Pine Flower Stone

Pine Flower Stone

Pine Flower Stone is a geographical indication protected product.

　　Pine Flower Stone, also known as Pine Flower Jade, is found in the Changbai Mountain area of Northeast China and is a type of marine muddy sedimentary rock. It is a hard, sedimentary microcrystalline limestone formed from fine silt deposited on the ancient seabed through physical processes such as sedimentation, coverage, and compression during marine movements hundreds of millions of years ago. Its main mineral components include: calcite, quartz, mica, clay, and small amounts of metallic minerals.

　　Due to the influence of geological factors within the region and the varying quality of metal ions from the remnants of decomposed marine organisms that act as color pigments, the stone exhibits different hues within small areas.　

　　Generally speaking, yellow Pine Flower Stone has a higher content of ferrous iron, while red Pine Flower Stone is rich in ferric iron; purple Pine Flower Stone prominently features manganese and iron; green Pine Flower Stone has relatively high levels of chromium and copper. Grayish Pine Flower Stone contains a high proportion of kaolinite and talc, whereas black Pine Flower Stone is mixed with pyrite. Additionally, due to ocean currents on the seabed, viscous sea mud was mobilized and deposited in layered patterns over the original seabed, forming multi-colored bands in Pine Flower Stone. This type is particularly notable for its purple-wrapped green-banded varieties.

　　Due to crustal movements, the Pacific Plate subducted beneath the Asian Plate, causing the intersectional edge to rise and transforming the seabed into land or mountains, thus exposing Pine Flower Stone deposits in some regions.

　　　The main mineral resources are distributed in the Changbai Mountain area of Northeast China, especially in Tonghua, Baishan, and Yanbian, where the quality is excellent, reserves are abundant, and sustainable mining is possible. Some areas in Liaoning’s Benxi region and certain parts of Anhui also have marine sedimentary rock deposits, but the texture is coarser. The colors of Pine Flower Stone mainly fall into three categories: solid color series, symbiotic color series, and associated color series.

　　1. The main solid color series of Pine Flower Stone are green, cyan, yellow, brown, and purple. There are also rare colors such as black, red, and white.

　　2. The symbiotic color series mainly includes: yellow-green, purple-green, purple-yellow-green, and other two-tone, three-tone, and multi-tone combinations.

　　3. The associated color series is formed by larger particles of heavy spar, jade material, quartzite, and other substances mixed in during the mud sedimentation process, resulting in unique stone types — for example, those with embedded heavy spar that form star-moon patterns, or those inlaid with striped quartz crystals that create ice-patterned varieties.

　　Among the colors of Pine Flower Stone, emerald green is considered top grade, chestnut yellow is premium grade, and maple red is rare grade. Other colors are also considered authentic if they are pure and bright. Of course, within multi-color and companion-color series, as long as the hues are harmonious and vivid, they are also regarded as high-quality materials.

　　The production area of Pine Flower Stone includes the following 12 administrative regions in Jilin Province: Jiangyuan District, Hunjiang District, Linjiang City, and Jingyu County in Baishan City; Dongchang District, Erdao District, Tonghua County, Liuhe County, Huinan County, and Ji’an City in Tonghua City; and Dunhua City and Antu County in Yanbian Prefecture.