What is jade? Get to know

Jade is a type of jade, and its colors include emerald green, red, yellow, purple, pink, etc. It is a gem-grade stone polycrystalline aggregate formed under geological action, mainly composed of jadeite, sodium chrome pyroxene or sodium calcium pyroxene (diopside), and may contain amphibole, feldspar, chromite, limonite, etc.

Jade has very few origins, only a few countries such as the United States, Japan, Russia, Guatemala, Myanmar, and China. Myanmar is the country with the highest production and the best quality, so jade is also called "Myanmar jade." After the Qing Dynasty, large amounts of Burmese jade tributed from Myanmar began to become popular in the imperial palace. The bowls, chopsticks, basins, boxes and other daily necessities used by the emperor, empress and concubines in the harem were mostly made of jade. The most famous person who loved jade was the Empress Dowager Cixi, whose obsession with jade was almost crazy.

Empress Dowager Cixi's Jade Cabbage, now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, China

Myanmar is the country with the richest jade production in the world and is famous for the high quality of its jade. Located 350 kilometers north of Mandalay, Myanmar, Hpakant is a famous jade mining area in Myanmar, where most of the jade is found. Therefore, it also attracted a large number of businessmen to come here to "pan for gold". Most of the companies in Hpakant are Sino-Myanmar joint ventures, and the largest operator is the military-backed Union Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL), which dominates many economic sectors in Myanmar.

More than 95% of commercial-grade jadeite on the market comes from Myanmar. Myanmar's jade transaction volume is extremely high, and illegal smuggling activities also occur from time to time. According to a 2013 survey by Harvard University, Myanmar's jade trading volume reached US$8 billion (about RMB 48 billion) in 2011 alone.

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