China's Oldest Jade Clothing Repaired, Put On Display

Home>>Life

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 05, 2002

China's Oldest Jade Clothing Repaired, Put On Display

A 2,000-year-old royal jade burial suit with gold threads destroyed by grave robbers has been resewn with gold thread and put on display in Xuzhou City of east China's Jiangsu Province.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

A 2,000-year-old royal jade burial suit with gold threads destroyed by grave robbers has been resewn with gold thread and put on display in Xuzhou City of east China's Jiangsu Province.

As most of the original gold thread had been removed by the unknown grave robbers when archeologists found it in 1995, the armor-like apparel was nothing but a pile of jade plates.

To restore its original look, archeologists with the Xuzhou Museum spent 21 months numbering and cleaning all the jade plates and putting them back together.

Altogether 1,576 grams of gold thread was used to sew the jade pieces together, and the whole restoration cost 500,000 yuan (about 60,241 US dollars).

The attire, which looks very similar to armor, measures 1.74 meters long and consists of 4,248 pieces of jade.

Unearthed in Lion Mountain on the outskirts of Xuzhou in 1995, the clothes were worn by a king of the State of Chu in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD).

The jade used for the suit came from Hezhen (Khotan) in Xinjiang.

Curator Li Yinde of the Xuzhou Museum called the exhibit a "national treasure" as it is the best protected and oldest of its kind ever discovered in China.

According to Li, all the jade plates are crystal clear and werewell drilled, indicating the craft had already been standardized.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Questions?Comments? Click here

Stone Age Relics Unearthed in Southwest China

New Archaeological Finds Unearthed in Southwest China

Another Leap Forward for China's Development ( 4 Messages)

Countdown Begins for Damming Yangtze River ( 2 Messages)

Shanghai Wins World Expo 2010 Bid ( 8 Messages)

Beijing Has 1st On-campus Confucius Research Institute ( 15 Messages)

China, Russia Issue Joint Statement ( 2 Messages)