The Stone of Heaven: Unearthing the Secret History of Imperial Green Jade - Softcover

Levy, Adrian; Scott-Clark, Cathy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316095583 ISBN 13: 9780316095587

Publisher: Back Bay Books, 2003

Synopsis

A compelling and richly textured journey to Burma into the heart of Imperial Green Jade, the rare and stunning stone more precious than diamonds, interconnects the modern story of the miners of jadeite who are dying of AIDS because they are being paid in the form of heroin with the mythology and secret history of this unusual jewel that goes back to the Burmese court. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark are British investigative journalists specializing in foreign subjects, writing for The Sunday Times and other periodicals. They live in London.

From Publishers Weekly

In an ambitious effort that is equal parts history, sensationalized gossip and political expos‚, London Sunday Times investigative reporters Levy and Scott-Clark trace the winding path of the so-called "Stone of Heaven." The story begins in 1735, when jade-obsessed Chinese emperor Qianlong endeavors to extend China's reach into present-day Burma, reputed to contain the world's finest jade. Over time the infatuation with jade also infects French and British colonials, adventurers, Chinese gangsters, Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, all of whom energetically loot the Imperial Court's treasures. Descriptions and provenances of legendary jade pieces (some of which are lost for centuries at a time) are given at length. Among the history's cast of characters is bad-girl Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, who receives a tabloid treatment of her jade collection, marriages, sexual misadventures and profligate spending. But the history, the gossip, even the sensational stories of the depredations of the indigenous tribes who fiercely protected their secret jade mines, pale in comparison to the authors' visit to Burma. Risking their lives, Levy and Scott-Clark pose as gemologists and, with guile, courage and bribery, reach Hpakant, home to the mines. There they find hundreds of thousands of destitute people virtually enslaved amid prostitution, government-sponsored heroin addiction, and "jade disease, or AIDS." The story of the quest for jade ends abruptly in a kind of hell, rendered as astutely as the excesses in this intriguing history. 40 b&w photos. This book's various elements rest uneasily together; no doubt, most readers will be lured by the romance of jade, but in fact the book's strongest point is its horrifying conclusion.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0316095583
• ISBN 13: 9780316095587
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448