Wednesday, September 17, 2008

BLOOD JADE

This is the Pharkant Gyi Hmaw jade mine which in 2000 was still using manual labour to remove mining debris.

This photo from the UKSYU website shows people going through the tailings of a mine in Kachin looking for anything of value. A landslide at the Hmawsizar mine killed at least 20 people. The region has frequent landslides and flooding due to the rivers being clogged by mining debris and deaths are not reported to the outside world.


The Beijing Organizing Committee of the Games announced that the design for the medals would include jade from China's Quinghai province to show a part of Chinese culture. The Committee publicly stated that their officially licensed products were made with Quinghai jade not jadeite from Burma but most of the jade products in the market place are made from Burmese jade.

Burmese jadeite is a global business controlled by Burma's military regime. The regime has effectively consolidated military control over the entire gems industry by eliminating small and independent companies from mining and forcing all sales to go through national auctions held by government ministries in Rangoon.

Gems are now Burma's third largest export and provide the Generals with an important source of foreign currency. Much of this cash comes from China and none if any filters down to the Burmese people.

If you're buying overseas, always ask where the gem or jade comes from. We've all heard of 'blood diamonds' and now we can add 'blood jade' to the banned list.


8 comments:

phil said...

Yes. This is how it works there. Thansk for writing about this.

JahTeh said...

Phil, jade has always been culturally important to the Chinese and with more having disposable income, demand will rise and the money goes straight to the wrong people. Palagems have been contributing to the flood relief work and they do a lot to publicise the mining conditions.

JahTeh said...

Natty new avatar, very colonial.

Brian Hughes said...

Still...didn't they put on a good show?

JahTeh said...

Too much money that could have been spent in other ways. I'm beginning to think the Olympics have passed their 'used by' date.

River said...

I'm glad to say I don't contribute to the problem since I don't buy gems. I just drool over the pretty pictures and occasionally wander in to jewellery stores to drool on their cabinets.

JahTeh said...

I'm right with you River, no jewellery shop window is safe from my grubby paws and drooling tongue.

Middle Child said...

Maybe we should get gold mined in Australia...do we have silevr mines? We have opals and we have pearls...great idea asking the source - might start a movement amongst the Double Bay set