In Chinese  culture, Chinese jade is considered intrinsically valuable. They metaphorically  equated jade with human virtues because of its hardness, durability, and  (moral) beauty. If you see your Chinese  teachers wear jade as earrings or necklaces, you can tell the jade-made jewelries  always have particular meaning to the owners. Jade was prized by the Chinese  for its durability, its musical qualities, its subtle, translucent colors, and  its alleged protective powers - it was thought to prevent fatigue and delay the  decomposition of the body.

In Chinese learning,  you may find that the jade has been used in virtually all periods of Chinese  history and generally accords with the style of decorative art characteristic  of each period. Thus, the earliest jades, of the Neolithic Period, are quite  simple and unornamented; those of the Shang (18th–12th century BC), Zhou  (1111–255 BC), and Han (206 BC–AD 220) dynasties are increasingly embellished  with animal and other decorative motifs characteristic of those times; in later  periods ancient jade shapes, shapes derived from bronze vessels, and motifs of painting  were used, essentially to demonstrate the craftsman's extraordinary technical  facility.

To learn Chinese jade culture can be  fairly interesting. Jade was used to create many utilitarian and ceremonial  objects, ranging from indoor decorative items to jade burial suits. Jade was  considered the "imperial gem". From about the earliest Chinese  dynasties until present, the jade deposits in most use were not only from the  region of Khotan in the Western Chinese province of Xinjiang but also from  other parts of China, like Lantian, Shaanxi. River jade collection was  concentrated in the Yarkand, the White Jade (Yurungkash) and Black Jade  (Karakash) Rivers. From the Kingdom of Khotan, on the southern leg of the Silk  Road, yearly tribute payments consisting of the most precious white jade were  made to the Chinese Imperial court and there transformed into objets d'art by  skilled artisans as jade was considered more valuable than gold or silver. Jade  became a favorite material for the crafting of Chinese scholars objects, such  as rests for calligraphy brushes, as well as the mouthpieces of some opium  pipes, due to the belief that breathing through jade would bestow longevity  upon smokers who used such a pipe.

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