和田玉夾生在海拔3500米至5000米高綿延1500公里的昆侖山脈山巖中。經過自然的長期風化剝解為大小不等的碎塊，崩落在山坡上，再經雨水沖刷流入河中，待秋季河水干涸，在河床中采集的玉塊稱為籽料。在巖層中以人工開采的稱山料，山料的質地偏干，缺少水頭。高質量的和田玉籽料均采自河中，它經過上千年的河水沖刷，變得細膩晶瑩、如凝如脂，才成為著名的和田玉。

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.

和田白玉名聞中外，西漢文學家東方朔的《海內十洲記》曾譽其為“白玉之精”。歷代進貢皇帝的新疆玉石，多取自這種和田白玉之最上品。由于這種白玉質地細膩，純潔渾白，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.

從殷商時期開始，和田玉就進入了中原。和田玉從新疆經過甘肅、陜西或山西才能運抵河南，路途漫長，彌足珍貴。傳說在2900年前，周天子穆王乘八駿大輦，出玉門登昆侖，受到西王母的熱烈歡迎，曾載玉萬只而歸。傳說歸傳說，和田玉的確是在周朝成為政治生活的一部分，不論祭祀、禮儀，還是朝見皇帝，都有一套完整的規定，國家生活重禮崇樂的玉文化傳統基本定型。漢朝張騫通西域后，和田玉大量進入中原，成為中國玉文化的主導材料，成為一種價值的象征。

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.