Published : 2025-12-22
China has relatively few natural diamond resources but has produced diamonds weighing over one hundred carats, with the largest even exceeding 280 carats.
However, it is deeply distressing that this enormous diamond, discovered during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, was likely plundered by the invading Japanese forces and remains missing to this day...
China has only 5 natural diamonds over 100 carats
According to media reports, there are currently no more than 2,000 rough natural diamonds larger than 100 carats in the world. There are only five from China with verifiable records, all of which were discovered in the Linyi City (臨沂市) area of Shandong Province.
Like the giant diamonds produced around the world, the five giant diamonds each have their own name.
They are the "Jinji Diamond" (金雞鑽石), the "Changlin Diamond" (常林鑽石), the "Chenbu-1 Diamond" (陳埠1號鑽石), the "Mengshan-1 Diamond" (蒙山1號鑽石), and the "Mengshan-5 Diamond" (蒙山5號鑽石). Among them, the "Jinji Diamond" is the largest and is known as "China's No. 1 Diamond".
In the autumn of 1937, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a farmer named Luo Dianbang from Tancheng County (郯城縣), Linyi, was working at the foot of a hill called Jinji Ridge (金雞嶺) when he accidentally found a giant diamond as large as a walnut.
The diamond was yellowish and transparent, dazzling, and weighed over 1.4 taels (in the 16-tael catty system), which converts to 281.25 carats, with an inestimable value. This giant diamond, discovered at the foot of Jinji Ridge, is the "Jinji Diamond".
However, finding the treasure was a curse rather than a blessing for Luo Dianbang. In those chaotic times, the appearance of the "Jinji Diamond" immediately triggered a series of acquisitions by force and trickery and dog-eat-dog betrayals, and the powerless Luo Dianbang was destined to be the victim.
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The Jinji Diamond disappeared
Now, upon learning of the situation, the local township head Zhu Xipin coaxed and deceived Luo Dianbang into handing over the diamond.
Not long after, the police chief Zhang Yingjie heard the news and summoned Zhu Xipin to the police station, where he used threats to seize the diamond for himself. In an attempt to "legitimise" this wrongdoing, Zhang Yingjie gave Luo Dianbang 800 catties of wheat as a so-called "exchange" for the diamond.
Luo Dianbang, having lost his treasure for nothing, was heart-broken and furious. He fell ill and never recovered.
Subsequently, he was carried by the villagers to the police station to demand an explanation, only to receive a vicious beating, and ultimately died full of resentment (another account says he was killed).
Of course, the police chief's happiness did not last long either, as there were characters even more "crooked" than him.
At the end of 1937, the invading Japanese aggressors attacked Shandong, and occupied Tancheng County the following year. The diamond in Zhang Yingjie's possession was then forcibly taken by a Japanese army adviser named Kawamoto Sadao (川本定雄).
After that, the "Jinji Diamond" was fought over among high-ranking Japanese invaders, and its whereabouts eventually became unknown.
Giant diamond may have surfaced due to an 8.5-magnitude earthquake
Regarding the whereabouts of the "Jinji Diamond", there are different speculations among the public and in academia. The most frequently mentioned is that it was taken back to Japan by the invaders and secretly kept. After all, the last known whereabouts of the giant diamond was in the hands of the Japanese.
In addition, some people have questioned: diamonds should be buried deep underground and are very difficult to mine, so why was the "Jinji Diamond" so easily picked up by a farmer?
Media reports indicate that there are two main reasons.
The first is that Tancheng is located in the core area of an earthquake zone. During the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, a strong earthquake estimated at a magnitude of 8.5 occurred and caused very significant changes to the local geological environment.
Many scholars believe that Jinji Ridge, where the giant diamond was discovered, was formed by this earthquake, and the immense energy of the earthquake was enough to make diamonds buried deep underground emerge onto the surface through fissures.
Another reason is that in 1901, during the late Qing dynasty, Germany and the United States, by virtue of the terms of the Boxer Protocol, mined for diamonds near Jinji Ridge.
Due to the limited technology at the time, it is possible that some diamonds in the ore were not discovered. They were later scattered on the ground, and after many years of weathering, they were gradually exposed and then picked up by a farmer.
Female farmer picked up Changlin Diamond and handed it over to the state
As the "Jinji Diamond", China's number one diamond, is missing, the largest extant diamond in China is the 158.78-carat "Changlin Diamond".
The "Changlin Diamond" is pale yellow, pure and transparent. In 1977, it was discovered in a field in Changlin Village, Linshu County (臨沭縣), Linyi City, by a young female farmer named Wei Zhenfang and handed over to the state. It is currently in the collection of the Geological Museum of China.
Finally, the largest diamond discovered in China is the over 281-carat "Jinji Diamond". What about the world record? Records show that the largest rough diamond discovered to date is the "Cullinan Diamond", found in South Africa in 1905, weighing 3,106 carats, 11 times the size of the "Jinji Diamond"!
The "Cullinan Diamond" was given by South Africa to the British King Edward VII as a birthday gift, and was subsequently cut into nine pieces, the largest of which, a 530-carat gem known as the "Star of Africa", is mounted on the British Royal Sceptre.
