Lanqiyu (蓝祁玉, sometimes romanised lan qi yu or lan qiyu) is a Chinese trade designation used for nephrite jade with a distinctive blue to blue-grey colour. The term is part of a wider Chinese vocabulary that distinguishes nephrite varieties by colour: baiyu (white jade), qingbaiyu (greenish-white), moyu (black), huangyu (yellow), and biyu (dark spinach green). Blue nephrite is rare, and the term has historically referred to material from the Hetian (Khotan) region of Xinjiang and from Russian sources rather than to any single, narrowly defined deposit.

Cause of colour and identification

The blue colour in nephrite arises principally from disseminated graphite and trace iron in the calcium-magnesium amphibole structure (tremolite-actinolite series). The hue tends toward blue-grey or steel-blue and is rarely as saturated as the blue of fine sapphire or lapis lazuli. Identification rests on standard nephrite tests: refractive index near 1.62, specific gravity around 2.95-3.05, an interlocking fibrous tremolitic texture under magnification, and the characteristic toughness that distinguishes nephrite from softer ornamental stones. Distinguishing genuine blue nephrite from dyed or coloured serpentine, dyed quartzite, and from blue-grey jadeite (fei cui) requires careful spectroscopy and refractometry.

Sources and supply

The historical Hetian source produced limited quantities of blue-grey nephrite among its predominantly white production. Russian nephrite from the Vitim and Buryatiya region of Eastern Siberia has yielded blue-grey material that enters the Chinese market through Beijing and Shanghai dealers, often catalogued under the Lanqiyu name when sold to Chinese collectors. Canadian nephrite from British Columbia, although predominantly green, has occasionally produced blue-grey lots that have been sold into the Chinese trade under similar nomenclature. The result is that Lanqiyu is best treated as a colour-and-species descriptor rather than a geographical guarantee, and a buyer should expect a certificate to identify the material as nephrite without binding it to a specific source.

Carving and workshop tradition

The Suzhou and Beijing carving traditions have used blue-grey nephrite for incense burners, brush washers, ruyi sceptres, and figural carvings since at least the Qing dynasty. Modern workshops continue to favour the colour for figures of scholar-officials, landscape carvings, and Buddhist subjects, where the cool tone reads as ink-wash painting rendered in stone. Pricing in the Chinese mainland market reflects both colour saturation and texture: very fine, even, lightly greasy material with a translucent body commands strong prices, while coarser, mottled, or more grey-than-blue material trades as ornamental stock.

Trade caution

The Chinese coloured-jade vocabulary is not strictly regulated, and several different terms (qing yu, moshui qing, lan qi yu) overlap in everyday use. Western buyers should not assume that Lanqiyu denotes a single mine or quality grade. The reliable approach is the standard one: an independent gemmological report identifying the material as nephrite, and a written description of source where the seller can substantiate it.