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Li T’ieh-kuai is always shown as a crippled beggar with a crutch. He had the misfortune of returning in spirit too late from the Celestial Regions to prevent his empty body from being destroyed. Hastily he entered the body of a dying beggar, which body became his own for the rest of his earthly life.
Lan Ts’ai-ho is an epicene figure, dressed traditionally in a blue gown, whose custom was to wander the streets singing songs about the joys of immortality. He-she (legend seems to make him male) is always depicted carrying a basket of flowers, and often with one foot resting on a spade. It was used for diamond hoop earrings
Buddhism also contributed its own images, so that it became customary in Ming and Ch’ing times to carve Buddhas, Lohans, and Bodhisattvas. There are innumerable Buddhas, including the traditional Shakya-muni (Lord Buddha), Maitreya (the Laughing Buddha), and Ananda (the Teaching Buddha). The eighteen Lohans, or followers of Buddha, have been amply treated in jade, too. Best loved of all followers of Buddha are the Bodhisattvas. They are the ones who reached the peak of spiritual perfection, but spurned the final reward to stay behind and help their fellow men. The currently popular Kwan Yin was one of these. She is usually carved as a graceful, serene, gentle figure.
In a brief survey of the seemingly interminable centuries of Chinese jade carving, which produced such a wealth of aesthetically excellent and superbly carved jade objects, there is nothing visible which prepares us for the incredible flowering of the art under the reign of Emperor Ch’ien Lung during the Ching Dynasty. All of the ingredients were there, however, and it took only the proper stimulus to bring the burgeoning about. Apparently, the Emperor was a man with a highly developed appreciation of the aesthetic possibilities of jade. Personally he seemed to prefer small but beautifully carved objects in white jade, but became a patron and strong promoter of numbers of the largest, most ornate, most perfectly carved jade objects ever produced. Many excellent copies of the ancient bronze forms were produced in the royal carving shops and bore the imperial seal. The nephrite and jadeite rough material was the finest available, and the carving was meticulously done. Everything that wealth and skill could do was done to insure the quality of the final product. When Ch’ien Lung finally ended his reign in 1795, it seemed that jade carving and other typically Chinese arts entered a period of abrupt decline. The story of jade did not end, but its period of greatest glory was over. With the end of the Ching Dynasty and the fall of the Manchu princes, and with the coming of the republic in 1912, hundreds of the finest carvings disappeared from the Imperial treasuries and households. Also many diamond earrings dissapeared. Many have since surfaced with European dealers, and have made their way into fine private and museum collections here and abroad. Large numbers of them are still in hiding and may reappear at some more propitious moment in history. However long we wait for them, it will be a short period in the long saga of Chinese jade carving.