24 Introduction. 



Burmese nephrites and jadeites. Their appearance will be described 

 in the following chapters. It was doubtless the Chinese themselves 

 who, being acquainted with jade in their country, probably for mil- 

 lenniums, gave the impetus to the jade fishing and mining industries of 

 Turkistan. Also this case may throw a side-light on the nephrite 

 question of Europe; home-sources do not exclude imports, and scarcity 

 or exhaustion of sources may favor them. 



The mountains south of Si-ngan fu in Shensi Province produced 

 jade, gold, silver, copper and iron in the first century b. c, as expressly 

 stated in the "Annals of the Former Han Dynasty" (TsHen Han shu) 

 under the reign of Wu-ti; it is mentioned also in the "Biography of 

 Tung-fang So" (see Ta Ts'ing i Vung chi, Ch. 181, p. 14 b). The jade 

 of Lan-t'ien 1 enjoyed a special reputation. The distinguished physician 

 T'ao Hung-king (452-536 a. d.), the author of a treatise on Materia 

 medica {Ming i pieh lu), states that the best jade comes from that 

 locality; he mentions also the occurrence of jade in Nan-yang, Honan 

 Province, and in the Lu-jung River of Tonking, 2 also that brought 

 from Khotan and Kashgar; if translucent and white as hog's lard, and 

 resonant when struck, it is genuine. In the eleventh century, however, 

 it is positively asserted by Su Sung, an able student of natural science, 

 that in his time no more jade was quarried in those home quarters nor 

 in Tonking, and that it was only found in Khotan. His lifetime may 

 therefore be regarded as the date when the native output of the mineral 

 had come to an end. The high value of the ancient jades is, con- 

 sequently, enhanced considerably by their material no longer existing 

 or being found in its natural state. 



There are indications that, aside from the Province of Shensi, 

 other localities of jade may have existed or may still exist in China. 

 Mr. Bishop (Vol. I, p. 9) mentions four pebbles procured in Shanghai 

 from a Mohammedan dealer in stones, who said that they were found 

 in the bed of the Liu-yang River in Hunan Province, and which are 

 of interest, as he says, as suggestive of another jade locality in China 

 proper. 



The Chinese "Gazetteer of Sze-ch'uan Province" (Sze cKuan 



1 Lan-t'ien, "the Blue Field," received its name from the jade quarries, as 

 expressly stated in the Chronicle of the place (Lan-t'ien hien chi, Ch. 6, p. 17, edition 

 of 1875). According to T'ao Hung-king, it produced white and green jade. The 

 "Jade Mountain" (Yu shan) was situated 43 li south-east of the town. As an 

 analogy to the exhaustion of the jade mines, the Chronicle quotes the fact that in 

 former times also silver ore (according to the Wei shu), as well as copper and iron 

 were exploited there, all of which no longer occur. An exploration of this site may 

 be recommended to our geographers. 



2 According to the Chinese description of Annam, jadeite (fei ts'ui, Deveria's 

 translation jade serpentine is not to the point) is a production of that country 

 (G. Dev£ria, Histoire des Relations de la Chine avec l'Annam, p. 88, Paris. 1880). 



