Word: jadedly
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...Jade, said Confucius, is a virtuous gem: its warmth and luster typify charity, its translucence signifies sincerity, its sturdiness bespeaks courage, and it mirrors intelligence and wisdom. For centuries, the Chinese cherished jade; Emperors decreed their exclusive right to it. Now others have caught the fever: travelers, especially the Japanese and Americans, scour the jade markets in Hong Kong, Asia's jade capital, for items ranging from simple stones or carvings that sell for $20 to exquisite rings that can cost $120,000. Hong Kong's jade traffic increased sharply in 1977, with sales reaching into hundreds...
...centuries, some of the very best jade-a mineral called jadeite-has come from Kachin state in northern Burma. Officially, Burmese President Ne Win's socialist government controls the mining and export of jade; in fact, much of the trade is operated by chieftains of eastern Burma's fiercely independent Shan state, Chinese warlords left over from Kuomintang forces that fled south from China in the late 1940s and various tribesmen in southern Burma who have never acknowledged the rule of Rangoon. All these groups long depended for most of their cash income not on jade...
...those who deal in it, jade is a gamble. What leaves Burma seems mostly to be rocks, occasionally dotted with a tantalizing protrusion of green. When the rocks reach Thailand, after a journey of up to three days by truck, mule, boat and human porter, Chinese buyers guess how much jade, and what kind, may lie hidden beneath the drab surface of each stone. A skillful or lucky buyer can pay perhaps $5 per Ib. for rock that may yield thousands of dollars in jade...
...more ordinary jade stays in Bangkok, where it may be carved into simple bracelets and rings. But the best goes on to Hong Kong, where each year upwards of 8,000 skilled artisans turn the gems tone into 2.5 million pieces of fine jewelry and sculpture. TIME'S David Lawton followed the smugglers' jade trail from Bangkok across the Thai border into the Terry and the Pirates country of southern Burma, where the rebel Karenni tribe holds sway as one of the principal groups of jade middlemen. His report...
...assured that it will be possible to cross into Burma in the company of a courier of the Karenni forces. The courier, when he appears, is smiling. On his left hand, set in a ring of soft orange gold, is a large, smooth, deep-green stone of jade...