Gold and jade unveiled as basis for Beijing medals AP, BEIJING Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007, Page 18 Advertising Gold and jade -- which signify honor and virtue in Chinese culture -- have been unveiled as the two key elements in the 2008 Beijing Olympic medals. The winning design for the gold medal centers on three components in a center circle: the Beijing Olympic logo, the five Olympic rings and "Beijing 2008." This inner circle is surrounded by a ring of jade with a gold-plated rim on the outside. The medals were unveiled at a one-hour ceremony in the Capital Museum yesterday, w elcomed by folk music, rock music and a shower of gold confetti. The gold, silver and bronze medals will carry the same design, with a finer white jade in the gold medal, a slightly darker shade in the silver medal, and a green jade in the bronze medal. The flip side of the medal carries a design based on the roots of the Olympics in Greece. Officials said 265 design proposals were received from inside China and worldwide, with a nine-member panel picking the winner. "The panel was looking for something that unmistakably was associated with China, and everyone agreed jade was that symbol," said Clinton Dines, a member of the panel and president of the China division of BHP Billiton. Eight-year-old singer Aerfa, from China's Xinjiang Province, displays the medals for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the launch ceremony in Beijing yesterday. PHOTO: AP Australia-based BHP Billiton is an Olympic sponsor and the world's largest mining company, with revenue in 2006 of US$39.1 billion. Officials said the winning entry came from a design team at the Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts. Dines said about 6,000 medals would be made for the Games, with the design for the Paralympic medals announced later this year. The jade would come from China, with BHP Billiton providing the other materials, Dines said. "We will provide those materials from a variety of our operations around the world," Dines said. "We have a wide range of mines." Dines said the medals would be slightly heavier and larger than other Olympics medals, with the average medal weighing about 150 grams. Beijing officials want the 2008 Summer Games to be unique, and spending on them is dwarfing other Olympics. "As we got into it [the judging], it became clear that all the Chinese guys in the design committee were very concerned about how this design would be seen by the world," Dines said. "This is important to China and they want the design to represent China."
*very very* nice. what else can be more representative of Chinese than jade? i cannot imagine how much each one would actually cost though. that's a big medal and that's a lot of jade.
yeah, cool design. a collector's dream. hope KKK and TBH got one of those. preferably the gold coloured ones. he he he.
Very unique. Much better than the traditional medal. A lot of facets of the Beijing Olympic are unique, including the mascots. The darker green jade (bronze) looks nicer than the gold medal, though.
In general, the value of jade is determined according to its colour and the intensity of that colour, the vivacity and texture, and its clarity and transparency. Likings for particular colours vary very considerably from region to region and culture to culture. In green jade alone, the connoisseurs differentiate between seven main qualities, from the intense, even green of imperial jade, via apple green and spinach green, all the way to the lighter and to more heavily speckled shades of green. These special nuances often overlap and can hardly be recognised by the untrained eye. In the USA and Europe, emerald green, spinach green and apple green are regarded as particularly valuable. In the Far East, on the other hand, pure white or a fine yellow with a delicate pink undertone is highly esteemed. In the world of jewellery, the fine violet nuances of lavender jade are very popular. It is however the rare, emerald green of imperial jade, which shines through at the edges, a colour of incredible depth, which fetches the highest prices. Unfortunately, since not only good and natural jade is offered for sale, but often fake or poor-quality products or stones which have been coloured or otherwise treated, it is advisable to buy good jade only from reputable dealers and jewellers, whether the purchase is being made for a collection or as an individual piece of jewellery.
thanks for your info cooler..now i know more about jed which i never know before..nice explaination...
So so cool... I'm going to be so jealous of the people who win those ... It's really great that they're trying something different, they're a lot more interesting, and the colours and everything work together so well. They really look like they're worth something . My great great grandfather was a Chinese man who invented some kind of steam powered gold dredge. He would be proud .
Wow that is awesome...I also like the little handle thingumbobs that you put the ribbon through. Very classy and not overdone. People will definitely remember they're from China!
indeed those are beautiful medals, very unique. Before we "award the gold to TH", let's just hope TH is motivated to train hard and play hard...hahaha! Indra, I hope TH does not read your post...since TH already "got the gold you given him in your post above" maybe he will just quit, retired and go play with Amy instead of LD, LOL!
Dines said the medals would be slightly heavier and larger than other Olympics medals, with the average medal weighing about five ounces. Beijing officials want the 2008 Summer Games to be unique, and spending on them is dwarfing previous Olympics. He added that fitting the jade into the medal would be a complex task. "If you force it (jade) into a metal situation it will be brittle and break," Dines said. "They have done a lot of clever work in designing that piece of jade into it." gold medal front and back sides
yup, nice medals, ingenius idea. can't say i care too much for the pictograms though, hahaha, they look rather shabby.
saw a report on the designing team yesterday, it mentioned they had to perform lots of test to ensure the jade doesn't break while falling from 2-meter height. It's a genuis idea and again demonstrate how bright Chinese are!
