did you know

In China, unlike many other countries, gold was not used as a symbol of wealth or status. Rather, it was used for its aesthetic value instead, yet it was still highly appreciated. Historians have been unable to find evidence of an abundance of gold in China and it is believed that during the collapse of the Han dynasty, all the riches of gold in the country were buried and hidden away, or alternatively that there simply was not much of it to begin with. The first documented use of gold was during the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 BCE–C. 1046 BCE), where archaeological evidence suggests that gold was hammered into a thin foil and applied to objects for decorative purposes