Olympic Seal Carved in Jade

The Beijing Olympic Emblem means many things to many people, but an Olympic Emblem carved in jade is a rare thing indeed.

The official emblem of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, Chinese Seal–Dancing Beijing, was announced on August 3, 2003, and two jade Chinese seals containing the emblem were created to commemorate the event. They are now held by the Beijing Museum and the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, according to the Web site of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

Why a seal? A BOCOG statement explains: "The Chinese seal has remained the standard of commitment in Chinese culture for thousands of years, serving as a signature and personal pledge."

Knowing that the public would crave a piece of this bit of Beijing's Olympic history as a keepsake, and to help raise funds for the Games' preparations, Games organizers in 2004 ordered the making of 2,008 replica seals, which are about half the size of the originals. These seals were offered to the public for purchase or subscriptions on December 13, 2005. Half the subscription was snapped up immediately and the remainder, except for some reserved for historical purposes, were booked within the ensuing weeks.

A frequently used Chinese saying goes something like "antique collections usually happen during a flourishing age"; so it's not unusual that the replica seals, the Treasures of the Beijing Olympic Emblem–Classic Edition, should come onto the market at this time. Beijing is certainly flourishing with the impetus of the Olympics and its modernization drive that is striving to make Beijing a better place to live and work, and most of all, to hold a best-ever Summer Olympic Games.

The replicas are made of the same white Hetian yu or Hetian jade—Hetian is the name of the jade's source in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region—as the originals, and they were marketed at a price of 56,000 yuan (about US$7,000) each, including a commemorative brocade box containing an inlaid rosewood box with silver threads, a DVD collection, a book and brochure. Each of the 2,008 pieces has a serial number from 0001 to 2008; the pieces with special numbers such as 0001, 2008 (the year the 2008 Olympic Games will be held), 0713 (the date on which Beijing won the host right of the 2008 Olympic Games), 0803 (the date on which the Beijing Olympic Emblem, Chinese Seal–Dancing Beijing, was unveiled) and 0808 (the date on which the 2008 Olympic Games will be held) will be retained and not sold.

Most of the purchases began as reservations, because it takes almost one month to make each seal and to prepare it for presentation. Though 50 craftsmen of the Beijing Gongmei Group (BGGC), the designer and seller of the treasures, have been working diligently to produce the replica seals, by the end of 2005, only 600 pieces had been readied for subscribers.

As Guo Ming, chief designer of the Treasure of the Beijing Olympic Emblem–Classic Edition, said, "The arts of jade, silk and porcelain are three of China's most well-known cultural essences, while the emblem, mascot and opening ceremony are the most important parts of the Olympic Games that will make the jade seals hot targets for collectors of Olympic licensed products."

Though the targeted buyers of those seals are individual collectors, companies and members of the Olympic Family of the International Olympic Committee, the jade replicas were all reserved before 2006. The Artistic Mansion, owned by BGGC, located at the south end of Beijing's posh Wangfujing Street, a downtown pedestrian mall, received numerous calls from potential local and overseas customers seeking information about how to purchase the jade seals.

Zhang Hongwei, director of the BGGC Sales and Planning Department, said one woman, who called from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, suggested that the 2,008 replicas should be allocated according to a provincial population ratio so that she could have chance to buy one. A caller from Taiwan said that licensed merchandise stores should be opened on the island so Chinese residents there could become more involved in the Beijing Games. A Chinese-American called from the United States trying to persuade someone to reserve a jade seal for him. He said he would never forget his roots were in China and said he would like for his children to have a seal to remind them that they are of the Chinese nation.

 

Chinese Jade Culture

Jade, with its beauty and wide-ranging expressiveness, has been known to mankind for about 7,000 years and has always been held in high esteem. This gem, with its discreet yet sensuous lustre, comes in many fine nuances of green, but also in shades of white, grey, black, yellow, and orange and in various delicate violet tones.

In prehistoric times, however, it was esteemed rather more for its toughness, which made it an ideal material for weapons and tools. Yet, as early as 3000 BC, jade was known in China as yu, the "royal gem." In the long history of the art and culture of the enormous Chinese empire, jade has always had a very special significance, roughly comparable with that of gold and diamonds in the West. Jade was used for the finest objects and cult figures, including for furnishings of the graves of high-ranking members of imperial families.

The gem is regarded as a symbol of the good, the beautiful and the precious. It embodies the Confucian virtues of wisdom, justice, compassion, modesty and courage. Its selection as the medium for the seal of the 2008 Olympic Emblem added an Olympic embodiment to jade.

Hetian jade comes from above the 5,000-metre snow line of Kunlun Mountain. It is regarded as a jade of excellence and perfection in China because of its quality and its 7,000-year history.

 

Sidebar

The Beijing Olympic Emblem, called Chinese Seal–Dancing Beijing, artistically incorporates a seal, Chinese characters and Olympic rings. A running figure, based on the Chinese character jing of Beijing fame, waves its hands to embrace victory; the emblem stands for a hospitable and vigorous Beijing that is opening arms to welcome friends from all over the world.  It is seen as a perfect combination of the Olympic spirit and the fine traditional Chinese culture, and constitutes a treasure dedicated to the Olympic Movement.

The Beijing Olympic Emblem seal is in the form of an imperial seal that signifies the highest authority of the reigns of the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1662–1795), one of the flourishing periods in Chinese history.

The handle of the seal contains the form of a Chinese dragon, and the carvings contain calligraphy believed to be of China's ancient Shang Dynasty (1,600–1,100 BC).

The length of the seal is 112 mm, indicating the 112 years history of the Olympics from 1896 to 2008.

The height of the seal top is 29 millimetres (mm), standing for the XXIX Olympic Games  

The handle of the seal is 96 mm, symbolizing China's 9.60 million sq.km terrestrial area 

The overall height of the seal is 13 cm indicating the 1.3 billion Chinese people looking forwards to the Olympic Games

The height of the cover of the jade emblem's container is 200.8 mm carrying the connotation of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

The base of the jade emblem's container is as high as 56 mm which indicates the 56 nationalities of China.