22 Introduction. 



we can form no clear idea. In Chinese antiquarian studies, we must 

 always be mindful of the incompleteness and deficiency of material. 

 Only stray fragments and heaps of ruins have been transmitted, while 

 the best and most glorious monuments of the ancient civilization have 

 become the prey of natural decay or wilful destruction. What is 

 preserved is a trifle compared with what is gone. The losses are im- 

 mense and irreparable, and no Varus will ever return us these legions. 

 This consideration should never be lost sight of to guard us against 

 premature conclusions and hasty combinations. Only the most 

 extensive series of types covering wide local and temporal areas will 

 allow us to reach a fairly satisfactory result, and even then reservations 

 must, be made and judgment restricted in view of the thousands- of 

 gaps sadly existing in our knowledge. At the best, we may hope in 

 the end for a reconstruction of the ancient culture-life, as we may piece 

 together and supplement a jar in shreds; sound skepticism will keep 

 from joining the fragments wrongly. 



The word yii "jade" most frequently occurs in the oldest texts 

 and is said to have been known to the legendary Emperor Huang-ti 

 (alleged b. c. 2704). l The Chinese word is just as general and com- 

 prehensive as our word "jade,"" which may therefore be freely used as 

 its equivalent, and includes nephrite, jadeite, bowenite, sometimes 

 also in ancient pieces special beautiful kinds of serpentine, agalmatolite 

 and marble. 2 In the times of antiquity, the number of species and 

 varieties called yii was doubtless much greater than at the present 

 time, as we see from a series of manifold names occurring in the 

 oldest texts (Shi king and Shu king), many of which remain unex- 

 plained. Li Shih-chen, the great Chinese naturalist of the sixteenth 

 century, recognizes fourteen varieties of jade, most of them being dis- 

 tinguished from their colors and localities. At present, it is only 

 nephrite and jadeite that is acknowledged as true jade by the Chinese, 

 all other stones receiving special names. 



1 Hirth, The Ancient History of China, pp. 13, 91. 



2 It is not correct, as Williams (The Middle Kingdom, Vol. I, p. 309) 

 remarks, that white marble, ruby, and cornelian all come under it. Jade is, as 

 the Chinese say, a species in itself; also agate is considered as sui generis. — It is 

 well known that our word jade is derived from Spanish piedra de hijada, "stone of 

 the loin," because the stone was supposed to cure pain in the loin. Another etymol- 

 ogy is offered by F. Grenakd (Mission scientifique dans la Haute Asie, Vol. II, 

 p. 188) who proposes to derive the word from Turkish yada-tchi, "a sorcerer who is 

 able to produce rain and fine weather by means of a magical stone." Yada is the 

 name of this stone (W. Radloff, Worterbuch der Tiirk-Dialekte, Vol. Ill, Col. 207, 

 210). It is impossible for two reasons to accept Grenard's suggestion. First, 

 there is no evidence for the word yada to denote jade or exclusively jade, the propar 

 Turkish designation of which is kash (Radloff, Vol. II, Col. 389). Secondly, our 

 word jade is but a recent introduction first brought to England by Sir Walter Raleigh 

 (1552-1618) who always uses the Spanish name for the stone in his books; the word 

 does not appear in our literature before this time, as we should expect, if Grenard's 

 surmise were correct. 



