Tons of pressure are needed to crush some of the larger pieces of jade. A single cut through a one foot cube of jade would take several weeks. The ancient chinese people thought that jade had special powers, and they used it in rituals and ceremonies. It was also beleived to have medical uses, but the most common use is for decoration. The ancient artists would stare at rough pieces of jade, and then decide what they wanted to carve it into.
Chinese pottery is also an ancient form of art in China.
It was first created in the pre-dynastic neolithic era. Some fragments of pottery are from 3,000 B.C. 4,000 years after that, the porcelain from the Sung and Ming dynasty, the most famous and beautiful porcelain in the world, was created. Although other countries also created China, the pottery originated in Asia. French porcelain was inspired by the delicate white work from the Ting dynasty, and Clue and white Dutch Delft porcelain was modeled after pottery from the Ming dynasty. Pottery started out as functional, but became more ornamental as the centires continued.