Participate in discussions, respond to the prompt: What are the major differences between Hongshan and Liangzhu jades (categories, working method, usage, etc)? Why can’t we find out what jade meant to the Liangzhu people?

After that, respond to at least one peer on the following.

Peer1: There are many differences between the Hongshan style jades and the jades from the Liangzhu. The Hongshan jades were often small and wearable on clothing and as jewerly. Because of this, it is easy to identify jades which were crafted by the Hongshan. Liangzhu jade on the other hand, tend to be much larger and would have served as more decorative pieces. The Liangzhu would also carve in faces of animals and humans which help scholars now identify them.
We cannot determine what jade meant to the Liangzhu people because we do not have enough information to determine any sort of purposes. If we were to assume anything about the purposes of jade then it would be clouded with our modern judgements and viewpoints. Due to the lack of written texts or surviving decedents of the culture there is no way of knowing what jade actually meant to the Liangzhu people.

Peer2: Hongshan culture had many ornamental jades that could be found in burials. The types of shapes included discs, plaques, animal and human figures, and cuffs. Lot of times the ornaments had holes drilled in them so they could be hung off of clothing. An important point is that the designs were made with minimal shaving of the jade, using small cuts and grooves to create figure. Other details were that some of the ornaments had undulating surfaces.
Jades from Liangzhu culture also were found in burials. The primary shapes in Liangzhuh culture were disc, axes, and cong. The most interesting one among those is the cong, which is cylinder with decorated corners (faces/eyes). Cong has highest quality of jade and polish among all the Liangzhu jades.
We can only guess the meaning of the Liangzhu jade because there is no written history of it, or people who can tell us.