Jade: China’s Gift To The World

Barbra Voltaire, FGG · **Posted:** Thu Oct 10, 2024 12:01 pm

Video of a lecture given by Richard Hughes on September 11, 2024

Quote:

Jade has been treasured by the Chinese for some 10,000 years. Yù (玉), the Chinese word for jade, is one of the oldest in the Chinese language; its pictograph is distinguished from that for “ruler” only by one dot. Outside of China, people generally think of jade as fei cui from Burma, where the finest quality is a vivid green. Within China, however, jade is a stone of an entirely different character, with the finest quality being white. Lotus Gemology offers a brief survey of the places fei cui and nephrite come from and then delve into the real Chinese jade, the true “Stone of Heaven.”

WATCH

Stephen Challener · **Posted:** Thu Oct 10, 2024 12:15 pm

I'll be honest, I think his idea of calling jadeite 'fei cui' is silly. It's not like mineral series are a new concept in gemology or geology, and nobody suggested a name change when someone realized most turquoise is planerite.

dchallener · **Joined:** Mon May 26, 2014 9:42 pm **Posts:** 1045

Additionally, I think Jade has been valued by "pre-Columbian" cultures for a long time as well - see https://www.worldhistory.org/article/20 ... soamerica/

dchallener · **Joined:** Mon May 26, 2014 9:42 pm **Posts:** 1045

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/13 ... %20centers.

is a walk through of a jade museum of pre-columbian jade

Barbra Voltaire, FGG · **Posted:** Sun Oct 13, 2024 1:02 pm

Excellent observations! Thanks for the links.

danielle · **Posted:** Wed Oct 16, 2024 3:44 am

Barbra Voltaire, FGG wrote:

Video of a lecture given by Richard Hughes on September 11, 2024

Quote:

Jade has been treasured by the Chinese for some 10,000 years. Yù (玉), the Chinese word for jade, is one of the oldest in the Chinese language; its pictograph is distinguished from that for “ruler” only by one dot. Outside of China, people generally think of jade as fei cui from Burma, where the finest quality is a vivid green. Within China, however, jade is a stone of an entirely different character, with the finest quality being white. Lotus Gemology offers a brief survey of the places fei cui and nephrite come from and then delve into the real Chinese jade, the true “Stone of Heaven.”

WATCH

Thanks for sharing, Barbra !
I was very interested in this conference...
The tables greatly helped my somewhat lacking oral comprehension .

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