Burma junta forges pact in jade for ceasefire profit
The Asian Age (New Delhi)
April 20, 2001
By Daniel Kestenholz
Bangkok, April 19: It is more expensive than diamond, wonderful to cut yet harder than steel, and no two pieces are alike. Jade is mined in northern Burma, and is the most desirable stone in Asia.
The jade trade is bizarre, a kind of roulette, bringing fortune or ruin. As a British commissioner to Burma in the colonial era put it: "he jade trade is an unprofitable antagonism, which requires elucidation, clarification and the light of day."But the Chinese are obsessed with jade, which they call "heavenly stone" and consider the bridge between man and the gods, a healing stone that protects against death.
Now the military junta in Burma, desperate for foreign currency, wants to make use of this heavenly stone - epitome of a nation in which gamblers, rebels and smugglers remain the main political protagonists.
"Kyaukseinmyo (Jade Country)" in the Christian Kachin region of the country is one of the most inaccessible jungles, which makes the hopes and myths surrounding it all the more fabulous. Those who go in search of this stone need many years of experience - and luck. Rough jade, oxidised over millions of years and barely distinguishable from lumps of granite, is bought raw and recognised by " light windows" sound and feel.
The tens of thousands of jade hunters in the jade mines of Hpakan, where rubble is sorted from riches, engage in a painful "game of patience." If he is not careful, a jade prospector can throw away a fortune with one block of stone. If you are too swift you will stumble, they say in Hpakan,Burma' wild west, also called "Little Hong Kong."
It is known for its cognac, gambling, girls and AIDS. The roads into jade country are either dust hills or muddy tracks, depending on the season,and are sometimes only passable by foot, on horseback, or by elephant. The mines regularly flood during the monsoon period.Here, where dynamite fuses are lit with cigarette ends and where safety precautions are too expensive a luxury, an ant-like mass of people drive narrow shafts into the ground.
Daring prospectors, equipped with metre-long air-hoses, dive into water after the most precious river jade. But most of it is mined by hand from tunnels, without pneumatic drills, water pumps or conveyor belts. A human life is worth little here. There are bandits by the drove. With a little luck, you might reach China or Thailand, where jade blocks are worth small fortunes.
The miners and porters work for one US dollar a day, rough jade pieces change hands for a few dollars. In Mandalay, 300 km and a few days travel away, they cost a few hundred dollars. In Rangoon they can bring a few thousand, in the jade centre Hong Kong they can make a few thousand dollars. In 1998, a jade choker necklace was auctioned for $2million.
The junta has now sanctioned jade trading between locals and foreigners, in order to profit finally from the country? wealth in jade.It has broken up the state monopoly of the "Burma Gems Enterprise" and given the Kachin exclusive licences in exchange for a ceasefire. It is meant to stop smuggling and fill the empty state coffers.
But the ceasefire is shaky, trading remains dominated by the Chinese, and anyone who hits on a jade deposit, keeps the knowledge to himself.Traders will beware of telling the military leadership their true turnover in order to avoid a 10-per cent tax or even confiscation of revenues. There is talk that around 70 per cent of jade sales are in the hands of smugglers.
Meanwhile, Rangoon has started holding gem auctions twice a year. No self-respecting Asian jeweller can afford to stay away from the event,which is also increasingly attracting Western players to the supposed pariah state. "it is a nirvana for jewellers," said a Californian gem trader.
Politics remain taboo at these trade fairs. Jade trading is a game between appearances and reality. Individual stones can decide fortunes. No wonder then that the uncut pieces, as big as bowls, are nervously examined by specialists with the help of special essences and pocket lamps.Individual jade pieces are cut open, but there are enough traders who will risk big sums for uncut pieces with a crack, a "window," although the real value is recognisable only in broken and polished pieces.
American visitor Richard Hughes, who in 1997 together with German film maker Georg-Peter Mueller was one of the first Westerners to travel into jade country since the 1960s, remembers one incident in Bangkok where a trader was offered a large sum for a particular raw stone. He chose instead to break it up himself only to find the stone was worthless, and shot himself. "he jade trade is a gamble," Mr Hughes said. "The leaders in this game, the Chinese, love a gamble." Jade, next to teak wood, has become a main revenue source for the junta in a trade which remains dominated by adventure seekers, dreamers and cheats. The heavenly stones become devilish stones in a business of risk, adventure and hardship, where it is all a question of luck.