interested in them, try to find some professional books! They have better explanation about Yuhua stone than mine.

[2] The interesting names of Yuhua stone

According to the different patterns and colors on Yuhua stone, Chinese people give them different beautiful and meaningful names. Using your imagination and giving it a unique name, people can understand the artistic conception of the stone better.

This stone is called ‘the magical words of sun’. Because the orange body with the red rough circle in the middle, people imagine the pattern as a sun surrounded by clouds. ‘The magical words’ added the mysterious color of the stone.

This stone is named ‘fish flying in the river bottom’(Sorry for my immature translation). The word ‘flying’ is used to describe the dynamic condition of fish swimming. The light yellow is like the water under the shining of sunset. The dark brown is thought as the soil in the bottom of the river. Most attracting part in the stone is the red part, which is imagined as an energetic fish swimming freely in the river, kissing the soil happily.

How to name the stone depends on the different understanding of different people. You just need to make the most of your imagination to tell others what you see in the stone. Of course, if you want to be professional, you could do more research about Chinese cultural and learn some methods of giving name(such as named by color, by shape, by borrowing some idioms or poems etc.).

[3] Yuhua stone and literary

Due to the special and natural color and shape, Yuhua stones are active in Chinese ancient literature. Some famous poets wrote poems which speak highly of the pretty stones. One of the Chinese Four Great Classical Novels, The Story of the Stone, has a tight connection with Yuhua stone. For example, the protagonist, Jia Baoyu, is born with a jade(called Tongling jade) in his mouth. Some professor point out that the description of jade is the characteristic of agate(Yuhua stone is one kind of agate). When the author Cao describe how the jade form, in fact he is writing how the Yuhua stone form. There are many evidence that shows the novel has connection with Yuhua stone. Cao indeed use Yuhua stone as an significant image in The Story of the Stone.

I am happy to briefly introduce the charm of Yuhua stone. Sorry for my limited ability, there may be some mistakes in the article. I will be happy and grateful if you can help me point out. I am also glad to communicate everything with you about the Yuhua stone.

Thank you for reading my article and hope you can be interested in the culture of Yuhua stone!

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ZAOCHA

Hello! I am a college student from China. And today I want to introduce a traditional culture from my hometown——Zaocha!

‘Zaocha’ is our Chinese concept, if the ‘zaocha’ translated into English is ‘morning tea’. But our ‘zaocha’ tradition goes beyond just drinking tea in the morning, so I will use ‘zaocha’ when I introduce it, instead of ‘morning tea’.

Zaocha has a long history and it is very popular in China which is a major way for Chinese people to meet with friends and enjoy life. Zaocha is a bit like ‘brunch’, some people have zaocha instead of having breakfast and lunch. However, zaocha is also very different from brunch——zaocha is more relaxed, when people enjoy the zaocha, they can drink tea, read newspaper, meet friends, think, talk about business. Yes, talk about business, it may sounds strange, but actually zaocha can be a social activity. While talking about business while enjoy zaocha, people feel more calm and comfortable.

And the zaocha in Guangdong is most famous. In Guangdong, when people get up, they usually walk into the ‘cha lou’, buy a pot of tea and have some snacks. Especially some retired elderly who do not hurry to work will enjoy the zaocha until nine or ten o’clock with some friends. And there are some etiquette when Cantonese enjoy zaocha, such as when the teapot without water inside, they will open the lid to show the need for water, and they will use the right index finger and middle finger flexing the desktop to express their gratitude and so on.

The different kinds of snacks in Guangdong zaocha are also very popular. My favorite snack is ‘Xiajiao’——like the dumplings made from shrimp. People use live, fresh shrimp, served with pork, bamboo shoots for fillings, packing in a thin dough. A good xiajiao must has a crystal clear dough, inside the shrimp must be tender, with pork soft and bamboo crisp, most importantly, it should have a little sweet and delicious gravy! Besides ‘xiajiao’, there are also so many kinds of snacks, such as roast pork package, ‘shaomai’, ‘changfen’ and so on.

The attraction of zaocha is endless, here people can not only have fragrant tea and delicious snacks, but also leisurely enjoy the time. If you want to feel the wonders of zaocha, WELCOME TO CHINA!!