Sometimes customers send emails about trying to understand jade energy. Our philosophy of jade selling is related to Chinese medicine,
Daoism, feng shui, which is why we are committed to selling natural jade and jadeite. Most descriptions include a qi energy description for
customers who wear jade for wellness. We live in a busy world, and an important part of keeping balanced is to include quiet time even if you
have a super busy life. It's sometimes called "mindfulness". There is even a new magazine called Mindful that has articles that are practical,
and written for real everyday people and their lives. Taking as little as five minutes each day to be quiet, sit and breathe, builds mindfulness.
Take your jade, hold it, close your eyes and breathe. That might help you to feel the qi energy. I often get emails from people who write that
certain pieces of jade give them such a good feeling, they enjoy it so much. That's how you know when you have chosen the kind of jade that
is most helpful to you. And wearing your good jade will also help with your mindfulness exercise. You will feel better, and your jade will look
more pretty from your body qi. March 29

The last few days have been perfect weather here, warm and sunny and not too hot yet. A very good time to relax, enjoy visiting with friends, and taking a break from work, which was mandatory to recover from pointer finger damage. I got bit by fire ants on my right pointer finger, which has been itcy and swollen, and then I mashed my left pointer finger in a folding metal stand. Difficult to use a keyboard with those two fingers out of commission. The cold jade of my bangle feels so good on the fire ant bites. I was trying to process orders and itching like crazy, grabbed a jade bangle that is sitting on my desk while I enjoy looking at it, and cooled those ant bites. Then decided to honor reader requests to list a jade bangle that's not really my size in my "from my wrist to yours" category. I got a fairly decent photo, not one of the professional ones like on the web site, and it will be available until sold, or until it gets a professional photo and listed on the web site. If you click the photo and it doesn't take you to the listing, that means it's sold. When I first saw these "modern" bangles in China, I was shopping with a young Chinese woman who was traveling with me to the remote inland jade carvers city in southern China. She gave a gasp, was thrilled to find a jade bangle she would like to wear, one that wasn't like a "grandmother style" jade. The jade has big very dark blotchy veins that most "traditional" Chinese women don't like, and they usually get bleached out with acid, but these have their natural coloring and appeal to more modern women. She bought one for herself, one for a girlfriend, and we bargained for 50 of them so we could get a good price. There are still a few remaining, this one is at a much lower price than the $550 they usually start at. A good deal and a "modern" jadeite bangle bracelet. March 23

I took off my jade bangle to try on one that had been photographed to put on the web site, and liked the color, it's slender elegance, and then I noticed a small carving nick where the flat inside turns rounded. When I find a flaw, that means I get to keep it! But, my personal jade drawer is full so I decided that I better wear it. I took a photo of it on our porch to see how it looked with nature behind it, and how it looked on my wrist. The photo turned out pretty good, so then I thought if I put on as a Daily Special, and if someone buys it right away, I won't have to find a way to cram it in my too full jade bangle drawer. And the best way to sell it is to make a really low price. If it sells, I will sulk about it and have regrets for a couple of days, but then I will probably find another small one as I'm listing them. So if you wear a small size, it's a good deal for you today. It's 53mm and slender, and if perfect $2500 because of the good green veins, $800 if I put it on clearance. You will find it for as long as it's available by clicking the photo. March 17
.

The last few weeks here in central Florida have been so full of pollens that when you go outside, there's a thin layer of pollen everywhere. The car windshield needs to be cleaned before driving. I looked through my inventory for white jade to wear because I've been sneezing and wheezing, and didn't want to wear another jade bangle. I wanted a jade pendant to wear closer to my lungs. I remembered the big round "river jade" pendants and took one of those out to wear on a cord. They are white with veins of honey, charcoal in them. The white jade and charcoal veins are related to metal, which is related to the lung, and the honey veins related to the spleen meridian, to help keep my stomach calm during all the crud running out of my head. I've felt better since I've been wearing it, and decided to make it the Daily Special to help others with their allergy season, too. The lung meridian is also affected by grief and loss, and white jade helps to relieve those emotions and cheer you up. Just what I need. And what people living in China's very air polluted cities need, too. Including the statue of the taiji master.March 16

Last week I got an email from a woman who had a jade teapot that had been in her family for a long time, and she wanted to sell it. She was having concerns about how to describe and price it, and found the jade teapots on YYJ and which are similar to hers, and asked for advice. I did a quick search on ebay for jade teapots that were real Chinese jade and similar, because the last time I searched I saw teapots similar to the ones on YYJ for $2000-5000. There were a lot of questionable "jade" teapots, so I did an advanced search of "sold" ones, and found a very similar one that had sold for $8000! I helped her with an accurate description, and she liked it so much she wrote that she wanted to keep it for herself. She hadn't known what the significance of the jade and carvings were, and knowing that made it more precious to her. I chuckled when she wrote she wanted to keep it, because that's why I have been hoarding so many of the jade bangles in my inventory. By the time I get the photo, examine it carefully and get the qi feeling and other details and meanings, I fall in love with it and want to keep it, so I set it aside on the shelf in front of me as I work to enjoy it. Today, I took some of them and fortified with a yummy chocolate bar, I listed them. They are the old mine "lao pit" that I purchased in remote jade city in China directly from the jade carver, no doubt about being A grade, and what I like most about them is how natural, truly like stone out of the earth, they look. The qi energy is so basic, it touches the body, mind and spirit. It's like water, food, air: how can you live without these basic things. If the chocolate holds out, to get my endorphins making me feel good, I will get some more listed over the weekend. I'm pricing them low, I used to sell this kind for $2500-5000 and these will all be under $1000. Worth every dollar. You can always see what's new at the front of the automated shopping cart pages, click here. March 14

Thanks for your comments. I am very pleased that most of you like the web site as it is now. The redesign won't be dramatic. Most of it will be what you can't see, like the html code.YYJ web site was made in 2002 and a lot has changed since then. Many people shop on smart phones and tablets these days, and the newer html code makes web sites more friendly on those devices. Some products will be eliminated, and many will be consolidated for easier viewing. Online businesses with shopping carts actually don't need a separate web site like we do, because all of the products are categorized in the shopping cart. But we have so much other information that we need a web site, including the ability to view the photos larger on the web site. It's kind of scary getting started on it, though. The new software is similar, but updated from the old. Like teaching
an old dog new tricks! I'm waiting for an auspicious day to really get started. So please continue sending comments and ideas until Friday.
March 12

The planning has been going on for a year, and this month we will start redesigning the YYJ web site. One of the goals is to "retire" most of the jade items, and updating will help with the transition. It's ironic that so much work has to go into redesigning and updating to "retire. Becoming more like a "regular" web site, where if you see something, like it, you buy it, rather than ask questions, get a discount and pay by check will make it more efficient for keeping track of orders and inventory. But will not be as personal of a jade buying experience as many of you have enjoyed. I will miss that, too, because online chatting with customers has been the biggest reason I have enjoyed this business. So if you want to make offers, do it this week before the updating gets too far along. The name "Ying Yu Jade" was a customer suggestion when I first moved the web site from Calm Spirit to a separate jade web site, and I have appreciated customer input and suggestions over the years. And I want some input now. I would like a new logo, and we need a new camera. It's very challenging to take photos of jade. Some cameras make jade look awful. The camera we use now was the winner of a jade photo contest a few years ago, and it's actually the newer model of the original camera that won the contest. There will be prizes of gift certificates for your entries. The information to enter the contest will be on the Daily Special page this week.
Changes are coming. I hope that overall they will be improvements as technology has advanced so much since YYJ went online in 2002.
March 9

A "jade sister" sent me a link to an article about a jade necklace that could sell for $12 million! Click here if you want to drool over one of the world's most expensive jade necklaces. Would you actually wear that if you had it? Maybe, because no one would ever guess its true value. I have written about Chinese saying regarding jade: "diamonds and gold have a price, but jade has no price". Means there are karat and carat criteria for diamonds, gold, most gems and metals, but the price of jade is determined by what the buyer will pay, and the seller will accept. There are never prices on jadeite bangle bracelets in the jade markets in China. It's all about bargaining. I sometimes buy vintage or estate jade for the small section of these items on the YYJ web site. Pricing is really difficult, and I usually under-price. If you see something you like in the estate-vintage section, you are welcome to make an offer. And that's why I don't accept jade on consignment to sell. What if I had accepted that $12 million jade necklace, guessed the value at $2500 and took an offer for $1000. Then an article would eventually come out about what it's selling for at Sotheby's auction. That necklace has a history, and the history along with the quality of the jadeite is what give it the value, and what a seller needs to know. But there's no way to objectively put a value on it. And I personally do not want jade so valuable that I am afraid to wear it and it sits in a safe. March 8

My husband and I watched the Amazing Race last Sunday, and the racers were in Guangzhou, China. We reminisced about some of the places and fondly remembered being in Guangzhou for at least a week each year. The final "pit stop" was on Shamian Island, where we stay when we go to Guangzhou. Shamian Island is like a little haven away from the crowded busy activity of the city. It's home to the White Swan Hotel, and two of the other hotels we like to stay at. Sometimes we would spend a week in Beijing prior to going to Guangzhou, and all our clothes needed to be washed so we could pack light (more room for all that jade!), and we were always amazed at the wonderful washing and pressing job they did, for so cheap. And Shamian Island is where an interesting and unique kind of Chinese medicine is practiced. We would get foot massage every night after shopping all day, and "foot massage" often turned into all over acupressure, gua sha and more. Husband and I talked about our adventures jade shopping south of Guangzhou, because most of the jade we bought was not the commercial kind at the jade market in Guangzhou, but in smaller jade cities we traveled by bus to get to, directly to the homes of the jade carvers. When we would have tea with the jade carvers and their family while watching jade bangle bracelets being made, I would know for sure that the jade I bought there was A grade, the best you could buy. So Sunday is when I told my husband about the boxes of jade I still had, purchased on those adventurous, and rugged travels, and that I was having a hard time letting them go for sale on the web site. That kind of jade is so traditional, made for Chinese woman to wear while they work and play so very sturdy, some of them the "cuff" style that have lots of jade in them to be strong. You don't often see that kind of jade for sale anywhere outside of China. Most of the jadeite on YYJ are bangles I personally purchased in China, although some are still the ones I bought more than 10 years ago when I was buying every jade bangle I could get from my jade shopper in China to get this business going before I quit my "real job" to just do jade for our livelihood. Often customers ask what the difference is between YYJ and the JBB bangles, and that's the difference. There are some of those good quality jadeite bangles on JBB, and the prices reflect their value, so that's how you can tell which are the better ones on JBB. You really do get what you pay for on both we sites. And all of our jadeite is legal, purchased before the Lantos embargo on any jadeite from Burma. This will be 15 years of selling jade, so I must be doing something right! March 6

The jade eggs and ben wa balls for women kegel exercise are still on our top 10 best sellers list. When I went to China in 1999 to learn Chinese medicine, I also had appointments for Chinese medicine treatments for myself. One of my health challenges at that time was that I was just starting menopause, and had all those annoying changes that were making me miserable. I was absolutely shocked to learn that Chinese medicine treatment was helpful for this. The doctor asked me several times if I was sure I didn't want to get pregnant ever again (I didn't!) then did acupuncture and prescribed three weeks of herbal medicine, which a pharmacy boiled and made into single serving bags that I warmed and drank twice a day. And that was the end of menopause. Amazing. He told me to be sure to return in a year because I would benefit from the next stage of treatment for women at my time of life. When I returned in 2000, he wasn't available but I found Dr Charles Li who taught me a lot more about Chinese wellness, and introduced me to how jade was used traditionally by Chinese doctors. I learned about jade gua sha tools, jade rollers, jade "needles", jade massage rings and more...including jade eggs and ben wa balls for kegel pelvic strenghtening. Western woman are different from Asian women in some ways, and we met the jade man who was to become my jade associate in China. We found a jade carver who used pure and natural jade, explained about what women expect regarding quality, and I had a set of ben wa balls and jade eggs made, which I took home with me and used. And was very satisfied with the results. An unexpected suprise was how much using them improved my abdominal muscles and made my stomach look better. I have blogged in the past about how I buy and sell only products I would personally use, and this was true about the jade eggs and balls. So I had 100 sets of each made, and in a year, I still had most of them. Then one day Rachael Ray featured them on her show, and I have barely been able to keep them in stock since then. Dr Oz also had a Chinese doctor talk about them and jade rollers on his show, and women around the world learned about jade products that benefit them without side effects of medicine. The Monday Daily Special will feature YYJ drilled ben wa balls and Tuesday will feature the jade eggs sets at sale prices. You can read more about their use and view them on this page. If I ever stopped my jade business, I think I would continue to sell these because they are so beneficial to women, and I am one of the only jade sellers who gets them made to Chinese medicine wellness standards and use only pure and natural jade.
March 2.

The Calm Spirit / Ying Yu Jade complete March newsletter is available online now, click here. This month features Chinese medicine wellness information for March regarding balance of body, mind and spirit. There is information about what kind of jade to wear this month if you wear jade for your health, and more. March 1

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