The same fire coral hairpin as Zhao Paner may not be too "punishing" to buy and wear now

Have you watched the popular ancient puppet drama "Dream of the Red Chamber"? This drama has gained great popularity with its unconventional plot.

If you have watched it, you must have an impression of the fire coral hairpin in the play. The male protagonist finally gave the long-prepared fire coral hairpin to his sweetheart Zhao Paner, and the relationship between the two became closer.

There are also many discussions about this hairpin on the Internet:

At the same time, this hairpin has attracted countless eyes with its beautiful and unique shape, and many young ladies have DIYed the same style.

However, do you know what the "fire coral" on the hairpin is made of? It is not just about its good looks...

01

What is Fire Coral?

The "fire coral" in the male protagonist's hand is probably red coral, which is listed as one of the three major organic gemstones along with pearls and amber. Organic gemstones refer to substances formed by ancient or modern organisms that meet the requirements of gemstone craftsmanship.

In fact, red coral does not refer to a specific type of coral, but a general term for red corals with a chemical composition of high magnesium calcium carbonate. Deep red, orange-red and pink-white corals all belong to this category. In biological classification, it belongs to the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Octocorallia, order Gorgonales, suborder Sclerocoria, family Rhodocoralia, and genus Rhodocoralia.

As jewelry, red coral is regarded as a symbol of wealth and good fortune in different ethnic civilizations. The ancient Romans regarded red coral as "red gold" that could prevent disasters and increase wisdom. China also classified it as "jade", on par with gemstones and colored glaze. In India and Tibet, where religion is prevalent, red coral is regarded as one of the seven treasures of Buddhism and plays a sacred role...

Buddhists in India and Tibet regard red coral as a symbol of Tathagata Buddha. Screenshot from "The Legend of Zhen Huan"

This also makes red coral sought after by many collectors, and its price has also risen sharply.

02

Why is red coral red?

Red coral is a deep-water coral that grows in the deep sea with active volcanic activity and a depth of 100 to 2,000 meters. Deep-sea red corals are distributed only in a few seas around the world, such as the Taiwan Strait, the Strait of Japan, the Baltic Strait, and the Mediterranean Sea. The production of high-quality red corals in the waters of Taiwan, my country, accounts for 80% of the world's total.

Red coral is made up of the accumulation of coral polyps. During the calcification and compression process, the coral polyp skeleton needs to absorb a large amount of iron, manganese, magnesium and other elements to present a long-lasting red color.

Red coral grows extremely slowly and is a non-renewable resource.

In recent years, due to over-exploitation and environmental pollution, the number of red corals has dropped sharply. In February 2021, red corals were listed in the "National Key Protected Wildlife List" of my country. They are classified as first-class protected animals and are prohibited from being caught and sold at will. It is illegal to trade red corals privately without obtaining a "License for the Operation and Utilization of Aquatic Wildlife".

In 2017, someone in Fujian Province was sentenced for illegally fishing for red coral.

Last year, the company to which Weidian belonged was fined 10,000 yuan for trading products such as "red coral".

So everyone must keep their eyes open. If you just want to own the same peripheral products, but accidentally get yourself into legal disputes, the result will be more trouble than gain.

03

Why is red coral so cheap on the market?

Red coral is not only rare and expensive, but also faces the risk of extinction, so affordable substitutes have long appeared on the market.

Imitation red coral jewelry on Taobao is very cheap

As early as the Republic of China period, some people used celluloid (an old trademark name for plastic) with lacquer coating to imitate coral. In addition, it was also very common to use dyed glass, minerals, shellfish, bone products and horn products to pretend to be coral.

With the development of technology, synthetic corals made from natural calcite compressed and sticky under high temperature and high pressure, and then laser dyed, have become an increasingly common substitute for red coral.

If you want jewelry made of natural materials, there are many agate products on the market that can also meet everyone's demand for red products.

Although these imitations and substitutes cannot completely replicate red coral in terms of appearance and texture, they are enough to meet everyone's demand for beauty while maintaining social distance. And the price is also very friendly to everyone.

Screenshot of Dream Record

If you really have a strong demand for red coral products, it is recommended that you carefully check the relevant certificates of the merchant before purchasing. This will not only help you avoid falling into the trap of illegal transactions, but also exercise the citizens' right to supervise!

Further reading: Is coral an animal or a plant?

As one of the oldest marine organisms, coral has a history of nearly 500 million years. In the short history of human civilization, which is only a few thousand years, the debate over whether coral is a plant or an animal has lasted for more than 20 centuries.

In ancient Greece, the "encyclopedic" scholar Aristotle called coral "zoophyla", which means a special species between animals and plants.

Because many corals look like branches and can stay fixed in one place like plants and can even carry out photosynthesis, corals were identified as marine plants with plant characteristics at the Marine Forum in Italy in 1599.

However, in subsequent studies, researchers observed that corals are composed of countless coral polyps and can hunt with their tentacles in seawater. However, the view that "corals are animals" was initially criticized by the academic community. It was not until 1782 that the zoological argument of corals was officially recognized.

Coral polyps belong to the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria, and they secrete calcium carbonate to adhere to the calcareous skeleton of the predecessor coral, forming what we usually call coral.

The structure of the coral polyps of octocorals, source: http://video.ktnp.gov.tw/kt/

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