Ancient Chinese believed jade articles could dispel devils and bring good luck. Nowadays, many people wear jade trappings for health purposes. A latest trend is that jade articles have become favorites of an increasing number of collectors and investors.

At a recent auction held in Shanghai, an east China metropolis, an egg-shaped bracelet was sold for 1.16 million yuan (US$140,000).

A necklace of 61 round jade beads was sold for 920,000 yuan (US$111,000) and a bat-shaped brooch was sold for 165,000 yuan (US$19,900) at the same auction.

Chinese people's love for jade is also reflected in the Chinese culture. For example, people use the phrase "Bing Qing Yu Jie", pure as ice and spotless as jade, to describe someone of good personality.

But today, people regard the value of jade articles as more important.

A little jade human figure of the Warring States Period (475 B.C.-221 B.C.), which was estimated to be worthy of 5,000 to 8,000 yuan, was sold for 250,000 yuan (US$30,000) at an auction held in Beijing in September.

At another auction in Beijing in July, 99 percent of the 488 jade articles available were auctioned.

Hotan in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has a history of over 4,000 years of jade mining. Other major jade producers in China include Nanyang in Henan Province, and Xiuyan of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

With the jade output declining in China and other parts of the world, the price of jade articles is expected to rise steeply and that might stimulate the enthusiasm of collectors, an auctioneer in Shanghai said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2003)