Dushan Jade

Dushan jade is a natural, often multicolored rock from Dushan (Du Hill) near Nanyang in Henan Province, China, and one of the most famous traditional Chinese "jades". It is neither jadeite nor nephrite: it is an altered plagioclase rock (altered anorthosite) made mainly of calcium-rich plagioclase (anorthite) and zoisite, with chromium-bearing mica and other minerals that give its green shades. China has a national standard, GB/T 31432-2015, for its naming and classification.

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Full material guide
Material facts

What the material is, where it comes from or how it is made, identification and care, from the cited sources.

Properties

Nature Natural rock (altered plagioclase rock); not jadeite or nephrite
Main minerals Basic plagioclase (anorthite, about 50–90%) and zoisite (about 5–70%), with chromium mica, albite, epidote and minor amphibole; accessory titanite, rutile, chromite
Color Green, white, brown, red, pink, yellow, blue, purple, black; usually two or more colors in bands, patches or gradients
Mohs hardness 5.5 to 7 (national standard); 6.5 to 8 reported in a 2008 study
Refractive index 1.55 to 1.61
Specific gravity 2.75 to 2.97
Luster Vitreous, sometimes oily
Transparency Translucent to opaque

Origins & sources

Dushan jade is mined at Dushan in Wancheng District, Nanyang City, Henan Province, China. The jade forms small, clustered veins inside a gabbroic intrusion; it developed from plagioclase-rich igneous rock through several stages of dynamic metamorphism and hydrothermal alteration along fracture zones. Its colors depend on its minerals: titanite gives yellow, chromium-bearing mica gives sky blue, iron-bearing diopside gives green, and manganese is linked to natural pink.

Identification

Dushan jade is judged by its mixed colors, granular texture, transparency, hardness, density and refractive index; its refractive index (1.55–1.61) and density (2.75–2.97) are close to those of plagioclase. Chemically it differs from jadeite and other similar jades by high aluminium, calcium and strontium. Pale material is sometimes dyed pink: a 2024 study found dyed pieces show an abnormal yellow-white fluorescence under long-wave ultraviolet light and a dye absorption near 549 nm, which can separate them from naturally pink Dushan jade.

Care

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History & culture

History

Dushan jade from Nanyang is described as one of the four famous jades recorded in Chinese historical books, and it is valued for carvings that use its natural mixed colors.

Cultural meanings

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Traditional beliefs

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Sources

Collected Oct 23, 2026