Xuanora is the export name of a family trade in Bozhou, Anhui — a market town in central China that has bought and sold stones, herbs and old objects since the Song dynasty.
Where we sit
Bozhou is not a tourist city. It is a working market: herbs in the morning, stone and bone traders in the back lanes, and a lot of people who can tell you what something is by weight alone. Our family has traded in that market for three generations. Xuanora is what we call the part of the business that ships abroad.
What we actually sell
Wearable objects — bracelets, counting strings, a few carved pieces — made from stone, amber, bone and horn, cut and strung by hand. Prices run from $59 to $159. That band is deliberate. Below it you are buying machine-made beads with a story attached; above it you are paying for a name rather than for the object.
We do not sell mysticism. Where a piece carries a traditional meaning we will tell you what that meaning is and mark it clearly as lore, because it is genuinely part of what you are buying. We will not tell you a bracelet will change your luck, your health or your finances.
How a piece gets here
- Sourcing. Rough material is bought in single lots, not blended. That is why the veining on a string carries across neighbouring beads instead of jumping.
- Cutting and carving. Done by craftsmen who learned it from their parents. On carved pieces roughly one bead in six does not survive to the string.
- Stringing. Orientation matters more than most people expect — on the eye-pattern pieces, turning fifteen beads so the markings line up is most of the work.
- The card. Every order ships with a printed A6 card, Chinese one side and English the other, naming the material, the region and the maker’s note on that particular piece.
Most pieces exist once
We hold stock of one on nearly everything. When a piece sells it is gone, and the next rough will not have the same veins. If something you wanted has sold, write to us — we can usually tell you whether anything comparable is coming.
Who we are, formally
Xuanora is operated by Bozhou Yuanding Network Technology Co., Ltd., Bozhou, Anhui Province, China. Questions of any kind: hello@xuanora.com.