Records the history, legends and practical buying points of jade.

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.

Beautiful, translucent and indestructible, jade has a mystique that's captivated people since Neolithic times. Stan Leaming, Canada's leading jade geologist, was fascinated by this unusual gem; he is credited with pioneering the emergence of the jade industry in British Columbia. Leaming shares his unique insight into the science and magic of jade in this passionate exploration of the green stone's development from prehistoric tool to objet d'art. The reader is invited along with Leaming, a fascinating subject in himself, on a trip around the world as he hunts for the stone of heaven throughout BC and Canada, the United States, Mexico, Europe, Siberia, China, and even Down Under, where black jade is found. This book examines jade's appeal as a global industry, a divine inspiration, a medium for artistic expression and even as a precipitator of some bizarre crimes. Rockhounds casual and serious will appreciate this comprehensive celebration of jade, enhanced with maps and photographs. The 16-page colour section includes photos of jade art by Lyle Sopel, Deborah Wilson and other incredible sculptors.

cription329 Diamonds, sapphires and rubies are commonly thought to be the world¿s most valuable gemstones but there is another that is even more precious. It is Imperial Green Jade, or jadeite. The stone's prestige derives from its intense beauty and extraordinary scarcity. Almost all of the world's jadeite comes from one place: a valley in the shadow of the Himalayas, buried deep in the bedrock of the most remote mining area in the world. Since its discovery nearly 2,000 years ago, Imperial Green Jade has been worshipped, ingested and traded. Inspired by legends of a gemstone 'that glowed as if lit by a hidden flame', armies have waged wars to seize its source, First Ladies have flaunted it and Hollywood stars have spent fortunes on pieces stolen from the tombs of Chinese Emperors. Royal collectors believed it could make them immortal. Warlords ground it into powder and drunk it as an elixir. Revolutionaries exploited it to fund coups and finance wars. For European explorers, it was legendary. Those who returned from Burma in the fifteenth century came with stories of a kingdom built entirely from the green stone, a place they called the Lost Valley of Capelan. Today foreigners are barred from the place in northern Burma known as 'Jadeland', where thousands of soldiers guard the dictatorship's treasures. In order to be the first Europeans ever to get there, Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark had to persuade Rangoon's generals to escort them. This book reveals how they did so and in its final chapters takes the reader on a terrifying journey to the Lost Valley of Capelan. What they discovered was jadeite's biggest secret: a human disaster of biblical proportions. The Stone of Heaven brilliantly combines original historical research, travelogue and investigative journalism to relate for the first time this hidden history. It is the story of a gem that changed the lives of all who owned it and shaped the destiny of nations that sought to control its source.

Provides a history of jade culture and industry and includes jade buying tips.