JADEITE - Canadian Institute of Gemmology

Chhibber (1934: 78-79) provides a glimpse of the market during the inter-war years. Based on
information gleaned from "an aged, experienced dealer" Chhibber (1934: 79) states that "only about
25 per cent of the jadeite is consumed in Burma. The remaining 75 per cent is sent to China and
Japan, and of this a small percentage eventually finds its way to America and Europe." Some of the
rough jadeite for export was shipped from Mogaung to Rangoon and then placed on "a Chinese
boat to Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai, etc." Otherwise, "a considerable quantity of the stone is
smuggled across the border, in addition to the small amount officially carried over by mules" to
Yunnan. In addition to the sale of jadeite to "Chinese and Japanese ladies" as jewelry, Chhibber
(1934: 79) notes that "the Chinese Government buys a considerable quantity of jadeite for making
altars, sacred vessels, flower basins, etc."
Additional information is provided by Goette (1976). He reports (page 61) that in 1932
503,804 pounds of jadeite stone were officially imported to China from Burma and that the amount
had fallen to 350,056 pounds the following year. Most of this jadeite was shipped initially to Hong
Kong and then on to Canton, although a significant amount was also shipped directly to Shanghai
and overland through Yunnan. Goette (page 66) refers to Shanghai as "the world's largest jade
market due to its modern factories and foreign export business." Much of the jadeite entering China
through Canton and Yunnan ended up in Shanghai. However, Canton was the primary place from
where worked jadeite was subsequently re-exported to the United States and Europe. In regard to
this last point, Goette notes (page 61) that "the United States is by far China's best and only large
customer of newly worked jade." In contrast to the hundreds of thousands of pounds of rough
jadeite being shipped from Burma to China each year, Goette (page 61) remarks that "the Burmese
Customs figures for one year list 200 pounds of jade going to Great Britain and 1,000 pounds to
the Straits Settlement [Malaysia and Singapore]. The latter probably was destined for Chinese
merchants there." Especially interesting is what Goette (pages 61, 63) has to say about the price of
rough jadeite during this period:
Burmese customs returns for the years 1916 to 1928 indicate the phenomenal rise in value
of the crude stone due to the west suddenly awakening to its loveliness. In 1916 the value of
100 pounds at the mines was roughly U.S. $45. By 1919, when the Chinese factories were
hard put to meet the demands of domestic and foreign trade in face of the new popularity,
the rate had increased to U.S. $135 for the same weight. The Chinese market in the
following years appears to have become surfeited, and Burmese miners having watched the
price drop during four years, cut production from the 1922 peak of 576,200 pounds when
profits were high, to 196,100 pounds in 1928, at which time only U.S. $35 were received
for 100 pounds.
The jadeite market was again severely disrupted from the late 1930s until the late 1940s as a
result of the conflicts associated with the Second World War and the communist seizure of power
in China. The jadeite market after the Second World War was concentrated in Hong Kong, which
replaced Shanghai as the world center of jadeite lapidary work and for selling jadeite. Many of the
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