Culture

Xiuyan Jade

In Anshan City, Liaoning Province the world's largest carved jade Buddha can be found. It is 6.1 yards high and weighs 260.76 tons. It has been recorded in the Guinness World Record since 1997. Where did a piece of jade of this size come form and what kind of jade is it? It is not difficult to imagine the immense difficulty in transporting such an enormous block of stone. It is therefore likely that it came from a local source. Indeed, this huge jade statue was made from an enormous piece of Xiuyan Jade produced in the Xiuyan Manchuria Autonomous County in Anshan City.

Although Xiuyan jade derives its name from its production site, the term encompasses two types of raw material. One is Shewenshi Jade, popularly known as Xiu Jade and it is from this, that the Buddha was carved; the other is Shanyushi Jade, which is of similar quality to the Hetian Jade of Xinjiang and this is also know as 'Xiuyan Old Jade'. 

The luster of Xiu Jade is usually not as fluid as Hetian Jade and most is not as shiny as polished glass; it perhaps possesses something of a waxier luster. However, some Xiu Jade not only possesses a more brilliant luster, but also exudes a soft yet obscure white light around the bring spots on its surface. To many people it is reminiscent of moonlight through thin clouds and this adds certain vitality to the jade. The over-transparent Xiu Jade is often confused with glass, but the tiny cotton-like inclusions and miniscule black spots inside distinguish it from glass, which often contains minute spherical bubbles.

The appearance of amphibolic Xiuyan Jade is more sophisticated than that of Xiu Jade; it is mostly translucent or even slightly transparent. The term 'old', in 'Xiuyan Old Jade', does not indicate that its outer appearance looks old. Some believe it is because this kind of amphibolic jade is harder than Xiu Jade and that’s why the word “old” was adopted; however, it is held by some that it is because the first era of its extraction was earlier than that for Xiu Jade. In any event, the origin for the name of Xiuyan Old Jade remains an enigma, though evidence exists that Xiuyan Old Jade had been used by mankind since the Neolithic.