Understanding The Chinese Jades

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The Chinese jade was discovered Bian in the hills of the great kingdom of Chu, at around 600BC. Impressed with his ideal discovery, Bian decided to share what he had discovered before the ruler. Nevertheless, the king dismissed Bian's discovered jade and pronounced it unauthentic and ordered his limbs chopped off. Several years later, Bian's discovered jade was recognized for its worth. Eight hundred years later, after the discovery, the very first Emperor had the jade made into his imperial seal.
The largest pieces of the jades are found in the mountains. As it is well known in ancient times, the collection of these jades found by the river, undertaken by a group of men walking along the river. Whenever they came across any piece, a gong was sounded, and the line stopped. Meanwhile, the details of the discovered piece were recorded.
What Is Jade?
JADE is a universal word which can either be applied to jadeite or nephrite or also known as (Xinjiang Hotan Jade). After two hundred years, the mineral was discovered to be different. Jadeite is of more value due to its scarce availability. Furthermore, jadeite can ...
... be polished to shine even more bright.
Jadeite's color also appears to be less visible. Jadeite is majorly found in Burma and began to be used in China in the last five or six hundred years. Historically the most expensive color is "mutton fat" jade or white jade which is the most popular jade till present date. However, in the west, it is the emerald greens that attract the highest prices. It is not reasonable to find a piece of jade that is uniformly one color, and they almost invariably have blemishes and veins.
History Of Jade
The very first proof of Chinese jade material in China was around 8,000 years back from the tombs. These are the simple designs and commonly found in jade discs. The discs have gaps which are thought to have allowed them to be worn as earrings.
Since jade is such a hard material, it is challenging to shape and to work on them. Iron equipment is not hard enough to cut the jade, and therefore it had to be shaped using quartz as a cutting agent. Around 3,000 years ago, there was an improvement in jade work as the development of better equipment and metals made it possible for sophisticated designs and carvings to be done.
Maybe the apogee of jade working originated in the Qing Dynasty with Emperor Qianlong (. 1736-1795) who wrote 800 essays and poems about jade. During his reign the dramatic 'Emperor Yu Tames the flood' was produced, this was carved from a single block and weighed five tones.
Since the beginning, jade appeared to have played a unique role in Chinese culture. It is believed to have been the link between man and the gods and continues to bear the conations of royalty, wisdom and longevity.
Telling Real From Fake
It is challenging to distinguish between a real and fake Chinese jade. The most commonly known fake jades are made from glass. It is hard to shape or grind the glass, and again the glass doesn't have the desired finer details or sense of real jade and may also contain some air bubbles. Jade also has a distinctive greasy characteristic that is difficult to fake, and the combination of color that you find in jade is difficult to copy in the glass.
Unlike other fake materials, jade displays little or no fluorescence when subjected to the sun rays. The most reliable test is maybe to measure the actual gravity of the piece, although this is usually a little impractical to carry out in most street markets. It is now common for jade to be improved; this can be accomplished through staining, dyeing or chemical bleaches.

Find more information relating to Chinese jade, and Jade bangle here.