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Chinese Jade refers to the jade mined or carved in China from the Neolithic onward. It is the primary hardstone of Chinese sculpture. Although deep and bright green jadeite is better known in Europe, for most of China's history, jade has come in a variety of colors and white "mutton-fat" nephrite was the most highly praised and prized. Native sources in Henan and along the Yangtze were exploited since prehistoric times and have largely been exhausted; most Chinese jade today is extracted from the northwestern province of Xinjiang. Jade was prized for its hardness, durability, musical qualities, and beauty.〔 In particular, its subtle, translucent colors and protective qualities〔Fiero, Gloria K. ''The Humanistic Tradition'' 6th Ed, Vol. I. McGraw-Hill, 2010.〕 caused it to become associated with Chinese conceptions of the soul and immortality.〔Pope-Henessey, Chapter II.〕 The most prominent early use was the crafting of the Six Ritual Jades, found since the 3rd-millennium Liangzhu culture:〔Howard, 19-22〕 the ''bi'', the ''cong'', the ''huang'', the ''hu'', the ''gui'', and the ''zhang''.〔Pope-Henessey, Chap. IV.〕 Although these items are so ancient that their original meaning is uncertain, by the time of the composition of the ''Rites of Zhou'', they were thought to represent the sky, the earth, and the four directions. By the Han dynasty, the royal family and prominent lords were buried entirely ensheathed in jade burial suits sewn in gold thread, on the idea that it would preserve the body and the souls attached to it. Jade was also thought to combat fatigue in the living.〔 The Han also greatly improved prior artistic treatment of jade.〔Watson, (77 ).〕 These uses gave way after the Three Kingdoms period to Buddhist practices and new developments in Taoism such as alchemy. Nonetheless, jade remained part of traditional Chinese medicine and an important artistic medium. Although its use never became widespread in Japan, jade became important to the art of Korea and Southeast Asia. ==Name== The Chinese character (''yu'') is similarly broad as the English word and denotes several similar types of stone. Jadeite is now known as }} (lit. "hard jade") and nephrite correspondingly as }} (lit. "soft jade"). Other varieties and uses are similarly distinguished by various compounds, such as }} ("jadewares"), although Classical Chinese employed numerous separate characters for distinct grades. Jadeite, for instance, was first known as }} (''feicui'', "kingfisher jade"). The jade radical appears in other words to denote "precious" or "treasured": the simplified characters and }} are "treasure" and "baby", respectively. It similarly appears in various ''chengyu'' and other Chinese idioms: }} ("pretty face"), }} ("slim and graceful"), }} (''pāozhuān yǐnyù'', one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems.) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chinese jade」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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