Most of the jadeite mined in Myanmar is not cut for use in Myanmar; instead, it is exported to other nations, primarily in Asia, for use in jewelry and other products. The jadeite deposits found in Myanmar's northern regions are the highest quality jadeite in the world, considered precious by sources in China as far back as the 13th century. Today, it is estimated that Myanmar provides upwards of 70 percent of the world's supply of high quality jadeite.
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Geography of jade deposits
Jadeite in Myanmar is primarily found in the "Jade Track" located in the upper Myanmar Kachin State which encompasses the alluvial region of the Uyu River between the 25th and 26th parallels. Extraction of jade in this region is concentrated particularly in the towns of Tawmao, Hpakan, Hweka and Mamon with Hpakan having developed as the present-day center of jade mining since the Malaysian government's loosening of restrictions on gemstone mining in 1995. In addition to this region, there are also notable mines in the towns of Nasibon and Natmaw in the neighboring Hkamti District.
Extraction of jade
Much of the extraction of jade in Myanmar is done by boulder mining which consists of removing the overburden layer of alluvial material to expose the rocks below, then separating out the jade-containing rocks and discarding the waste in a river. Since the jade is often encased in stone, and cutting into the stone can harm the quality of the jade, a variety of methods are employed by miners and merchants to identify jadeite-containing stones. These include: checking for surface coloration on a stone, identification of the sound made upon tapping it with metal tools, and feeling for subtle differences in surface adhesion of the rock to skin when in water.
Origins
It has been suggested that the production of jadeite on a small scale might stretch as far back as the Pyu city-states period in Burma (roughly third to eighth centuries CE). The first instance of the long distance trade of the gem began during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) when jade was traded to China through Yunnan via caravan trade. Some of the first jadeite artifacts began to appear in Chinese tombs around this time. Historical records also indicate that Ming Dynasty court eunuchs were dispatched to Burma to acquire jadeite. Based on artifacts recovered in China, the volume of green jade traded through Yunnan increased toward the end of the Ming Dynasty and during the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. W. Warry a member of the Chinese Consular Service, on an expedition to Burma in 1888, writes the following about the origin of Chinese demand for jade based on local lore.
The discovery that green jade of fine quality occurred in Northern Burma was made accidentally by a small Yunnanese trader in the thirteenth century. The story runs that on returning from a journey across the frontier he picked up a piece of stone to balance the load on his mule. The stone proved to be jade of great value and a large party went back to procure more of it. In this errand they were unsuccessful, nobody being able to inform them where the stone occurred. Another attempt, equally fruitless, was made by the Yunnan Government in the fourteenth century to discover the stone; all the members of the expedition, it is said, perished by malaria, or at the hands of hostile hill-tribes. From this time onwards, for several centuries, no further exploration in the jade country seems to have been undertaken by the Chinese. Small pieces of the stone occasionally found their way across the frontier, but the exact source of the supply continued unknown.
Jade has been associated with China as far back as Liangzhu culture (3400-2250 BC) but this jade was primarily another variety of jade known as Nephrite, a milky white stone more common than the green Burmese jadeite. Often the stone was used in the presence of copper in order to give the illusion of a deeper green color when jadeite was not available. Later on, most notably during the Qing dynasty, the Chinese imperial court acquired a particular taste for Burmese jadeite, or Fei Cui as it was referred to by the Chinese. Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908 CE) was known particularly for her interest in the stone, often using her political position to acquire the stone, and wearing it with her public clothing.
Pre-People's Republic of China trade
During the mid-eighteenth century there was an expansion of jade mining and an increase in exports to China. This was a result of increased Chinese influence over the region, the discovery of new jade deposits, and growing demand for the gem among wealthy Chinese. With the support of the Burmese Government, regular trade routes were established as early as 1798 between Burma and China traveling north into Yunnan. Because of Kachin hostility this route was later replaced by overland trade along the Irrawaddy river as part of already established cotton trading routes under the official sanction of the Burmese Crown. Mogaung was established as the center for trade and taxation of Burmese jade production. The Kachins were granted ownership of the jade they mined in return for payment of fees for the transport of their goods beyond the Mogaung. In 1861, as a result of loosening restrictions on coastal trade to China, a Cantonese merchant made an expedition to Mandalay and brought back jade for trade, beginning the new practice of importing Jade into China via maritime routes. From this point on, the majority of the high-quality jade stone mined in Burma made its way into China through cities like Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai whereas much of the medium quality stone continued to be transported overland. During this period, there was increased friction between Yunnanese gemstone miners and the Burmese crown over taxation and ownership of the gems. Thus lead to several periods of passive resistance by the jade miners including the practice of limiting production. The jade trade continued mostly unhindered except by wars in China and Burma under British colonial rule up until the end of the Chinese Civil War.
Socialist Era
The end of the Chinese Civil War closed the border with Yunnan and brought jade trade with China to a halt. Consequently, the jade produced in the Kachin state was transported by rail to Rangoon where it was then exported by sea to Hong Kong. This trade continued until the 1962 military coup in Burma which nationalized the economy, and declared all gemological resources to be the property of the state. Private transactions involving gems were considered to be illegal, virtually shutting down the maritime gem export route. However, this was not an end to the gem trade because most of the gem producing regions in upper Burma were taken over by militias formed, in part, by Yunnanese and Kachin ethnic minorities, notably the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Under the patronage of the KIA, mining of jade and its black market sale continued in the jade tract even under the frequent threats of arrests by the Burmese government. Once arrested, release could be secured upon payment of 'probation money.' Any stone confiscated by the Burmese government was auctioned off in yearly Rangoon gemstone auctions.
Jade traders, fleeing across the border to Thailand as a result of nationalization, began to create networks to facilitate the trade of Burmese jade through Thailand originally through the border crossing at the town Mae Sai. The transport of jade to the border often required the services of caravan companies that carried the jade by pack animal from Mandalay onward to border towns where it could be smuggled into Thailand. In 1966, the first jade trading company, The Qiujia Company, was founded in Thailand. The company used connections to both border militias, and the Thai government, to facilitate the transport of Burmese jade from the border to buyers in Hong Kong. Trading companies often filled the role of providing capital services and risk insurance for jade sellers in the event of lost or stolen product. Often these companies would have preferential relationships with clients that had a reputation for skillfully identifying valuable jade stones for sale.
New trading companies opened operations at different Burmese-Thai border towns, resulting in the flow of jade through many sections of the border, notably the town of Chiang Mai where Yunnanese refugees could obtain temporary permits to cross the border into Thailand. The jade companies were usually aligned with a particular Burmese border militia which oversaw the flow of trade on the Burmese side of the border. Two notable militias were the KMT led for a time by Mi Li and the army led by Khun Sa. Both armies often competed violently for their respective trading companies for control of the black market trade of opium and other black market goods as well as jade. In addition, expansion of Burmese government authority over the border regions during this period often resulted in changes to the black market smuggling of jade across the border.
Present Day
In the 1990s, ceasefire agreements between the Burmese Government and ethnic militias opened up the jade business to third parties. Under the 1995 Myanmar Gemstone Law, private individuals were once again officially given the right to private ownership and sale of jade in exchange for a 10% tax on jade exports. This caused further expansion of the jade market in Myanmar and led to an influx of people seeking their fortunes mining in the jade track. Recently, Myanmar's jade industry has expanded substantially in response to increasing demand for the stone in Chinese markets. Jade export revenues rose from $150–300 Million USD in the early 2000s to $1.75 Billion USD during the 2010-2011 fiscal year, accounting for a fifth of Myanmar's total export revenue.
International Sanctions
As a response to the Myanmar government's handling of the 2007 Saffron Revolution, several nations have issued sanctions against the Burmese gemstone market. One example is Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act of 2008 which prevents the importation of Burmese gemstones into the United States through intermediary parties. The sanctions by Western nations against the Burmese gemstone trade have generally been ineffective in the case of Burmese jade since much of the demand for it is from China which did not take part in the sanctions.