ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how frictions and opacities are productive in the trade of jadeite jade from northern Myanmar to consumers in eastern China. The chapter first outlines a history of flows, frictions, and diversions in the Myanmar-China jade trade and opacities, taxation, and smuggling in the contemporary trade. It then presents the perspectives of a Kachin jade broker in Myanmar’s Kachin State and of two jade consumers in Shanghai. The two cases illustrate how frictions and opacities structure economic strategizing and cultural imaginations. While transparency is an ideal feature of jadeite and knowledge a key asset in its trade, this chapter demonstrates how opacity and ignorance can be produced and used to serve the interests of participants in the Myanmar-China jade trade.
