gems, jade, nephite, China, India, Mughal jade

There are two countries that use the mineral jade to make artefacts, China and India. Archaeological evidence shows that China began making jade objects long before writing was invented. The history of jade production in India is not well chronicled, but in the 17th century the Mughal court had produced some extremely beautiful jade vessels and jewellery items. During the Qianlong reign period (1736–95) a large number of Mughal jades entered the Forbidden City. Emperor Qianlong was much attracted to those foreign objects, and composed scores of poems in their praise. He believed they came from a place called “Hindustan”. He even did some research into the location of Hindustan, and promulgated his findings in a short essay entitled Tianzhu wu yindu kao-e 天竺五印度考訛: North India is in fact near Yarkand 葉爾羌, which is in our Muslim Region [Huibu 回部] … To the west of Yarkand, beyond the Congling 蔥嶺, is Badakhshan 拔達克山, turning south from Badakhshan is Kashmir 克什米爾, turning west is Hindustan 痕都斯坦 … Hindustan is a Muslim land, but the Muslim people say Buddhist relics have been found there …