“Preparation ensures success; lack of preparation leads to failure.” What changes lie ahead for China’s rock-collecting community? This is a matter of great importance that affects each and every one of us, stone enthusiasts. With all due humility, the author, drawing on China’s unique stone-related circumstances, referencing the experiences of developed countries, and drawing upon nearly two decades of personal experience in Japan, attempts here to offer an analysis.

1. The supply of unique stones is gradually being depleted.

There are countless stones in nature, yet very few can be called “elegant stones” and used to adorn halls. As any stone collector knows, back in the day, one could easily find a good specimen after just a few days on a riverbank—but now, it may take months, or even years, to find even a single one. Typically, a new stone species... 2、3 It was wiped out within a year, 20 In less than a year, we’ve almost completely eliminated all the newly discovered stone varieties—such as Liuzhou’s Four Famous Stones (Caitao, Dahua, Juanwen, Caiwan), Youlan Stone, Tianjing Stone, Zao Hua Stone, Meihua Stone, Qixia Stone, Grape Agate, and many others. Everyone understands that it will be extremely difficult to discover so many new stone varieties in the future. Moreover, we’ve found that once remarkable stones enter the collecting world, a large portion of them tend to disappear from public view forever! Drawing on Japan’s experience, 60% The above-mentioned entities have ceased to appear publicly. Thus, the sharp decline in the availability of unique stone resources is an objective reality that cannot be altered by human will.

II. The cut-bottom stone will be accepted by the market.

According to the author’s investigation, Japanese cut-bottom stones account for approximately... 30% Above, the United States also accounts for... 20% while our country hasn't even reached... 1% Originally, Japan had quite a few small, entirely natural water stones. However, these resources soon became depleted, forcing collectors to turn to cutting the bottom off stones instead. Like China, the United States boasts many large, remarkable stones. Yet, deeply influenced by Japanese waterscape culture, American collectors tend to favor smaller landscape stones. Faced with this reality, they’ve had no choice but to cut off portions from larger stones. In our country, there are two main reasons: first, we’ve only recently started collecting, so resources are still relatively abundant; second, stone farmers couldn’t afford stone-cutting machines in the past; and third, stone enthusiasts have always prized large stones, which is why they’ve avoided cutting the bottom off. But now that resources are running out and the size of available stones has reached its limit, it’s only a matter of time before cutting the bottom off becomes mainstream. In fact, once such stones are placed on pedestals or mounted on trays, their bottoms become completely invisible—so whether you cut the bottom off or not really doesn’t matter. Even if the bottom shows some damage, it can still be appreciated just as much! Ultimately, this is merely a matter of perception.

3. Marble and grass-and-flower stones (including polished stones) will see significant development.

The market share of sliced and polished stone currently stands at less than... 5% This is highly unusual. In fact, whether viewed from the rarity of these resources—among all types of picture stones found around the world, China’s marble and grass-flower stones are considered the most beautiful—or from their long historical legacy—marble has been admired and exploited as early as the Tang Dynasty—or even from the perspective of their broad public appeal (they resemble the kinds of art paintings that the masses love and readily embrace)—China’s marble, grass-flower stones, and other picture stones all possess immense value for both appreciation and collection.

4. The proportion of exotic foreign stones is increasing.

According to the author’s on-site investigation, overseas peculiar stones from countries such as Japan and South Korea account for approximately... 20% Moreover, the proportion of European and American stones is even higher. Due to the uneven distribution of crustal materials and the diverse geological histories of different regions, each country boasts some unique stone varieties. For instance, China’s Lingbi Stone and Dahuashi fossils, Japan’s siliceous red chrysanthemum stones and Kamikui Kudan stones, Myanmar’s jade and petrified wood, India’s red jasper, Brazil’s amethysts, and Canada’s Taihu stones—all are treasures bestowed upon Earth’s inhabitants by nature. These stones are universally cherished by collectors around the world, and it is only fitting that stone enthusiasts from various countries should share and exchange their collections. After all, people living in larger nations tend to have a broader appreciation for stones; narrow-minded local geologists would do well to quickly embrace this global perspective.

5. The value of the ancient stone is widely recognized.

In addition to embodying all the values of contemporary stone, ancient stone carries an extra, uniquely “ancient” value. This “ancient” quality represents history, culture, and the inheritance of civilization—qualities that no modern stone can ever replace. China is universally recognized as the birthplace of stone culture; yet today, we simply do not have enough historical evidence to support this claim. It is an urgent mission entrusted to our generation of stone enthusiasts to rescue, excavate, authenticate, and protect ancient stones—because the nation’s turbulent and calamity-ridden history has already led to the near-total loss of China’s ancient stone heritage. Any disregard for the preservation of our national cultural heritage can only be described as ignorance. I am confident that everyone will come to appreciate the significance of ancient stone, and soon its rightful status will shine brightly.

6. Traditional stone varieties are returning to their position as the mainstream of curio stones.

Many stone enthusiasts may not like hearing this, and neither do I—but emotions can’t replace facts. We’ve noticed that, compared to traditional stone varieties, the market lifespan of these newly discovered stone types is generally quite short. The fundamental reason is that their overall availability is limited. This can be explained from a geological perspective: traditional stones such as Lingbi, Taihu, and Yingshi are primarily composed of calcium carbonate, which is prone to weathering and shaping, thus enabling them to exhibit an astonishing variety of intricate textures—wrinkled, slender, porous, and translucent. Moreover, carbonate rocks formed through marine sedimentation are widely distributed across the globe; in China alone, karst landforms cover a vast area. 125 10,000 square kilometers, accounting for a percentage of the country's total area. 13% On the other hand, new-style stones—such as Dahua, painted pottery, grass-and-flower patterns, and grape agate—have extremely demanding formation conditions, which naturally result in limited reserves. Although their scarcity drives up prices, their market lifespan is inevitably fleeting. Moreover, some of these stones, whose colors were “water-plated” in deep waters, are bound to fade when exposed to new environmental conditions—and just how much they’ll fade depends entirely on time itself. Anyone who can see clearly who’ll ultimately come out on top need only think it over.

7. The spring of fossil collecting will surely come.

If collecting奇stones is about art, then collecting fossils is about science. In many countries around the world, fossil collecting is entirely free and unrestricted. In developed nations, people generally have a high level of knowledge in earth sciences, which is directly linked to the fact that many individuals spend their entire lives collecting fossils. As education improves and international exchanges expand, the widespread popularity of personal fossil collections is inevitable. The march of civilization is unstoppable; today, there are tens of thousands of fossil collectors across the country, a fact that has become an open secret. Fossil exhibitions and sales are frequently held at stone shows all over the country, and some intrepid collectors have even boldly opened public museums and started selling tickets for admission.

It’s inherently absurd to classify fossils as cultural relics and bring them under the purview of cultural-relief laws. Cultural relics are remnants of human cultural activities, with a history at most spanning tens of thousands of years; fossils, on the other hand, are traces or remains of Earth’s biological activity, which—strictly speaking—can be traced back over 3.5 billion years. These are two entirely different concepts. In fact, even among so-called “cultural relics,” there’s an enormous amount of collecting and trading going on in China’s private sector, as evidenced by the more than one hundred episodes of CCTV-2’s “Jian Bao” program and the antique markets found across various regions.

Of course, conservation and research are both crucial. The key, however, is to clearly understand what the fundamental purpose of conservation and research should be. Our professionals must not merely focus on the convenience of writing articles or simply monopolize extraction and lock down markets. Rather, they should approach these issues from a strategic perspective—aiming at broadening and elevating the scientific and cultural literacy of the entire nation. In fact, scientific research and fossil collection need not be mutually exclusive. In many countries in Europe, the U.S., Japan, and elsewhere, fossils are freely mined and fully circulated, yet their research has never lagged behind. On the contrary, this open approach has actually spurred their scientific advancement and economic growth. We call for the early enactment of a fossil management law that would simultaneously facilitate scientific research and promote the exchange and collection of fossils.

8. Mineral collectors outnumber the giant army of curious stone enthusiasts.

In a broad sense, ornamental stones can be categorized into three major groups: curiosities, minerals, and fossils. When ranked according to the number of people involved and the scale of the collection, countries such as those in Europe, the U.S., and Japan generally follow the order of minerals, fossils, and curiosities—roughly speaking. 100：10：1 In contrast, China’s situation is exactly the opposite. However, the following three factors will inevitably lead us to gradually “align with the world”: First, the level of universal education will continue to rise; once people gain knowledge about minerals, they’ll naturally start thinking about collecting them. Second, the sheer quantity of minerals in existence far exceeds that of curios and fossils—just the number of crystal specimens alone may already surpass the total number of collectible curios and fossils. Third, mineral collecting has become widely popular among the general public; a mid-range crystal specimen might... 80% People like it, while a mid-range curious stone or fossil often costs less than... 10% People enjoy it—何况 mineral collecting has long since become mainstream, and there are no legal barriers either. We believe that China will soon host large-scale mineral and fossil exhibitions similar to the one in Tucson.

9. The secondary market takes center stage, and auctions are transformed into barter exchanges.

One day, people will primarily be buying stones not from stone shops but rather from auction markets and from fellow stone enthusiasts’ homes. This shift is due to two factors: on the one hand, newly discovered remarkable stones found in the wild are becoming increasingly scarce; on the other hand, as the stone-collecting community ages, the number of remarkable stones being passed down or transferred among collectors continues to rise. Eventually, the number of stones available for transfer will exceed the number of newly discovered ones—marking the day when the secondary market for remarkable stones takes center stage. This represents a milestone in the history of stone appreciation, signaling the beginning of a new, steady phase of development characterized by a continuous cycle of discarding the old and embracing the new.

The development of the secondary market—and the principles of fair, open, and impartial trading—inevitably give rise to auctions of unique stones. However, current auction laws are ill-suited to the stone-collecting community because they are overly rigid and impose excessively high costs, thereby complicating what should be a straightforward process. As a result, voluntary exchange gatherings have naturally emerged. These gatherings do not require professional auctioneers; they are open to anyone, can take place anytime and anywhere, and come with minimal expenses. This type of auction-style exchange is highly prevalent in advanced countries such as Japan and is tremendously beneficial to the advancement of the art of stone appreciation.

10. The differentiation of collector and stone variety combinations, with appreciation of stones becoming integrated into mainstream culture.

In the early days of stone collecting, stones of all kinds were sold together, and enthusiasts at all levels enjoyed playing with them side by side. Later, people realized that different individuals tended to collect different types of stones—and those who couldn't find common ground in their tastes simply couldn't play together. As a result, groups of collectors began to split and recombine continuously: intellectuals gravitated toward fellow intellectuals, and officials hung out with other officials. The most striking division emerged when high-quality stones concentrated in places endowed with the “three haves”—money, status, and culture—while lower-quality stones gravitated toward areas lacking these “three haves”—no money, no status, and no culture. This phenomenon of "things gathering together by kind and people grouping according to their kind" is entirely objective and will become even more pronounced in the future. Yet, these "three haves" and "three haves-less" are inextricably linked, each indispensable, and capable of shifting roles. As long as the broader environment remains unchanged, this ongoing process of further differentiation, recombination, and diffusion among people and stones will keep repeating itself endlessly. The ultimate outcome will be a deeper and wider development of the art of stone appreciation. Horizontally, this movement will spread across all sectors, drawing participation from every corner of society; vertically, it will permeate all social strata—from students and teachers right up to school principals, from ordinary citizens and county magistrates all the way to provincial governors—creating a society-wide shared appreciation of elegant stones. In this way, stone appreciation culture will inevitably move into the mainstream of society and merge with the dominant cultural currents.

Of course, if today’s nationwide stone enthusiasts lack a long-term vision, fail to attract young people to join their ranks, and don’t practice self-discipline and strive for self-improvement, this current craze for collecting ornamental stones could well fade away from here on out. Today might just be the very best day left!

In addition, the downstream industries related to unique stones will see corresponding development. Here, “downstream industries” refer to the production and sale of items such as stands, pedestals, tables, calligraphy and paintings, water basins, and decorative ornaments. These industries are currently significantly behind and have substantial room for growth.