Jadeite

Jadeite is a sodium-aluminium-rich pyroxene. Its texture of minute interlocking crystals gives exceptional toughness, a property distinct from hardness. It may be white, green, lavender or other colours. A “jade” label alone does not prove jadeite identity.

“Jade” is not one mineral: jadeite and nephrite have shared a cultural name through history. Jadeite reached China from Myanmar especially in the late eighteenth century, where vivid green material opened a new era in court carving. In Mesoamerica, jadeite had much earlier associations with life, maize and authority.

In spiritual use, meaning is a layer distinct from mineral properties but still open to cultural study. Jadeite has been associated with longevity, virtue, abundance and life force in Chinese and Mesoamerican symbolic worlds, though meanings differ between cultures. In modern ritual its toughness may represent continuity rather than display, and value carried across generations.

Sources: 1, 2, 3.