What are the values of cliff cypress bonsai? A comprehensive guide
From ancient times to the present, people have never stinted in expressing their fondness for pines and cypresses. Bao Zhao of the Northern and Southern Dynasties said in "Preface to the Pine and Cypress Piece": “The pine and cypress alone receive their mandate, through the ages they never decline.” Su Zhe, one of the Three Su of the Song Dynasty, also wrote in his "Preface to the Rhapsody on Taking Poria": “Neither cold nor heat can move them, neither years nor months can defeat them - only the pine and cypress are so.” Many people not only love cliff cypress bead bracelets, but also long to obtain a cliff cypress bonsai.
Cliff cypress is a prehistoric plant, originating more than 300 million years ago. It is a relict plant from the Cretaceous period of the dinosaur era, known as the rarest and oldest gymnosperm in the world, and an extremely rare surviving plant living fossil in the world.
The cliff cypress of the South Taihang Mountains, growing on Danxia geology, has its roots suspended among the high cliffs and cold rocks. With the geological and mountain changes over hundreds of millions of years, after the rocks embracing its roots weathered and fell away over several hundred or even several thousand years, the cliff cypress roots were finally revealed. Having survived extremely harsh environments, been tempered by wind and frost, and carved as if by the work of gods, it naturally decays into a firm, condensed substance with extraordinary shapes, delicate grain, and abundant cypress oil - a wood of ten-thousand-year longevity. The Taihang cliff cypress surpasses other cypress plants in form, grain, material, scent, and vitality, possessing greater charm and appeal.
Cliff cypress has become widely known and recognized, and has aroused enthusiastic advertising promotion from all sectors of society. But agarwood has a history of a thousand years, and it is not merely about being expensive and appreciating in value. As a resource scarcer than precious metals, cliff cypress products have now also become an investment category. The rising popularity of cliff cypress collecting leads most people to believe that investing in cliff cypress can yield very high returns. Beyond this, one should also see the cultural value behind it.
When we speak of the preciousness of cliff cypress, it mainly stems from its use value and economic value. The use value of cliff cypress is well known; from ancient times to the present it has been much beloved, with many functions such as medical and health purposes, and broad demand, so consumption is also enormous. Moreover, it takes at least several hundred years for it to qualify as cliff cypress, and its growth is extremely slow. Market demand is one factor leading to the reduction of cliff cypress output.
Economic value, meanwhile, is reflected in investment and collecting. In an era of peace with a highly developed economy, collecting fine and excellent cliff cypress is a symbol of wealth, status, and devout belief, and also symbolizes the collector's cultural depth and taste. High-quality cliff cypress is mostly used for prayer beads and carvings. Given the requirements for the volume and quality of the raw material, carved works are almost all exquisite artworks. Therefore, cliff cypress continuously appreciates in value as it becomes rarer, and has great collectible value, being loved by business circles and religious believers. This has also led to good-quality cliff cypress being scarce and expensive. Although there are many places of origin, the cliff cypress products on the current market are all natural stock accumulated over thousands of years. Driven by high prices, places of origin have carried out carpet-style excavation and collection, and output is nearly exhausted.
From the perspective of investment and collecting, the value of a commodity should be judged by the attributes inherent in the commodity or substance itself. Any commodity itself first has use value; only when a commodity has use value can it be abstracted into economic value. As a collectible, cliff cypress itself possesses an elegant, resilient, and uniquely distinctive temperament. Its fragrance is refreshing, and the aroma can have a stimulating and mind-clearing effect on the human body. Precisely because it inherently has value, people use it; after using it and finding it good, they preserve it; afterward they summarize and elevate it, passing it down from generation to generation. That cliff cypress has been able to be transmitted to this day is mainly determined by the value it inherently possesses.
Cliff cypress grows on sheer cliffs, and its tenacious vitality means its growth process can be fully summed up in twelve characters: rather bend than die, rather die than fall, rather fall than rot. To truly appreciate cliff cypress root art, one must first fully grasp the spirit of cliff cypress. Because cliff cypress struggles to survive in extremely harsh environments, over a thousand years enduring the baptism of nature's wind and rain, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, accumulating ten-thousand-year fragrance, taking in the spirit and charm of ten thousand trees, and matching the longevity of ancient wilderness, it can be called a model for how to conduct oneself. Therefore, whether for collecting or for health preservation, it must be combined with culture.
Finally, one must also pay attention to the social demand for cliff cypress. Cliff cypress resources are deteriorating day by day, and precious cliff cypress resources should be protected and rationally utilized.