Names
In almost all dictionaries, the Chinese character 'yù' (玉) is translated into English as 'jade'. However, this frequently leads to misunderstanding. The cultural concept of 'jade' is considerably broader in China and Korea than in the West. A more semantically inclusive rendering of this character on its own would be 'precious/ornamental stone'. It is seldom, if ever, used on its own to denote 'true' jade in modern Mandarin Chinese; for example, one would normally refer to 'ying yu' (硬玉, 'hard jade') for jadeite, or 'ruan yu' (軟玉, 'soft jade') for nephrite. (Though it is used with these meanings in Classical Chinese texts e.g. in poetry.) The Chinese names for many ornamental non-jade rocks also incorporate this character as a radical, and it is widely understood by native speakers that such stones are not, in fact, true precious nephrite or jadeite. Even so, for commercial reasons, the names of such stones may well still be translated into English as 'jade'. In China white jade has traditionally been the most highly valued, rather than green.
Read more about this topic: Chinese Jade
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