China has been a significant source of turquoise
for decades. One area of Zhushan County in
Hubei Province has produced some attractive material
(e.g., figure 1), but it has been overshadowed by
more productive turquoise deposits in nearby Yun
County (Tu, 2000). Chinese turquoise is also known
from the city of Ma’anshan in Anhui Province, Baihe
County in Shaanxi Province, and the Xichuan area of
Henan Province.
The turquoise from Yun County is regarded as superior
in quality (Ma, 1989; Qi et al., 1998; Tu, 2000).
The output from Yun County between 1954 and
1999 totaled more than 800 tonnes, according to data
provided by local officials, but its resources are depleting.
The deposits in Zhushan County (figure 2)
were found in the late 1980s, yet much is still unknown
about their distribution and complex geologic
formation. While the material from Zhushan County