

Beauty of stone - Jade
"Jade" refers to all warm and shiny beautiful stones in ancient Chinese literature. The definition of jade in the "Shuowen Jiezi" of the Han Dynasty, the so-called "beauty of stone", this definition is quite broad and ambiguous. From the perspective of mineralogy, when a certain kind of beautiful stone reaches a certain hardness, it can be called Jade, but because jade and stone are born together, it is often difficult to distinguish. The ancients said that there is no distinction between jade and stone, and it contains the meaning of indistinguishable definition.
Since the latter part of the nineteenth century, French mineralogist De Moore has divided Chinese jade into two categories: "Jadeite" and "Nephrite". "Jadeite" refers to jade, while "Nephrite" has a broad and narrow sense. The broad and narrow sense can now be called Hetian jade, but the broad Hetian jade also includes Xiuyan jade, Qinghai jade, Kunlun jade, Russian jade, Han jade, and Afghan jade. The narrow category specifically refers to the jade produced in the Hotan area of Xinjiang, which is famous for its “seeds” in Hetian.
Lantian Jade
During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Song Yingxing put forward in his "Tiangong Kaiwu": "The so-called Lantian jade is an alias for the jade produced in Congling (Kunlun Mountain)." The beautiful jade of the Western Regions was transferred to the distribution center of the Central Plains, but in the Lantian area of Xi’an, there is indeed a kind of "metamorphic rock", in which the white and gray parts are marble, and the green strips are called vegetable jade, which is a kind of green color like vegetable. Ye's jade is similar in nature to Xiuyan jade. The place of origin of Yukeng is called Yuchuan Mountain just behind Gongzhuling, where the famous Lantian ape-man fossil was born.
Nanyang Jade
It is produced in Dushan 8 kilometers north of Nanyang City, Henan Province, so it is also called Dushan Jade. It is different from jadeite and nephrite composed of only one mineral element. It is mainly calcium aluminum silicate and contains multiple mineral elements. Altered gabbro". Nanyang jade has a hardness of 6-6.5 and a specific gravity of 3.29. Its hardness is almost comparable to that of jadeite. Foreign geologists call it "Nanyang jade". Nanyang jade was mined quite early and was adopted in the late Neolithic period. Nanyang jade was unearthed, and a piece of Dushan jade was also unearthed from the tomb of Fuhao in Yinxu. The best material of Dushan jade produced today is fat white and green, slightly transparent.
Xiuyan Jade
Abbreviated as "Xiu jade", the hardness is 2.5-3.5, the specific gravity is 2.5-2.8, the texture is fine and uniform, and the head is sufficient but soft. In terms of texture, Hetian jade is the first, Nanyang jade is second, and Xiuyan jade is second. The Neolithic Liangzhu cultural jade artifacts were found in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, my country, and dozens of them were unearthed from the tombs of Fuhao in Yinxu, with white, blue, yellow, light yellow, pink, light green and emerald green buds. Because the texture of "Xiu jade" is similar to nephrite jade, the jade is delicate, translucent to opaque, waxy to greasy luster, so counterfeit nephrite is sold in the market, and "Xiu jade" is called Xinshan jade in the industry. Called Laoshan Jade, it is the concept of time limit to mess up the market.
Jiuquan Jade
Produced in the mountains near Jiuquan, Gansu. Because the mountain is called Qilian Mountain, it is also called Qilian Mountain jade. The jade is dark green and has more black spots. It is geologically identified as a serpentine mine. It is the same as "Xiuyu", but with The jade color of Xiuyu jade is very easy to distinguish. The local people use jade to make small wine glasses called "luminous cups" to increase the value. In fact, white jade is still expensive. At that time, it was called the essence of white jade, which actually refers to mutton fat jade. Luminous refers to Moonlight can reflect the shadow of the moon through the body of the cup and wine, it is not a jade that naturally glows at night.
Agate
It has a hardness of 6.5-7 and a specific gravity of 2.65. It is a traditional jade material in my country. Strings of agate beads or agate cups are often found in jewelry unearthed in various places. Ancient agate tributes from the Western Regions, India, Persia and other countries also included the inland, northeast, northwest, and north China regions. Agate is often referred to as pearl in ancient times and is one of the treasures. However, the value of modern agate is not high, because the output is large and it is an ordinary jade. The color of agate is bright, bright and pure. Red is the main color, with red thin silk red, scarlet, orange as the color, and dark red as the bottom color. It is used for antique collection. What we see in modern times is the Warring States Red Agate. The best ones are red and yellow with white and various natural patterns or patterns of animals and plants, which are the most valuable.Pine Otolith (turquoise)
Hardness 4-5.3, specific gravity 2.6-2.8, pine otolith is called "turquoise jade" abroad, and its colors are mostly sky blue, blue-green and green. The pine otolith is the most vivid and bright sky blue, followed by green. The pine otolith is an ancient traditional jade in China. In the Neolithic Age, it was used as an ornament along with sapphire agate and jade. In our country Twenty pieces were unearthed from the Qijia cultural site in Dahezhuang, Yongjing, Gansu province, and 32 pieces were unearthed from the Qijia cultural site in Huangniangniangtai, Wuwei, Gansu. There are different numbers in the later Shang Dynasty, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States to Han, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The turquoise jewelry appeared, and such pine otoliths have also been found in Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Anhui, Henan and other places in recent years.lapis lazuli
The hardness is 5.5, and the specific gravity is 2.7-2.9. The jade has a unique blue color, such as dark blue, bright blue, and purple blue. It has golden spots due to the pyrite content, which is called "Venus". The quality of lapis lazuli is based on Color and gold are the standards for evaluation. The pure color (indigo) is strong and the golden stars are brilliant and uniform. Lapis lazuli is very deep and pure because of the blueness. The ancients described it as "the road to heaven", so it was mostly used to make the emperor's burial vessel. It was called "Miu Lin" or "Liu Li" in ancient China, and its origin was mainly in Persia (now Afghanistan) and the Baikal region of Russia. The former was the main source of ancient imported lapis lazuli in China. Lapis lazuli can treat depression and intermittent fever.
Malachite
Named for its malachite green color, it is mostly massive, stalactite, crustaceous and concentric strips, with a hardness of 4 and a specific gravity of 3.9-4. The green of malachite is very rich, ranging from light to dark, from light to thick, It can be described as a thousand kinds of green, with all colors and colors; in addition, it also has wonderful and changeable patterns in its colors. Its quality is that the beautiful patterns and bright colors are top-quality. China has long used malachite as ornaments. In the prevailing era, it was often used to inlay on bronzes. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was ground into powder to make pigments. Copper mines such as Yunnan and Tibet are abundant in China.
Crystal
The specific gravity is 2.66, the hardness is 7, and it is named due to the different colors or the shape of the inclusions. Colorless is called crystal, purple is called amethyst, yellow is called citrine, red is called red crystal, or "furong stone", "Xiangnan" ", smoky yellow-brown is called citrine, smoky crystal, and black is called smoky crystal. The colorful, bright and unique shape of the inclusions are especially cherished by the public. However, crystal products have been unearthed from the tombs of the past dynasties in my country. In the unearthed cultural relics of the Pagoda of Xilin Temple in Songjiang, Shanghai, apart from a large amount of nephrite, the jewelry is crystal products. Crystal is also known as Feng Shui Stone.Amber
The hardness is 2-2.5, and the specific gravity is about 1. Amber is a fossil of ancient plant resin. It can be divided into several types according to the depth of preservation in the soil or the seabed, and its color characteristics: the first layer, pine cone wax, Translucent body, light yellow in color; second layer of beeswax, orange or chicken butter yellow, opaque body, pine cone wax firm, color smooth as grease; third layer of golden amber, color golden or brown, transparent body, pure The golden color is superior; the fourth layer is amber, transparent, red, and the blood red is the best, called blood amber; the fifth layer: bird brain, opaque, the color is like coffee, with regular wooden stripes or concentric The round layer pattern is the oldest one.