China's first Natural Strange Stones Internet Company, dealing exclusively with oddly-shaped rocks, went into operation recently in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province.

Rock lovers browsing the website Stone Titanic. com, registered in the United States, can view photos of stones that look like mountains, flowers, birds, fish, human beings and more. Collection and appreciation of strange stones started in China over 1,600 years ago. And now a precious stone can be sold for as high as 1.68 million yuan (about 201,600 U.S. dollars) in China. Statistics show that China now has hundreds of thousands of strange-stone collectors, and there are more than 20 rock- collecting associations at and above city and provincial level.