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Ancient jades from Yunnan, Guizhou and Tibet are most numerous in Yunnan, yet are considerably less than those discovered in the Central Plains. The stone materials worked in ancient times in these areas include nephrite, turquoise, serpentine, agate, amber and crystal, which materials distinguish these areas from others.
Neolithic jades are thus far unknown in Yunnan and Guizhou but are represented in Tibet. During the Spring and Autumn through early Eastern Han periods, when Yuanan and Guizhou had entered the Bronze Age, jade-working flourished and numerous types and large numbers of jades appear. Through 2000, 23 Bronze Age cemeteries out of 30 in Yunnan had burials with jades.
Stone and jade worked raw materials in Yunnan are multiple in types and in this sense the ancient cultures of Yunnan may be identified as belonging to a multi-colored stone and jade-working culture. Most of the jades unearthed in Yunnan are ornamental objects worn by the Dian peoples. Types include slit rings, crescent-shaped pieces, disk-shaped bracelets, plum pit-shaped beads, ear plug-shape. The majority is made locally and expresses the aesthetic of the ancient Dian tribe.
Jades excavated from Bronze Age burials of Gizhou are comparable to those from Yunnan yet in number the jades are less. Types include slit rings, bi, bracelets, tubes, beads and huang.
From Eastern Han through Wei and Jin ears, Yunnan was ruled by the “Major Families of Nanzhong”. Burial types include the large-scale earthen mound type of Han style. Earthen pit burials are rarer and cliff burials are distributed in the area of Zhaotong. Few jades are known from these tombs yet agate beads are known from the site of Heimajing in Gejiu
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