Cobblestones for thousands of dollars - how poor Chinese hit the jackpot (9 photos)

On the banks of the Yangtze River there is a small village that has hit the jackpot. She has neither oil nor arable land, she has better - beautiful river cobblestones! And this brings the villagers millions of dollars every year.





Hejiaba is a remote village in Sichuan province, and every resident learns from their youth a very important skill: distinguishing beautiful stones from ugly ones.



The stone shop could use better lighting and renovations

True, children cannot always help their parents, because stone connoisseurs are not interested in small pebbles, but in large, heavy cobblestones. So millions are not easy for the people of Hejiab.

The main earners here are strong men of 30 years old.

Approximately $3 million worth of such stones are sold annually. The stones are collected from the banks of the Yangtze River during the dry season.





Those blue and purple ones are really not bad, but buying and dragging...

When the waters recede from the shore, a pebble and stone beach opens up, 10 kilometers long. And we need to have time to comb through this area and have time to pick up new gifts (that is, stones) that the river dragged in this year.

Why are the stones here good, but not so good in other places?

The river brings a lot of patterned stones with patterns and veins. Some designs are so subtle that they resemble paintings, others are geometric designs. The main thing here is not to blur your eyes, so that during selection you can immediately recognize which stone will become a STAR. And it will sell for a thousand dollars, no less.



The selection of stones is underway, I noticed a beautiful one - don’t show it! Your eye is your talent and wealth

There are even more successful stone appraisers in the village who display the most beautiful ones in their shops. There are those who do not have such a refined taste, so they collect everything unusual and hope for luck.

There are even resellers who buy the most beautiful stones from inexperienced stone sellers. The main thing is not to make it clear that you are interested in one particular stone.



To find something worthwhile among 10 kilometers of this, you really need to have talent

A small competition has formed among connoisseurs of beauty in stones, quite funny.

The most expensive stone

The best sale in the village is considered to be the Hard Road Shu stone (yes, they are also given names); it was bought for $15,400.



This is the same stone for 15 thousand. I have no words. Well... does he look like the moon?

Having seen enough of Hejiab, other villages along the river also wanted to look for and sell stones. The Chinese stubbornly believe that Hejiaba has the most beautiful river cobblestones, while other places have pitiful imitators.

So they are not doing so well, although the river is the same. That's what they call a brand.

I'll go buy a stone



And this stone looks like a cut of fatty pork. Not bad, not bad

When people found out where such beautiful stones were sold (yes, the interests of the Chinese are specific), tourists flocked to the village. Well, and the cunning Chinese are also trying to buy beautiful cobblestones for themselves at a cheaper price.

Locals are accustomed to the fact that everything in the village revolves around stones. Therefore, in every person’s house there is also a decoration - a particularly beautiful cobblestone he found on the river. Such a strange and funny tradition.



This guy is lucky!

How surprised they will be when they go to big China and see that it is not customary for them to beautifully arrange cobblestones around the house!

According to a local young legend, the trade began in 2023, when a passing couple saw a very beautiful stone in one of the houses of local peasants and asked to buy it. And off we go...



And this is Sunday collapse. Instead of penets and seedlings STONES KAMI STONES