Every morning from 8 a.m. onward, business is booming at the jade market in Mandalay, Myanmar. People from all over the country gather here, trying to sell Jade stones from the mines to Chinese middlemen and other interested buyers. The traders offer everything imaginable: unprocessed raw stones, gemstones, figurines, fragments, and more.
The jade business is booming. Revenues are reaching record levels year after year. Chinese intermediaries sell the stones directly to their customers through the webcams of their smartphones.
Jade, it is said, is a particularly important healing stone that has an effect on the human soul. On the one hand, it gives its wearer joy for life, happiness, and openness; on the other hand, it helps people switch off, become calmer, and pause for reflection.
