The Shoushan stone is a unique carving stone in China, with long history and great reputation. The authors studied the mineralogical characteristics of Gaoshan stones and Kengtou stones from Shoushan, Fujian Province, by means of microhardness tester, hydrostatic weighing method, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic absorption spectrophotometer and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). The study probed into the differences between Gaoshan stones and Kengtou stones in the aspects of hardness, specific gravity, mineral composition, chemical composition and microstructure characteristics, with a discussion on the factors affecting the color and transparency of Shoushan stones. The results indicate that the samples collected in this study all belong to kaolinite group Shoushan stones. Their data are similar in hardness and specific gravity. As for mineral composition, their main minerals are alike while their auxiliary minerals have some slight differences. According to XRD and FTIR, the kaolinite group can be found in Gaoshan stones while the proportion of dickite is much higher than that of other stones, and the main minerals in the Kengtou stone are dickite and nacrite, with some transitional minerals like dickite-kaolinite and dickite-nacrite. The authors hold that the structures of dickites in some Kengtou stones were somewhat changed under some reactions in later periods. According to whole-rock chemical analyses, Fe is the main trace element contributing to dark Shoushan stones. ESEM photographs reveal that the particle sizes and degrees of crystallization of minerals are associated with the transparency of stones, and the directionality of mineral particles is one of the main factors causing the ‘cracking' during the carving of Shoushan stones, and hence carving on the well-orien-tated faces should be avoided.