China, a country with an abundant deposit of jade, is well known in the world for its special art of jade carving.The traditional of the art started early in the Neolithic period and the carving techniques were very unique and advanced .The beautifully carved jades with their deep implications have plaid some special roles in chinese politics ,economy,culture,ideology,ethics and religion that other kinds of art have never reached.
Materials and origins:
      “Jade” in chinese can be classified into two categories: one , in narrow mineralogical sense, includes nephrite and jadeite: the other in a broad sense for Chinese traditional covers all the beautiful stones like agate, crystal and turquoise.
Hetian jade:A kind of tremolite with a hardness of 6.0-6.5 degree from Hetian, Xinjiang Autonomous region . It varies greatly in color, such as white ,blue bluish white ,green, yellow and black, the white one is the best. Lots of ancient chinese jade wares were carved from it.
Xiu jade:A kind of serpentine with a hardness of 2.5-5.5 degree from Xiuyan, Liaoning province. Some other places in China also have this kind of stone ,as Jiuquan jade from Gansu,and Xinyi jade from Guangdong.
Nanyang jade: A kind of plagioclase rock with a hardness of 6-6.5 degree from Dushan,Nanyang, Henan province. So sometimes it is called Dushan jade.
Lantian jade:A kind of serpentine from Lantian, Shaanxi Province.
Jadeite :A kind of pyroxene with a hardness of degree, mainly from Burma,It was popularly used in the Qing dynasty(1644-1911).