Jade---the Stone of China Although China is known as the land of the dragon,silk and tea,no other basic material is more closely identified with Chinese culture than jade. Jade is not unique to China.Other early civilizations, such as pre-Columbian Meso-America and the pre-historic Maori of New Zealand,produced magnificent works in jade.But in terms of quality,quantity variety and the extent of continuous production-from neolithic times to the present day.Chinese jade is probably unrivaled in the world pre-(前缀) 1.before 在…之前 prewar (=before a war) 战前的 pre-historic史前的 2.in advance预先，先于 prearranged预先安排的，预定的 preassigned预先指定的，预先分配的Jade---the Stone of China Although China is known as the land of the dragon, silk and tea, no other basic material is more closely identified with Chinese culture than jade. Jade is not unique to China. Other early civilizations, such as pre-Columbian Meso-America and the pre-historic Maori of New Zealand, produced magnificent works in jade. But in terms of quality, quantity variety and the extent of continuous production-from neolithic times to the present day. Chinese jade is probably unrivaled in the world. pre- (前缀) 1. before 在…之前 prewar (=before a war) 战前的 pre-historic 史前的 2.in advance 预先,先于 prearranged 预先安排的,预定的 preassigned 预先指定的,预先分配的