Jade Meets Mountains and Rivers

Five thousand years ago, Dushan produced jade, and the Bai River nurtured its people. The spark of Neolithic civilization lay hidden among the stones.

Young Yuheng inherited an ancient craft. With every strike of his shovel and chisel, he grew from a quiet artisan into the lord of Dushan.

There are no golden fingers and no fictionalized alternate history. Grounded in archaeological fact and set against the land and rivers, a picture of the Stone Age, lost to time, unfolds.

Stone forts fell, the North Slope rose to power, black stone ruled, and checkpoints stood like locks. He used jade as a token of trust and a needle as his seal, carving birds among the clouds and uniting a hundred tribes.

He searched for jade veins, built boats, opened waterways, and carved the laws of heaven. He never preyed on the weak or served the powerful.

Old Granny Suo said, "Jade has a soul, and people have a backbone." Lei Gong said, "Mountains have roots, rivers have spirits. When people's hearts are united, the land will endure."

From a single shovel to a mountain; from a group of people to a river.

With an artisan's hands, a bone needle for a pen, and jade for paper, he finally carved the marks of Dushan and the Bai River. He safeguarded the spirit of the Stone Age and its land, letting the craft of the ancestors flow on with the river.