Source and Identification of Rain Flower Stone

Shi Youjing

Shi Yuhua's name comes from a beautiful myth. According to legend, in ancient times, there was a monk named Master Guang Yun who set up an altar to give lectures at the Lion Gang outside the Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing. When he arrived in good faith, colorful rain flowers fell from the sky. During the Northern Song Dynasty, some people named it "Rain Flower Stone". Since then, people have called the five-color aragonite produced near Yuhuatai Rain Flower Stone.

Modern science has revealed the mystery of yuhua stone, which was produced in the gravel layer of Yuhuatai (including Liuhe and Yizheng) in Nanjing, about12 million years ago. The components of the rain flower stone are agate, protein, Yingshi, crystal, etc. Agate rain flower stone is the best of all the rain flower stones. Rain flower stones are famous for their peculiar and colorful natural beauty. Its ring pattern is evolved from the gap generated in the natural process, and its color depends on the composition of minerals, such as iron in latosolic red, copper in blue and manganese in purple, and its content changes in depth and shade, which makes this beautiful pebble present rich colors and images.

The collection of yuhua stone has become a craze as early as the Song Dynasty. It was recorded in the Southern Song Dynasty's Yunlin Stone Spectrum that "Liuhe stone and agate stone are in water or sand, and the five-color lines are as bright as brush silk."

Chen Zhenhui, one of the four sons of the late Ming Dynasty, has a large collection of rain flower stones. Once, he met a villager in Lingyan Mountain in Liuhe. The villager carries a bag of rain flower stones on his back. He dug out a bright red stone he had never seen before from the bottom of the bag and bought it at once. This stone is crystal clear and foggy. Chen Zhenhui saw that there was a shadow in the color of the stone. The shadow was colorful and fuzzy. She couldn't put it down. She paced up and down the room, thinking about naming this beautiful stone. Chen's beloved concubine Bi Wen woke up after a nap and came to him. When Chen Zhenhui saw Bi Wen's red cheeks, she was very happy. It turned out that Bi Wen's face had "sleep marks" and her blood was still clotting. Chen quipped, what is this "beauty sleep mark", which left a much-told story for later stone fans.

In recent years, with the rapid development of China's economy, the stone appreciation culture has been vigorously promoted, and the rain flower stone "a must in China" has been favored by more and more Chinese and foreign collectors. Ordinary pebbles with images are at least several hundred yuan, and the fine stones in the rain flower stones are more expensive. Recently, a Japanese rain flower stone lover bought a rain flower stone from Mr. Chen, a famous collector in Shanghai, for $7,000.

Rain flower stone lovers agree with the rain flower stones produced in Liuhe, Yizheng and Jiangning, but have not fully agreed with the colored pebbles produced in other parts of the Yangtze River basin. In fact, the texture of some stones is exactly the same as that of yuhua stone. Rain flower stones may wish to search patiently along the Yangtze River basin, and maybe they will gain something. (Shi Youjing)

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