Liaoning, in the north-east of China, occupies a particular place in the country's gem geography. It is one of the two principal Chinese provinces, alongside Shandong, that has produced economic quantities of natural diamond, and it is also the source of a peridot deposit that has supplied lapidary material to both domestic and export markets.

Diamond production at Wafangdian

The Wafangdian field in Liaoning was opened in the 1970s and was, for a period, the most productive diamond source in China. Production has been characterised as small to moderate by world standards, with the kimberlite pipes yielding stones across a range of sizes; the deposit is geologically a kimberlite intrusion of the type more familiar from southern Africa and Russia. By the early twenty-first century output had declined relative to the peak years and Chinese demand had increasingly been met from imported rough.

Peridot

Liaoning peridot occurs at Zhang Jia Kuo and at the larger workings near Damaping in adjacent Hebei, with material typically yielded in faceting grades from a few millimetres up to around fifteen carats. The colour tends towards the slightly yellowish green characteristic of forsteritic olivine of basaltic origin, and clarity is generally good after careful selection.

Trade significance

For a working specialist the practical takeaway is that Chinese diamonds and Chinese peridot reach the international market in modest but persistent volumes, usually traded through Hong Kong or Shanghai cutting houses. Liaoning material rarely carries an origin premium, but in the case of peridot it has been an important volume contributor to mid-market goods over the past three decades.