Jade in the Song (960-1279), Liao (916-1115) and Jin (1115-1234) dynasties were more pleasure-oriented, far less ceremonial-purposed than before. Great advancement was made in the technique of creating openwork at various layers. The jade was mainly dedicated to expressing the people’s thoughts and feelings What the people were concerned was “where there is a design, there is an implication; where there is an implication, there are auspicious wishes.” It was a breakthrough to the traditional view of regardingjade as a gentleman’ s virtue. Exhibits, like the White Jade Cup with the Shape of Lotus Leaf, White Jade Pendant of Openwork Fish and Lotus and White Jade with Openwork Phoe-nix Worshiping the Sun all express auspicious wishes for happiness, prospenty and longevity by using synonyms and simi-lar pronunciations of flower, bird and fish.

Gallery of Jade of the Forbidden City

Jasper Qi (Axe)
Jade Figure of Weng Zhong
Green Jade Dancing Figure
White Jade Cup with he Shape of Lotus Leaf
Jade Falcon Biting Wild Goose