Jade from China's plateau province of Qinghai will be used to make Beijing Olympic Games medals, a Qinghai official said on Wednesday.

Qinghai vice governor Jidi Majia announced to a group of reporters that the Organizing Committee of the Beijing Olympic Games (BOCOG) had formally confirmed Qinghai jade will be used on Olympic medals.

BOCOG unveiled a unique medal design in March last year that the gold, silver and bronze medals incorporate a distinctive band of jade.

It is the first time in Olympic history that medals are made of material besides metal.

"We had the donation ceremony this afternoon," said Jidi Majia. "Qinghai will donate a great deal of manufactured jade bands to BOCOG. The jade will come from a Kunlun Mountain area which locates in Ge'ermu City."

"Qinghai has abundant reserve of jade. We will select the best manufacturer to ensure the quality," he added.

Jidi Majia said several thousand of jade bands will be handed over to the BOCOG by the end of March.

According to BOCOG's design, gold medal will see the lighter finer jade set in its back while the silver has the white-greenish jade, the bronze, the greenish jade.

Jade represents honor and virtue in traditional Chinese culture and the medal design is regarded to well combine Olympic spirit and Chinese culture.

"Qinghai yields some of the best jade in China. Now we are so honored to get the opportunity to do something for the Olympics and to promote the Chinese culture," he said.

"In addition, we hope that the world will know better about our jade and about Qinghai through the Olympic medals and the Olympic Games," he said.

Qinghai, with an average altitude of 3,000 meters in west China, has a rich mixture of cultures from Han people and over 50 ethnic minority groups including Tibetan, Hui, Tu, Sala and Mongolian among its five million residents or so.

The Beijing Olympic Games will open on August 8 this year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2008)