Jade has been the most respected material in China for over 7,000 years. For nearly all that time, Chinese jade meant nephrite, carved into ritual objects such as the bi disc and the cong tube by Neolithic cultures like the Liangzhu. Later dynasties used jade for burial suits, seals, ornaments and fine carvings, and in the 18th century the Qing emperors' workshops took jade carving to its height. Jadeite from Burma arrived in quantity during the Qing period and became the favored jade of the court.
Two minerals called jade
The word jade covers two different materials. Nephrite is an amphibole mineral, part of the tremolite-actinolite series, made of tightly interlocking fibers that make it very tough (see gemstone durability for how toughness differs from hardness). Jadeite is a pyroxene mineral, made of interlocking grains, slightly harder and capable of brighter, more translucent greens. Both form under high pressure during metamorphism, as the metamorphic rocks and gemstones page explains, and both are hard to break, which made them ideal for fine carving. The jade profile compares them in full.
Traditional Chinese jade, called yu, was nephrite. Jadeite, sometimes called feicui (a word that originally referred to the kingfisher's colors), came into wide use only in the last few centuries.
Neolithic jade: Hongshan and Liangzhu
Neolithic cultures in China were working jade by the 6th millennium BC. Two stand out. The Hongshan culture of the northeast, roughly 4500 to 3000 BC, carved coiled creatures often called "pig dragons," along with hooked cloud shapes and plaques. The Liangzhu culture of the Yangtze delta, around Lake Tai, roughly 3300 to 2300 BC, carved the most ambitious early jades.
Because jade is too hard to cut with metal or stone tools, Neolithic carvers worked it by abrasion. They used sand harder than jade, such as quartz or crushed garnet (jade sits around 6 to 7 on the Mohs scale), with water and tools of bamboo, wood, bone or string to grind, saw and drill. A single large object could take months.
Bi and cong
Two Liangzhu forms became central to Chinese jade for thousands of years.
The bi is a flat disc with a round hole in the center. Liangzhu bi were often large and undecorated, and many were placed in elite tombs, sometimes stacked on the body. The cong is a square tube with a round hole running through it, its outer corners carved with stylized faces, often read as a figure with large eyes. Cong range from short, almost square pieces to tall columns.
The original meaning of both objects is unknown. Later Chinese texts, written over 2,000 years after the Liangzhu, linked the round bi with heaven and the square cong with earth, and that interpretation stuck in tradition. Archaeologists treat it with caution for the Neolithic period. What is clear is that bi and cong marked high status, and that they were made with enormous effort.
Bronze Age and early dynasties
During the Shang and Zhou dynasties (second and first millennia BC), jade remained a ritual and status material. Shang tombs, such as that of Lady Fu Hao at Anyang, held hundreds of jade objects: blades, animal figures, ornaments and earlier Neolithic jades that had been collected and reused. Zhou nobles wore sets of jade pendants linked on cords, which chimed as they walked and were meant to regulate their pace and bearing.
Confucius and his followers compared jade to the qualities of a gentleman. The Book of Rites lists jade's virtues, linking its smoothness with kindness, its firmness with wisdom and its clear tone when struck with music. This moral meaning gave jade a place in Chinese culture that gold never held.
Han dynasty jade burial suits
Han dynasty rulers and nobles (206 BC to AD 220) believed jade could protect the body after death. The most dramatic result was the jade burial suit, made of thousands of small jade plaques sewn together with gold, silver or copper wire depending on rank. The suits of Prince Liu Sheng and his wife Dou Wan, found at Mancheng in Hebei in 1968, each contain over 2,000 plaques sewn with gold wire. Jade plugs were also placed in the body's openings, and a jade cicada was often put in the mouth as a symbol of rebirth.
Jade in later dynasties
Through the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, jade was carved into belt plaques, hair ornaments, brush washers, cups and small sculptures. Song and Ming collectors developed a taste for archaistic jades, new carvings that copied ancient bronze and jade forms. Imperial seals were cut from jade, and the emperor's personal seal was a symbol of the right to rule.
Most fine nephrite came from the region of Khotan (Hetian) in what is now Xinjiang, where white and green nephrite pebbles were collected from riverbeds. White "mutton fat" nephrite from Khotan was the most prized.
The Qing imperial workshops
The Qing dynasty (1644 to 1912) brought jade carving to a peak. After the Qianlong Emperor's campaigns secured Xinjiang in the 1750s, Khotan nephrite flowed steadily to the court. The imperial workshops in the Forbidden City, along with workshops in Suzhou and Yangzhou, carved jade vessels, screens, brush holders, ornaments and huge boulder carvings showing mountains and scholars.
The Qianlong Emperor was a passionate collector. He had poems inscribed on jades he admired, commissioned archaistic pieces and wrote about connoisseurship. One famous Qing carving, the Jade Mountain showing the legendary Great Yu taming the floods, is carved from a nephrite boulder weighing several tons and is in the Palace Museum in Beijing.
Burmese jadeite comes to court
Jadeite from northern Burma (now Kachin State in Myanmar) had reached Yunnan for centuries, but large-scale trade grew in the 18th century. By the late Qing, bright green jadeite had become the most fashionable jade, especially at the court of the Empress Dowager Cixi, who was famous for her jadeite jewelry.
The finest jadeite, an intense, even, translucent green, came to be called imperial jade. Jadeite was carved into bangles, rings, beads, hair ornaments, court necklace beads and snuff bottles. Burmese jadeite remains the leading source of fine jadeite today. The jewelry of East and Southeast Asia page covers its Burmese side, and the gem cutting in China page follows the carving tradition into modern times.
Treatments and buying old jade
Jadeite today is classified into types based on treatment. Type A is natural, untreated jadeite with only a wax surface finish. Type B has been bleached with acid and impregnated with polymer resin. Type C has been dyed. These treatments do not apply to genuinely old imperial carvings, but they are common in the market. The gemstone treatments page explains how labs detect them, and reproductions of antique styles are widespread, so provenance matters for any piece sold as old. The jewelry history overview places Chinese jade alongside other world traditions.
Frequently asked questions
What are bi and cong?
A bi is a flat jade disc with a round central hole, and a cong is a square jade tube with a round bore. Both were made by the Neolithic Liangzhu culture and were later linked with heaven and earth in Chinese tradition.
Was ancient Chinese jade nephrite or jadeite?
Ancient Chinese jade was nephrite. Jadeite from Burma became important only in the Qing dynasty, mostly from the 18th century onward.
What is imperial jade?
Imperial jade is the trade term for the finest jadeite: an intense, even, translucent emerald green. It became the favored jade of the late Qing court.
Why is jade so important in Chinese culture?
Confucian tradition linked jade's qualities with moral virtues such as kindness and integrity. Jade also marked rank and was used in ritual and burial for thousands of years.