Jade elephants?

Lose 'em.

Jade necklaces ... For chumps.

Nancy Vogel knows it's all jade cabbage, or nothing at all.

"Now I hold cabbage in all new esteem," the Hayden woman said at the Beijing Jade Museum on Thursday, scanning cases of glistening jade renderings of the layered ruffage.

The chamber group's museum tour on Thursday mirrored the pearl factory tour from the day before: A brief lecture about the product followed by strongly urged shopping.

This time at least offered some neat history, though.

Tour guides and jade shop staff described the long heritage of jade, how Chinese wives wear jade bangles instead of wedding rings, which eventually absorb their body toxins and reflect their health.

What stuck with Nancy were ties between jade and Feng Shui; how jade cabbage can bring in wealth if angled just so, and jade Buddhas can channel longevity.

Knowing all this now, she said, she is more vested in the jade piece her husband brought back for her from Vietnam, she said.

It didn't prompt her to buy anything new, though.

"I'll just wear the piece I already have more," she decided as she passed by shelves of jade sculptures. "I always thought, 'OK, it's jade,' and brushed it off. All of a sudden it's just become more meaningful."

Some weren't that impressed studying the displays of orange, green and white jade necklaces.

David Garnsey said that after he and his wife Veronica bought earrings at the pearl factory tour the day before, he was just looking.

"All my money is gone," the Post Falls man joked. "And there's still a silk factory to go."

He did, however walk away with more respect for this version of jewelry.

"I didn't know what jade meant to the Chinese people, how they value their health from it," he said.

Carol Payne bought several trinkets, like jade back scratchers.

They're nice souvenirs from China and nothing more, the Coeur d'Alene retiree said.

"I don't believe in it (jade) the way they do. I believe in God," she said.

Marilee Wallace showed off the slender jade necklace with a silver dragon, to honor her chinese zodiac sign.

Unlike at the pearl factory, she said, she tangled with the salespeople successfully, talking down the price from $300 to $164.

"They said, 'Why $164?' And I said, 'Because I was born in 1964 and I'm a dragon lady,'" she said with a smile.

Fitting for someone with the dragon zodiac, prone to passionate and fiery tempers.

"I was so proud of my haggling," she said. "After yesterday, I feel vindicated."