China has a long history in the area of producing jade. Among so many kinds of jade in China, He Tian Jade is a famous species. Frist of all, if you want to know more about the jade, you need know something about the place He Tian, which is located in the southwest part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. If those overseas students who are learning Mandarin Chinese are interested in Chinese jade, they may know that He Tian Jade is famous for delicate texture, purely white color without flaws, enjoying the reputation of the best jade.
Ha Tian Jade has a very long history which was excavated and used as early as in the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States period more than 2000 years ago. At that time, the ancient Chinese people carried He Tian Jade to the central China through Yumen Pass, carving into various elegant and exquisite instruments and decorations. The cultural relic “Jin Lv Yu Yi” meaning a suit of jade pieces tied with gold wire unearthed in the tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in Mancheng of Hebei province is made up of 2000 pieces of He Tian Jade.
In feudal society of China, each dynasty regarded He Tian Jade and the products as the priceless treasures. In Chinese culture, as a matter of fact, the so-called beautiful jade is the nephrite with a hardness of 6.5 which is primarily made up of tremolite and actinolite, making it a very valuable and rare mineral. There are also a variety of nephrites, but the best is the white jade. About He Tian Jade, teh species Yang Zhi Jade taken from YUhe River in Kunlun is characterized by the delicate texture, goose egg shape, white color and smooth surface. It is recognized as the best of white jade, extremely precious and rare.
In the past, people could find the delicate jade materials on the surface of the earth in He Tian area. Later, with the processing of large scale excavation, the jade materials becoming less and people then went to Kunlun Mountain to excavate jade stones. Most He Tian Jade today was excavated in this way. After the foundation of the New China, the state explored and developed a number of jade minerals in Kunlun Mountain area. At present, the annual production volume of He Tian Jade in this area reaches 20 to 30 tons.