QUESTION:
In some countries its rubies, others diamonds, but in China jade is the most precious of gems.

Jade is loosely understood in China as the collective name for most precious stones, and jade carving in this sense constitutes an important part of Chinese arts and crafts.

Crude jade tools have been found among the archaeological discovery dating back to the New Stone Age. There is, however, no evidence to indicate that neolithic people attached a great value to jade ware; they chose jade only because it was hard and good for making tools and fighting weapons.

As time went on, people came gradually to appreciate the beauty of the stone, which after carving and polishing might be turned into things not only useful but also nice to look at.

"There is a price for gold but no price for jade", says a Chinese proverb. Jade ware is often described as "worth a string of towns". An ancient story tells how King Zhao of Qin once offered 15 towns in exchange for the another's round jade.

What are the two characteristics that make jade so valuable?

A. Beauty and coldness;
B. Re-sale value and color;
C. Scarcity and hardness;
D. Transformability and opacity

ANSWERS:
If you answered C you should consider becoming a gem dealer! Jade is prized for its scarcity and hardness.

Jade is very difficult to extract from nature, especially green and white jade. Ancient people on a treasure hunt had to trek on the back of yaks in mountainous regions to get at the rocks containing the gems, exposed or half exposed, by the stamping of the animal's hoofs.

Precious stones are divided by their hardness into two major groups: jadeites and nephrites. Jadeites are the ones with a solid texture and a hardness of degree 6 or above (on the basis of 10 for diamond). The more valuable varieties, such as green jade, may be as hard as degree 8 or 9. Jadeites are invulnerable to steel cutting tools made of carbonrundum or diamond power. Objects made of this hard jade are smooth, lustrous, glittering and translucent, and their grains are no longer visible to the naked eye.