The officially licensed, limited issue jade Fuwa debuted Tuesday
morning at the Gongmei Emporium in Wangfujing.
The worldwide issue of the jade Fuwa is limited to 2,008 sets,
with each set valued at 290,000 yuan. Each set has a serial number
and set no. 0001 has been donated by BOCOG to the Palace Museum in
the Forbidden City.
Set no. 0112 was presented to lifetime honorary chairman of the
International Olympic Committee, Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch, by Mr.
Liu Qi, BOCOG president, during the recent 13th
World Olympic Collectors Fair in celebration of the 112-year
history of the Olympic Games.
The jade Fuwa set comprises five Fuwa figurines of jade and one
jade ruyi piece, a Chinese ornamental object that
symbolizes good luck. Hetian jade from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, considered
China's "national jade," is used for the jade Fuwa and ruyi, and
each piece in the set is a different color.
(BOCOG July 4, 2007)
