History · Geology
About Xiuyan Jade District
The Xiuyan Jade District in Liaoning Province is China’s second-most important jade source after Hetian (Xinjiang). The district has produced massive serpentine and minor nephrite material since at least the Neolithic — roughly 5,000 years of continuous quarrying. “Xiuyan jade” is the modern Chinese trade name for the district’s ornamental serpentine, distinct from Hetian nephrite.
Geology & Signature Specimens
The deposit consists of ultramafic intrusions (peridotite, dunite) hydrothermally serpentinized to massive antigorite-lizardite-bowenite varieties. Color spans yellow-green, dark green, and rare apple-green; massive aggregates lacking discrete crystal habit are dominant. Lower-grade nephrite (tremolite-actinolite) also occurs in adjacent contact-metamorphic dolomites.
Minerals Produced Here
- Serpentine (蛇纹石)
