和田玉夹生在海拔3500米至5000米高绵延1500公里的昆仑山脉山岩中。经过自然的长期风化剥解为大小不等的碎块，崩落在山坡上，再经雨水冲刷流入河中，待秋季河水干涸，在河床中采集的玉块称为籽料。在岩层中以人工开采的称山料，山料的质地偏干，缺少水头。高质量的和田玉籽料均采自河中，它经过上千年的河水冲刷，变得细腻晶莹、如凝如脂，才成为著名的和田玉。

Hetian jade is found in the rocks of the Kunlun Mountains, which stretch for 1,500 kilometers at an altitude of 3,500 meters to 5,000 meters. After natural long-term weathering, it is stripped into pieces of different sizes, which fall on the hillside, and then flow into the river by rainwater. When the river dries up in autumn, the jade pieces collected in the river bed are called seed materials. In the rock strata to artificial mining said mountain material, mountain material texture partial dry, lack of water head. High quality Hetian jade seed materials are collected from the river, it after thousands of years of river erosion, become delicate crystal, such as coagulation, such as fat, to become the famous Hetian jade.

和田白玉名闻中外，西汉文学家东方朔的《海内十洲记》曾誉其为“白玉之精”。历代进贡皇帝的新疆玉石，多取自这种和田白玉之最上品。由于这种白玉质地细腻，纯洁浑白，色如羊脂，故又名羊脂玉。

Hetian white jade is well known both at home and abroad. "Ten Continents in the Sea" written by Dong Fangshuo, a writer of the Western Han Dynasty, was once known as "the essence of white jade". The Xinjiang jade presented to the emperor in successive dynasties was mostly taken from the highest quality of this kind of Hetian white jade. Because this kind of white jade texture is delicate, pure muddy white, color such as suet, it is also known as suet jade.

从殷商时期开始，和田玉就进入了中原。和田玉从新疆经过甘肃、陕西或山西才能运抵河南，路途漫长，弥足珍贵。传说在2900年前，周天子穆王乘八骏大辇，出玉门登昆仑，受到西王母的热烈欢迎，曾载玉万只而归。传说归传说，和田玉的确是在周朝成为政治生活的一部分，不论祭祀、礼仪，还是朝见皇帝，都有一套完整的规定，国家生活重礼崇乐的玉文化传统基本定型。汉朝张骞通西域后，和田玉大量进入中原，成为中国玉文化的主导材料，成为一种价值的象征。

Since the Yin and Shang Dynasties, Hetian jade has entered the Central Plains. Hetian jade was transported from Xinjiang to Henan through Gansu, Shaanxi or Shanxi. The journey was long and precious. Legend has it that 2,900 years ago, King Mu, the son of the king of the Zhou Dynasty, took eight big chariots and went to the Jade Gate to mount the Kunlun Mountain. He was warmly welcomed by the Queen Mother of the West and returned with ten thousand jade. According to legend, Hetian jade did become a part of political life in the Zhou Dynasty. There were a complete set of regulations on sacrifice, etiquette and the appearance of the emperor, and the jade culture tradition of emphasizing ceremony and music in national life was basically finalized. After Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, Hetian jade entered the Central Plains in large quantities and became the dominant material of Chinese jade culture and a symbol of value.