As you have known that nephrite jade have a strong impact on Chinese jade culture.Most of the time nephrite jade are used as the jade material to carve many different jade style and other occasion.

Nephrite 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 Dynasty, Zhou Dynasty(1111–255 BC), and Han Dynasty (206 BC–AD 220) are increasingly embellished with animal and other decorative motifs characteristic of those times; in later periods ancient nephrite jade shapes, shapes derived from bronze vessels, and motifs of painting were used, essentially to demonstrate the craftsman's extraordinary technical facility.

During Neolithic times, the key known sources of nephrite jade in China for utilitarian and ceremonial jade items were the now depleted deposits in the Ningshao area in the Yangtze River Delta and in an area of the Liaoning province in Inner Mongolia (Hongshan culture 4700–2200 BC)[1]. As early as 6000 B.C. Dushan Jade(one of the four Chinese famous nephrite jade)has been mined. In the Yin Ruins of Shang Dynasty in Anyang, Dushan Jade ornaments was unearthed in the tomb of the Shang kings. Nephrite 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 nephrite 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. There, white and greenish nephrite jade is found in small quarries and as pebbles and boulders in the rivers flowing from the Kuen-Lun mountain range northward into the Takla-Makan desert area. River nephrite jade collection was concentrated in the Yarkand, the White Nephrite Jade and Black Nephrite Jade Rivers. From the Kingdom of Khotan, on the southern leg of the Silk Road, yearly tribute payments consisting of the most precious white nephrite 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. Nephrite ade 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 nephrite jade would bestow longevity upon smokers who used such a pipe.

Nephrite jade is famous for its toughness and hardness to carve many famous artistic.Nowadays,you still can find lots of precious jade jewelry are carved from the nephrite jade,the most famous nephrite jade is Hetian jade which are so beautiful and rare that you will love it soon when you know it.