China's "Four Famous Jade" refers to "Hetian Jade" produced in Xinjiang, "Xiu Jade" produced in Xiuyan County, Liaoning, "Dushan Jade" produced in Nanyang, Henan, and Hubei Yun "Turquoise" produced in counties and other places. (1) Hotan jade is mainly distributed on the northern slope of the Kunlun Mountains stretching for 1,500 kilometers in Yarkand-Tashkorgan, Hotan-Khotan and Qiemo counties in Xinjiang. There are 9 origins in total. The mineral composition of Hotan jade is mainly tremolite-actinolite, and contains trace amounts of diopside, serpentine, graphite, magnet and other minerals, forming white, turquoise, black, yellow and other different colors. Most It is a single-color jade, and a few have variegated colors. Jade is translucent, has a fat-like luster after polishing, and has a hardness between 5.5 degrees and 6.5 degrees. Hotan jade is found in mountain rocks at an altitude of 3,500 to 5,000 meters. After long-term weathering and peeling, it breaks into fragments of varying sizes, collapses on the hillside, and then flows into the river after being washed by rain. When the river dries up in autumn, the jade pieces collected from the river bed are called seed jade, and those mined from the rock formations are called mountain jade. (2) Xiuyan jade is produced in Xiuyan, Liaoning Province, China. Xiuyan jade is one of the four famous jades in China. It can be roughly divided into two categories. One is old jade (also known as river jade), which has a simple, dignified texture and dark green color. , is a kind of precious jade. The other type is nephrite, which has a solid and warm texture, delicate and rounded texture, and is mostly green. Among them, pure white and golden are two rare treasures. (3) Dushan Jade: Also known as "Nanyang Jade" or "Southern Jade", it is produced in Dushan, north of Nanyang City. It is one of the four famous jades in the country. Dushan jade is tough and slightly dense, delicate and soft, with a transparent luster and mottled colors. There are 6 pigments, green, white, yellow, purple, red and white, and 77 color types. It is the first-class raw material for jade carving. Dushan jade carving has a long history. The jade shovel produced at the Huangshan Neolithic site near Dushan in 1959 proves that ancestors had known and used Dushan jade more than 5,000 years ago. The "Yujie Temple" site at the foot of Dushan Mountain was the place where jade articles were carved in the Han Dynasty. The "Revised Nanyang County Chronicle" of the Qing Dynasty records: "Most of the residents in the north of the county make a living by carving jade." In old China, Nanyang jade carving has formed a large industry. There are more than 80 workshops in the city, most of which are workshops in the back and shops in the front. The carving sells itself. Jade carvings mainly include more than 120 varieties of figures, flowers, birds and animals, landscapes, statues, furnaces, jewelry, etc. (4) Turquoise, also known as emerald, is named after its color and shape, which resembles a green pine cone. It is one of the rare precious gemstones in the world. Turquoise products have become important collections and are a kind of secondary gemstone. Minerals were leached from groundwater containing copper, aluminum, and phosphorus in early granite rocks. They precipitated in near-surface veins to form nodules and were wrapped in the matrix of the veins. Turquoise is the earliest mineral variety used as jewelry. In 1900, four turquoise and gold-covered bracelets were unearthed from an ancient tomb in Egypt. The Yunyang area in Hubei Province is known as the hometown of emeralds in the East. The turquoise it produces is pure in quality, bright in color, and dazzling. The colors are mostly sky blue, turquoise, gray-blue, and pink-green, which are extremely rare.
The turquoise produced by the Yungaishan Turquoise Mine in Yunxian County is of the best grade and is the most precious;