Baoxing County, Ya'an, Sichuan

White marble from our own mountain, sawn, polished and crated in one place.

Sichuan Baoxing Huanshitong Stone quarries white marble at its Daping mine in Baoxing and its Kangding carved white mine, processes it at its plant in the Baichunshu industrial cluster, and sells blocks, slabs, tiles, mosaics and mouldings at home and abroad. Baoxing carries the title Oriental White Jade Capital on the company's own banner, credited to the China Stone Association.

See the four stones Walk the quarry and plant

Inside a mining chamber: sawn white marble walls and ceiling, wet floor reflecting the light, two workers in red helmets at the far wall — Inside one of the mining chambers. The company quarries by platform and cavern method; the photograph is from its own factory page.

The stones

Four white marbles from one district.

Each one is sold in named grades, as blocks, slabs, cut to size, thin tiles, mosaics and mouldings.

Sculpture White marble tiles photographed by the factory

Sculpture White 雕刻白

Grades A+, A, B+ and B

Near pure white with a faint grey grain. The company also spells it Carved White and Engraved White; its Kangding mine carries the same Chinese name.

Oriental White marble tiles photographed by the factory

Oriental White 东方白

A, B, thick vein, dense vein, light grey

Cool white with grey cloud veining. The grades differ in how dense the veins run.

Oriental Jade marble tiles photographed by the factory

Oriental Jade 东方玉

Yellow, light yellow, green, grey and yellow

A white ground with directional veins in the colour the grade is named for.

Arabescato Violet marble tiles photographed by the factory

Arabescato Violet 紫罗兰

Polished, and a translucent grade sold for backlighting

White with a lilac grey network of veins. Lit from behind, the translucent grade turns amber.

One company, the whole chain

From the chamber to the crate, nothing leaves the company's hands.

The company describes itself as mining, processing, sales and foreign trade in one. These six photographs are its own, in the order the stone travels.

A red chain saw machine cutting a bench inside an underground marble chamber

The mines

Daping Marble Mine in Baoxing County and the Kangding Carved White Marble Mine, quarried by platform and cavern method with chain saws working inside the mountain.

White marble blocks stacked in the yard with red 环石通 marks painted on their faces

The block yard

Blocks come down marked 环石通 in red. The company publishes an annual block output of 150,000 tonnes.

A gang saw frame in the plant with a marble block loaded beneath the blades

Gang saws

Blocks are opened into slabs on gang saws and infrared bridge cutters, part of the 200 plus machine sets the company lists.

A long automatic polishing line running down the workshop with red machine heads

The polishing line

An automatic polishing line and an automatic moulding line finish slabs, tiles and profiles. Water jet machines cut the medallions.

Polished white marble slabs standing on A frames in the warehouse

Stock

The company keeps more than 150,000 square metres of finished material on hand, laid out on the floor and standing on A frames so a buyer can select on site.

Packing

Tiles boxed, slabs and cut pieces in strapped timber crates, ready for a container.

Figures

The numbers, as the company publishes them.

Machine sets: 200+
Blocks a year: 150,000 t
Slabs and tiles a year: 1,000,000 m²
Standing stock: 150,000 m²
Headquarters plant: 7,000 m²

Three of these figures appear with a second value elsewhere on the company's own site. The ledger lists both.

Arabescato Violet, translucent grade

The one that glows.

Polished, Arabescato Violet is a white marble with a lilac grey net of veins. The translucent grade is cut thin and sold to be lit from behind, where it turns amber with dark brown veining. The company photographs it both ways.

See both faces of Violet

Translucent Arabescato Violet lit from behind, glowing amber and honey with dark brown veins

The showroom: a white marble staircase with carved balusters, chandeliers, and a wall of framed mosaic samples

Showroom and mosaics

Fifty two mosaic patterns and a room to see them in.

The company's showroom in Baoxing holds a wall of framed mosaic sheets, a marble staircase and a tea table cut from its own stone. Its catalog lists 52 mosaic sheets and 11 numbered patterns, HS-017 to SH-027.

Open the mosaic wall See the plant, 21 photographs

Enquiries

Send the stone, the form and the quantity. The plant answers.

Write to info@h-stones.com or call President Zhang on +86 188 0816 0666. The factory's own pages promise a reply within 24 hours on working days.

Open the enquiry sheet

Panorama of the Huanshitong plant in Baoxing: steel-clad workshops, two silos, a glass fronted office block and the gate with two stone lions, mountains behind