Perceptions of Jade in Republican China: Handicraft Tradition and the 1937 Paris Exposition in Shanghai

China’s absence from the 1937 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne has obscured the lengths that Chinese industrialists and politicians went to to participate in the world’s fair. After the central government declined France’s official invitation, businessmen and officials formed a separate group, the Association for China’s Participation in the Paris Exposition, to solicit objects for a national exposition display. When the Association announced a preview exhibition in Shanghai of the contributions that they had amassed, the event was dubbed “The Jade Show,” as it was composed of decorative objects carved in jadeite and other hardstones. Although the carvings never reached Paris, the attempt to send them poses a question: Why did the Association choose laborious handcrafted stones to represent China as a modern nation-state? This paper examines the economic and political factors that enabled jade to be seen as a representative genre in China’s pursuit of international recognition in Paris. It analyzes pictorial magazine features about the Jade Show alongside discourses about economic rejuvenation campaigns. In so doing, it shows that far from viewing craftsmanship practices as antithetical to modern life, many policymakers and prominent businessmen in the Republican era (1912-1949) believed that one road to economic modernization lay in handicraft industries. This paper argues that the perceived need to invest in light industry to achieve mechanized industrialization motivated the Association’s desire to promote ornamental jades. In turn, the preview exhibition and its illustrated press coverage affected how decorative art was understood to embody a Chinese national spirit. The combination of these factors resulted in the twofold reconceptualization of jade carvings as both quintessential Chinese commodities and objets d’art. The Association’s selection of jades as an esteemed exposition contribution thus resulted in the reconceptualization of jade carving as a commercialized Chinese artform.