In Qing Dynasty, pearls produced in Northeast China were called East Pearl (or North Pearl) to distinguish them from South Pearl produced in Heilongjiang, Wusuli River, Yalu River and their basins. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty regarded the Oriental Pearl as a treasure, embedded in the crown clothes that expressed rights and honors.
The winter crowns of the Empress and the Empress Dowager are decorated with about 300 oriental pearls and pearls, with 13 oriental pearls and 5 1 pearl on the crown. Others, such as earrings, beads and so on. They are also inlaid with oriental beads to show their identity and show the authority of the royal family.
"East Pearl" is a rare treasure among treasures. The so-called "East Pearl", also known as "North Pearl, Big Pearl and Beautiful Pearl", is a kind of pearl taken from freshwater pearl mussels produced by rivers in Heilongjiang River Basin. Compared with ordinary pearls, it is crystal clear, round and huge, and it is even more noble. Since ancient times, it has become a necessary tribute of China dynasties.
During the Jin (Jurchen), Yuan (Mongolia) and Ming Dynasties, people's desire for the precious jewel Dongzhu increased day by day, and there were endless records about Jurchen's pearl collection and worship in history. At the end of the Jin Dynasty, in order to make peace with Mongolia, Di Chin dedicated all his rare Oriental Pearl to Genghis Khan. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing emperor Nurhachi presented Dongzhu to paralyze the Ming court and was greatly rewarded. The rise and fall of the world's rare treasure, the Oriental Pearl, can be described as the lament of future generations.
According to historical records, in the last years of Liao Dynasty, Emperor Tianzuo lived in luxury and hunted excessively. (Khitan nobles) In order to satisfy their greedy desires to the greatest extent, they endlessly demanded precious products such as Dongzhu, Haidongqing and Zimoke from the Nuzhen tribes. What's more, when Emperor Liao went hunting in winter and spring, he forced Jurchen to brave the cold, cut ice in the water and pick mussels and pearls, so that many Jurchen died tragically in the river. The greed and cruelty of Liao rulers aroused the deep-rooted hatred of Nuzhen. In AD 1 1 14, Akuta, the leader of the Jurchen Department, rose up and rebelled against Liao. After 1 1 year's war, the Liao Empire, which once dominated East Asia and threatened Central Asia, completely collapsed and became a new military power in East Asia.
In A.D. 1644, the Qing regime began to rule all of China, and then the Qing Empire with the widest territory in the history of China was established. Dongzhu, produced in the land of Longxing, is even more prominent at this time. Because the Qing people thought that "pearls produced in Lingnan and Beihai don't know that the color of Oriental Pearl is more expensive than gold", the Qing court regarded Oriental Pearl as a special ornament for the royal family and nobles, and "ranked by how many points". Due to the need of imperial power, the fishing scale of Dongzhu in Heilongjiang River Basin is getting bigger and bigger. In the 14th year of Shunzhi (1657), the Qing court set up "General Manager Buthora", which means Manchu, fishing, hunting and killing livestock. "Ulla" means "River". Yamen became a full-time organization to collect and capture products such as winter bamboo, sable, mandarin fish, ginseng, honey and pine nuts for the court. Among them, pearl picking is the most important work of this institution. To this end, a "pearl picking organization" was established. According to its subordinate relationship, the pearl picking organization submits all the tributes of the three flags (two yellow flags and white flags) to the court, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for the assessment of rewards and punishments; Those who set up the Pearl Pavilion with five flags will pay their tributes to the kings, Baylor, Beizi and other governments, which will be managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Whenever the river opens at the beginning of the year, it is the pearl picking season, and the soldiers from Zhu Xuan are led by the general manager and the deputy team leader to set sail by boat. According to their predetermined route, pearl mussels were collected from the upper reaches of Songhua River in the south, Yin, Samsung and Aihui in Changbai Mountain in the north, Ningguta, Hunchun and Mudanjiang in the east. According to the report, "it is not easy to get a pearl every time", and it is often said that "it is not easy to count a clam in the river, and it is even more impossible to get a pearl on board." Due to indiscriminate mining and fishing, the resources of the East Pearl River in Heilongjiang Basin are shrinking rapidly. After the Yongzheng dynasty, although "occasionally, the particles are extremely small and useless." Even so, the scale of official pearl mining continues to expand. In the thirty-third year of Qianlong (1767), there were 65 pearl pavilions in Bukavula, each with 30 soldiers. After Xianfeng, with the decline of the Qing empire, the invasion of Russian forces and the exhaustion of the resources of Dongzhu, the mining and catching industry of Dongzhu in Heilongjiang Basin, which has a thousand-year history, finally gradually disappeared.