Painting of the story Hong Men Yan.[photo/cultural-china.com]

Hong Men Yan/Hongmen Banquet

Jade plays an important part in the history of ancient China, in the story of Hong Men Yan, the jade witnessed the failure of a political conspiracy and a prelude to the rise of a new dynasty.

In 206 BC, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang were two prominent leaders who rebelled against the Qin Dynasty. Only one could win supremacy over China and ascend the throne. Fan Zeng, counselor of Xiang Yu, invited Liu Bang to a banquet at Hong Men, scheming to kill him. During the banquet, Fan Zeng made signals with his jade pendant and hinted many times to Xiang Yu to kill Liu Bang, but Xiang ignored him.

Fan had to call for an assassin named Xiang Zhuang to stab Liu Bang while pretending to perform a sword dance. Liu Bang managed to escape from the banquet and later cornered Xiang Yu by the River Wujiang. Xiang Yu committed suicide after his defeat and Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty and became its first emperor.