Abstract:Shoushan stone, the most famous agalmatolite in China, occurs around Shoushan Village near Fuzhou, Fujian Province. People once considered shoushan stone to be made of pyrophyllite. Recently, many detailed studies about shoushan stone show that shoushan stone is composed of dickite and nacrite instead of pyrophyllite. Based on field investigation and XRD, IR, EPR and chemical analysis, the authors made mineralogical and petrographical studies in such aspacts as the mineral composition and the relationship between outh character and inner structure of shoushan stone near the Shoushan River. XRD and IR studies show that shoushan stone on the northern and southern sides of Shoushan River is composed of kaolin minerals such as dickite and nacrite, while shoushan stone on the western side of Shoushan River is composed of pyrophyllite. This suggests that mineral constituents of shoushan stone are different in d ifferent places. Furthermore, the transparency of shoushan stone is closely rela ted to the degree of order of dickite: the higher the degree of order of dickite , the higher the transparency and the quality. Chemical analysis shows that the chemical composition of shoushan stone is similar to that of dickite, and the ex istence of Fe3 in shoushan stone is responsible for its color. EPR studie s of shoushan stone also prove the existence of Fe3 in its crystal lattice, and demonstrate that the content of Fe3 in the red part of shoushan st one is higher than that in white part.