How should jade be defined? jadeite? Ophote?

Although jadeite has become one of the most precious and popular jades today, many people don’t know much about jadeite. They only know that it is a type of jade. So what kind of jade is jadeite? How is it defined?

1. The relationship between jadeite and jade

The ancients called beautiful stones jade, which means "jade is the most beautiful stone" . It can be seen that "jade" has a broad meaning. Traditional jade culture includes Hetian jade, jadeite, Xiuyan jade, Dushan jade, agate, turquoise, as well as quartz, Shoushan stone, bloodstone and so on.

It can be said that jadeite is indeed jade, but jade is not necessarily jadeite . Nowadays, jadeite is the most expensive of all jades. A piece of top-grade jadeite can cost tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.

2. The difference between jadeite and nephrite

In the jade industry, jade is narrowly divided into nephrite (hardness: 6.0~6.5) and jadeite (hardness: 6.5~7) . Among them, the representative of nephrite is the traditional famous jade Hetian jade, and jadeite is also known as the king of jade.

▲ Hetian jade seed material

Luster is one of the biggest differences between jadeite and nephrite. The surface of nephrite has an oily luster of inconsistent intensity, giving people a soft feeling; while jadeite has a hard glass luster .

▲ Ice jadeite

In terms of physical properties, except for hardness, the density (2.90) and refractive index (1.62) of nephrite are also lower than those of jadeite (3.33/1.66).

3. Definition of Jade

Jade is believed to have been formed in the subduction zone of the continental plate after a long and multi-stage "low temperature and high pressure" metamorphic replacement process. Many scholars and local standards define jade as "jade is mainly jadeite."

The national standard clearly defines jadeite as "a mineral combination with technological value, mainly composed of jadeite or jadeite and other sodium and calcium sodium pyroxenes (such as sodium chrome pyroxene and diopside) , which may contain small amounts of amphibole, feldspar, chromite and other minerals."

However, a large number of test results show that the mineral composition, chemical composition and structural structure of jade are relatively complex. In addition to jadeite, omphacite sometimes becomes the main component mineral.

For example, the mineral composition of dry green jadeite is mainly chrome jadeite (often accompanied by blueschist minerals); while the blue flowers in oily green jadeite, black jadeite, and "Duanjia jade" are also mainly composed of diopside.

Therefore, some experts and scholars have suggested defining jadeite as: a sodium aluminum pyroxene mineral aggregate that can reach gemstone/jewelry grade, which may be accompanied by small amounts of one or more other minerals such as pyroxene, hornblende, albite, garnet, etc.

Sodium aluminum pyroxene minerals include jadeite, diopside, chrome jadeite, etc. Jadeite is just a type of pyroxene jade. Not all pyroxene jades are jadeite. "Jadeite" cannot be equated with "pyroxene jade".

4. English translation of jadeite

Internationally, French mineralogist Damour named Xinjiang Hetian jade as Nephrite (tremolite mineral) and Burmese jadeite as Jadeite (sodium aluminum pyroxene mineral NaAISi206 greater than 80%). Later, Japanese scholars translated Nephrite into nephrite and Jadeite into hard jade based on the difference in hardness between the two.

But in Chinese, jadeite is the name of a mineral and jadeite is the name of a jade . A large amount of research data shows that not all jadeite is jade, and not all of jade's main minerals are jadeite. Obviously, Jadeite as the English translation of jade is not accurate.

Jade culture is an important part of Chinese culture. The word "jadeite" comes from Chinese. In order to make China's jade culture keep pace with the international standards, many professional scholars believe that it is more appropriate to change the English translation of jadeite to the Chinese pinyin "Feicui".

Considering that people abroad are already accustomed to "Jadeite", as a transition, "Feicui, Jadeite" can be used simultaneously. This suggestion has been adopted and used in the revised national standard, but it has not yet been promoted in the industry.

Using Feicui as the English translation of jadeite can also avoid confusion in the English translation of non-jadeite jadeite . For example, according to the past translation method, omphacite jadeite should be translated as "ornphacite jadeite" and chrome jadeite should be translated as "Cr-jadeite jadeite", but in fact, these two types of jade do not contain jadeite minerals.

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