Shanghai Daily News

While most gyms use Nike posters or pictures of people working out as decorations, the owner of King's gym in Pudong treats his customers with far more culturally important decorations.

Hu Zhengwen has decorated the facility with parts of his massive jade artwork collection, including pieces that are worth hundreds of thousands of yuan, if not more.

Some of the oldest pieces date back 5,500 years ago, according to Hu.

The impressive collection on display at the gym is tiny compared to the 300 works Hu has at home.

Yet the delicately chosen jade works represents his irresistible indulgence in the hobby and his distinguished grasp of the nation's historic culture.

Hu says jade art, which has existed for 7,000 years in China, symbolizes the nation's profound cultural roots from the powerful primitive imagination to the delicate craftsmanship through many imperial dynasties.

"According to our ancestors' beliefs, the circle represents the sky and the square stands for the ground, so they made many of their jade works composed of the two shapes in the belief that the jade was created to connect the sky with the ground," said Hu.

Some of the works on display at the gym are hoops and cups made 4,000 to 5,500 years ago near the Yangtze River Delta, which was called Liangchu at the time.

"There are some astonishing works. At a time most people believe our ancestors tried hard with their stone-made tools to survive in the jungle, they discovered jade were able to express their feelings and thoughts," said Hu.

Some of the relics on display in the gym prove that the simple tools used to make them don't mean they are poorly made.

Zhou Hao, an assistant researcher at the Shanghai Museum who is also Hu's partner, pointed at a white-jade-made god and said, "taking a look at this delicate handicraft, people can hardly believe that it was made about 2,500 to 3,000 years ago. But it was."

Delicate carvings are everywhere from the eyelids, accessories and belts on a god figure to the statue of a nude goddess made of yellow jade.

Hu said the goddess was probably created in matriarchal society where the mystery between the two sexes awed human beings.

To develop his assumption even further, Hu was surprised to find a series of sculptures made in dark green jade that proudly display the figures of genital organs. The works belongs to a 3,000-year-old culture called "Sanxingdui" discovered around Sichuan Province.

Some people question that works focused on the genitals could have been mad in a conservative nation such as China, according to Hu. And some of them believe they were left behind by immigrant groups.

But according to Hu, it is possible the artworks were made by Chinese.

"In primitive ages, the mysterious nature made people's imaginations fly high," said Hu.

"Judging from the Liangchu Culture, some of its jade-made works are very similar to things found in Egypt."

Zhou agreed and led a group of visitors to a monkey-faced statue that he says reminds him of the character Chewbacca from the Star Wars movies.

"In ancient China the creature is presumed to stand for the power of wit," Zhou said.

Born in late 1950s, Hu has built up his jade collection since he was a teenager - a hobby passed on from his father. The two men have bought many pieces from small vendors who didn't understand the true value - cultural or monetary - of what they were selling.