Introduction. 25 



t'ung chi, Ch. 74, p. 43) mentions a "white jade-stone (pai yii shih) 

 resembling jade" produced in the district of Wen-shan in Mou-chou; 

 the natives avail themselves of it to make implements. A variety of 

 green jade called pi (Giles No. 9009) from which arrow-heads can be 

 made is ascribed to the district of Hui-wu or Hui-li in Ning-yiian fu 

 {Ibid., p. 24, and Shu tien, Ch. 8, p. 5). The latter work on Sze-ch'uan 

 (written by Chang Chu-pien in 1818, reprinted 1876) makes mention 

 also of "black jade" ihei yii) after the cyclopaedia T'ai p'ing yii Ian; 

 its color is black like lacquer, and it hence receives also the name "ink 

 jade " (mo yii) 1 and ranks low in price. It occurs in western Sze-ch'uan 

 and is identical with the jet or gagate now produced in the district of 

 Kung (in Sii-chou fu), out of which implements are carved. It certainly 

 remains doubtful whether these stones represent real jades, as long as 

 there is no opportunity for identifying specimens of them. According 

 to the "Description" or "Gazetteer of Kansu Province" 2 (Ch. 20, 

 p. 7 b), jade is obtained from the river Hung shui pa 3 in Su chou. The 

 geographical work Huan yii ki, published by Lo Shi between 976 and 

 983 a. d., mentions a kind of "brilliant jade" (ming yii) occurring in. 

 Kuang-chou, Ju-ning fu, Honan Province. In Nan-yang Prefecture 

 of the same province, jade may have been dug from the fifth to the 

 eleventh century a. d., as we noticed before. 



Chinese sources refer to the production of jade in the prefecture 

 of Kuei-lin, Kuang-si Province (G. Deveria, Histoire des Relations de 

 la Chine avec 1'Annam, p. 95, Paris, 1880). But this remains some- 

 what doubtful, as the designation in this case is yii shih, "jade-stone" 

 (instead of yii) which may refer and usually refers to only jade-like 

 stones. 



Jade seems to have reached China also from the kingdom of the 

 Caliphs. It is reported under the year 716 a. d. that the Emir Sulei- 

 man, who died in 717, sent an ambassador to China to present a robe 

 woven of gold threads (brocade) and a flask of jade ornamented with 

 jewels; the flask is called sha-chHh (or sha-ti), an inexplicable term 

 (Chavannes in T'oung Pao, 1904, p. 32). A Chinese envoy who visited 

 Bagdad in 1259 reports that the palace of the Caliph was built of 

 fragrant and precious woods, and that its walls were constructed of 

 black and white jade (Bretschneider, Chinese Recorder, Vol. VI, 

 1875, P- s)- 



1 In Japanese boku-giyoku = jet (Geerts, p. 234). 



2 Kansu t'ung chi, last edition published in 1736. When passing through the 

 capital of the province, Lan-chou, in January, 1909, I was informed that a new, 

 revised and largely increased edition of this now scarce work was in course of prepa- 

 ration and was expected to be ready at the end of the summer of the same year. 



3 "The Embankment of the Red Water." 



