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UnderstandWhat it is, what people ask, how far this page goes
Unspecified-material term · Trade name: material identity unverified · Actual material to be verified
Shuimo Yu
A Chinese market name not directly defined in the GB/T and CIBJO texts consulted. Without testing, it must not be equated with Albite Jade or Fei Cui (Jadeite Jade). This page compares how the major standards and institutions name it, what must be disclosed when selling it, whether it can be worn every day, how it is treated and identified, and which source each conclusion comes from.
Price, rarity and origin are outside the scope of this wiki.
What this page can answer
This page covers
- How Shuimo Yu forms and what gives its colourFormation setting, process and timescale, each finding graded and sourced
- How to identify Shuimo YuHow far lab testing can go
- Shuimo Yu in English, Chinese and Japanese; national standard namesNames in four languages, the GB/T standard name and the suggested listing name; and: Has any of GIA, FTC, CIBJO or Gem-A put a name for it on record here?
- Listing and disclosing Shuimo YuThe listing name to use; what must be disclosed before sale
What we cannot conclude
- Whether one particular bead is natural, treated or synthetic — only a laboratory report can settle that.
- Geographic origin, unless an origin report accompanies the item.
- Price, rarity or investment value: this wiki covers naming and disclosure only.
Material research: formation, causes and history
What authoritative sources say about how this material forms, what causes its colour and optical effects, where its name comes from and how people have used it. Each statement carries an evidence grade and its sources; it describes the material in general, not any specific piece.
How it forms
Shuimo Yu is a name used in the Chinese market. The authoritative texts cited here (GB/T, CIBJO) offer no direct definition of it. The CIBJO Gemstone Book provides that commercial names absent from its Annex 8, whether newly coined or long established, must be submitted to CIBJO for approval before entering the standard; a stone absent from Annex 8 must carry only an IMA-recognised mineralogical name, or a geological one. Among the authoritative sources available, then, 'Shuimo Yu' has no verifiable mineralogical definition and does not amount to an identifiable material type; what it actually is - a mineral species, a rock, or something else - can only be settled by testing and cannot be deduced from the name. This entry flags that evidence gap rather than padding the formation content with commercial sites or AI encyclopaedias.
Scope: Applies to explaining that 'Shuimo Yu' as a market name lacks a definition in the restricted authoritative texts; not applicable to determining its actual material, origin, locality or value.
Sources CIBJO Gemstone Book 2022
Where it forms
The cited sources do not describe the occurrence of 'Shuimo Yu'; as its material is undetermined, no geological setting can be given.
Sources CIBJO Gemstone Book 2022
How it forms, step by step
Extract the market name and its claimed material (its material attribution cannot be verified from the cited sources).
Sources CIBJO Gemstone Book 2022
Because the name appears in none of the reviewed authoritative texts and maps to no IMA mineral species or CIBJO Annex 8 name, no formation process can be described from it.
Sources CIBJO Gemstone Book 2022
The actual material must be tested and then described by its mineralogical/geological or rock name.
Sources CIBJO Gemstone Book 2022
Link to appearance
Appearance cannot substitute for identification; neither the market name nor appearance proves its material identity.
Sources CIBJO Gemstone Book 2022
Timescale
No authoritative source gives a formation duration or absolute age for 'Shuimo Yu'.
Sources CIBJO Gemstone Book 2022
Other research findings
In the reviewed authoritative texts (the CIBJO Gemstone Book and related GB/T nomenclature texts), 'Shuimo Yu' is not directly defined; CIBJO requires all commercial names not listed in its Annex 8 to be approved and included, so within the available authoritative sources the name has no mineralogical definition and does not constitute an identifiable material type.
Evidence grade CScope: A naming-boundary judgement; 'no authoritative definition' refers only to the cited sources and does not exclude a definition elsewhere.
Sources CIBJO Gemstone Book 2022
The CIBJO Gemstone Book requires that any stone absent from Annex 8 be named only by its mineralogical name (as recognised by the IMA) or its geological name; consequently 'Shuimo Yu' is not usable as a material-type name that identifies anything.
Evidence grade BScope: Application of the naming rule; it makes no finding on what mineral/rock 'Shuimo Yu' actually corresponds to.
Sources CIBJO Gemstone Book 2022
No authoritative source describing the formation or occurrence of 'Shuimo Yu' has been found, so its formation mechanism remains a gap.
Evidence grade CScope: Flags an evidence gap; it does not mean the mechanism is unknowable, only that no such source has been found.
Sources CIBJO Gemstone Book 2022
Limits of this research
- Research status: No authoritative source specific to this material was found; findings come from the parent material or are marked as gaps
- 'Shuimo Yu' is a market name with no mineralogical definition in the reviewed authoritative texts and does not constitute an identifiable material type; the evidence for it is rated no higher than C.
- Its actual material must be tested before it can be described by a mineralogical/geological name.
- No authoritative source on the formation or occurrence of this name has been found, so formation content is left as a gap.
Methodology
- Origin determination and its limits
- Quality grading and value factors
- How gemmology became a technical discipline
Evidence grades
- A
- Standards bodies, government geological surveys, peer-reviewed research and museum records
- B
- Institutional educational material
- C
- Specialist databases or cautious readings
A statement is never graded above its strongest source.
This section is LumaLark's own factual restatement of public authoritative sources, credited item by item; it contains no verbatim excerpts, images or third-party logos.
DecideListing name, disclosure, care and treatments
- Suggested listing name
- Shuimo Yu (replace with the specific material name once tested)
GB/T 16552—2017 5.1.1 c)
This page cannot answer
Natural? · Origin · Price
A lab report settles these; this wiki covers naming and disclosure.
Related:What this page can answer
Answer at a glance
"Shuimo Yu (Chinese trade name; material unverified)" is a market name rather than a mineral species name; before using it, verify: Trade name rather than a mineralogical species name. Actual material is unverified.
What this means for you
Before buying, check the recommended listing name "Shuimo Yu (replace with the specific material name once tested)" and any disclosed treatments on this page, and ask the seller for a grading report if in doubt.
Known uncertainty
- This entry's exact material identity is not fully settled.
- See “Disclosure and cautions” above
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-01
Trade-name ruling
- Trade name rather than a mineralogical species name.
- Actual material is unverified.
- Suggested listing name
- Shuimo Yu (replace with the specific material name once tested)
VerifyNames, standards, technical facts, clauses and sources
Names
Besides Shuimo Yu, the name register records "Shuimo Yu", for which no restriction on use as a name is recorded; one further name in a non-Latin script is listed in the name register below (1 with no restriction recorded on use as a name).
Trade and mineralogical namesShuimo Yu is a trade name rather than a mineralogical species name; the GB/T and CIBJO texts consulted do not define it directly, and the actual material must be tested. Standard and listing namesGB/T 16552—2017 does not list Shuimo Yu, and the basic name must be established by testing. The suggested listing name is Shuimo Yu (to be replaced by the specific material name after testing); a common market name is a shortened Chinese form, and the English transliteration is Shuimo Yu. Names in four languagesSimplified and Traditional Chinese are written identically, and the English is Shuimo Yu; for the GSJ (Japan), the entry's own Japanese name is marked as a Chinese market name with the material unidentified, and the wording used by the GSJ for this name is not yet verified by this site. Institution usageThe FTC and CIBJO texts on file have no wording for this name (checked), and the wording of GIA and Gem-A is unchecked; bodies without a recorded wording show the entry's own English name, which does not represent their position, and the displayed name carries the qualifier: Chinese trade name, material unverified. Sub-names and unacceptable namesThe registration lists Shuimo Yu as a high-risk name whose material is still to be identified.
Name register
Every name recorded for this entry, with how it is classified, whether it may be matched to this entry automatically, whether it may be used as a product name, and the clause it rests on.
This table scrolls sideways on narrow screens.
| Name | Type | Matching | Use as a name | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no restriction recorded (2) | ||||
| Shuimo YuEnglish | transliteration | matched automatically | no restriction recorded | editorial ruling (no clause cited); Note: Related high-risk name “Chinese trade names rendered as shuimo yu, blue turquoise, green fluorite and goldstone”: the material needs testing. |
| 水沫子Simplified Chinese | market name | matched automatically | no restriction recorded | editorial ruling (no clause cited); Note: Related high-risk name “Chinese trade names rendered as shuimo yu, blue turquoise, green fluorite and goldstone”: the material needs testing. |
How each authority words this name: see Names › Authority wording.
- GSJ (Japan) formal name
- 「水沫玉」中国市場名・材質未同定 (not yet checked for this body — the entry's own Japanese name is shown)
- GB/T naming counterpart (this name is not in the standard)
- basic name to be determined by testing (GB/T 16552—2017 §5.1.1 c))
- Mineralogical name
- Chinese market name not directly defined in the reviewed GB/T/CIBJO texts; actual material requires testing
Four-language names
- 简体中文
- 水沫玉
- 繁體中文
- 水沫玉
- English
- Shuimo Yu (Chinese trade name; material unverified)
- 日本語
- 「水沫玉」中国市場名・材質未同定
Qualifiers stripped from the headline name
See also: Misleading and prohibited trade names · Supplementary name index
Classification
- Origin
- Material identity unspecified
- Material domain
- Unspecified-material term
- Browsing family
- Bead-form and unidentified trade terms
- Identity tier
- Trade name: material identity unverified
- Mineral chemical class
- Mixed / composition-dependent
- Construction or treatment status
- Actual material to be verified
What it is and how it's identified
Shuimo Yu is a popular name for albite jade. Fairly pure albite jade is colourless, white, greyish white or greyish green and often holds white spots and flecks, looking like foam rising on water; albite jade is often used to imitate jadeite jade. The definition of Shuimo Yu is paraphrased from a peer-reviewed journal paper, not a national standard; the name describes appearance only, and any particular piece sold as Shuimo Yu must be tested to establish what it is. The composition (phase) applies only to the dark green jade that dealers in the Ruili market, Yunnan, also call shuimozi: albite is the main mineral at a mass fraction of over 70%, followed by amphibole, with a very small amount of an opaque brown mineral. The paper identified the dark green jade it tested as albite jade; colourless and pale Shuimo Yu, and shuimozi of other colours, were not part of this testing, so the composition (phase) cannot be used to describe the phase of colourless or pale Shuimo Yu or of shuimozi in other colours.
Registered material facts
Each row carries its own source and check date and can be cited on its own; “—” means the cited source gives no value, not “none”.
Definition
Stone sold as Shuimo Yu: a popular name for albite jade, given because fairly pure albite jade (colourless, white, greyish white or greyish green) often holds white spots and flecks that look like foam on water; albite jade is often used to imitate jadeite jade.
Journal of Gems & Gemmology (Bao, 2013)
- Qualification
From a peer-reviewed journal paper (paraphrased here), not a national standard. The name describes the look only; what a given piece sold under it is made of has to be tested (see the separation item on this page).
Source & check 2026-09-29
- Source
- Bao, “Gemmological Characteristics of a Quartzite-albite Jade”, Journal of Gems and Gemmology 15(3) (2013): p. 60, opening paragraph (locator checked 2026-09-29)
- Fact checked on
- 2026-09-29
Stone sold as Shuimo Yu — composition (phase): a dark-green stone in the Ruili market, Yunnan, that dealers also call “shuimozi”: mainly albite (over 70% by mass), followed by amphibole, with a very small amount of an opaque brown mineral.
Journal of Gems & Gemmology (Miao et al., 2011)
- Sample actually measured
- only a dark-green stone that dealers in the Ruili market, Yunnan, also call shuimozi
- Qualification
Applies only to a dark-green stone that dealers in the Ruili market, Yunnan, also call “shuimozi”, which the paper identifies as albite jade; colourless to pale material and “shuimozi” of other colours were not part of this measurement, so this item says nothing about their make-up.
Source & check 2026-09-29
- Source
- Miao et al., “Preliminary Study on Dark-green Albite Jade”, Journal of Gems and Gemmology 13(4) (2011): §1.2 Features under the polarizing microscope, p. 20 (locator checked 2026-09-29)
- Fact checked on
- 2026-09-29
Each row's “Source & check” expands to the full source; the date beside it is the fact check date.
Testing and market
What testing can establish for Shuimo Yu is a distinction of material: one testing professional found in routine testing that many colourless and white ornaments commonly sold as Shuimo Yu consist mainly of quartz and contain little or no albite; the name Shuimo Yu alone does not show that a piece is albite jade. This observation is paraphrased by this site from the journal paper “Gemmological Characteristics of Quartz-Albite Jade”, which does not give what proportion of such ornaments this applies to.
How far testing can go
Stone sold as Shuimo Yu — how far testing can go (separation): In routine testing the author found many colourless or white ornaments sold under this name to be mainly quartz, with little or no albite, so the name alone does not show that a piece is albite jade.
Journal of Gems & Gemmology (Bao, 2013)
- Treatment state
- any treatment state
- Qualification
This is one testing specialist's observation from routine work (a journal paper, paraphrased here); the paper gives no proportions.
Source & check 2026-09-29
- Source
- Bao, “Gemmological Characteristics of a Quartzite-albite Jade”, Journal of Gems and Gemmology 15(3) (2013): §3 Discussion, p. 64 (locator checked 2026-09-29)
- Fact checked on
- 2026-09-29
Each row's “Source & check” expands to the full source; the date beside it is the fact check date.
Evidence and sources
Authority basis and clause sources
Sources
Further reading
Related entries and topic cluster
Parent entry and related pages on this site. Rows marked “Planned” are suggested new content and have no link yet.
This table scrolls sideways on narrow screens.
| Page | Content | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Browsing family | Bead-form and unidentified trade terms | Live |
| Related articles | To be added (placeholder) | Planned |
Who maintains this page
The material facts in the Shuimo Yu entry are maintained by the LumaLark wiki and matched one by one to the standard clauses or institutional sources they cite: every fact carries its source (with a clause or page locator) and a check date, so it can be traced back to the original. The entry exists so that buyers and sellers can check naming, disclosure and material facts item by item.