Tenchong's history is inextricably entwined with the jadeite trade

Tengchong's history and culture are closely related to jade. Hundreds of jewelry shops and stalls cluster in the city's markets. [PHOTO BY LIU XIANGRUI/CHINA DAILY]

According to the Tengchong Jewelry and Jade Association, which has conducted a survey on the local jadeite industry, the number of people engaged in Tengchong's jade industry is more than 20,000.

Yu Hongxian, 43, is one of them. Yu has been running a jade company in Tengchong for more than 10 years.

Her company is mainly dedicated to the wholesaling of processed jadeite pieces, both with dealers from Tengchong and other cities. The amount of sales can reach several million yuan per year, although she says the profit margin is relatively narrow.

She employs more than 30 sales personnel and processors, with 15 of them being local residents and 15 Myanmar citizens.
According to Yu, the industry started to grow rapidly when machinery was widely employed in the mining process at the beginning of the new millennium.

Yu's grandfather was a native of Tengchong but moved to Myitkyina, in Kachin State of Myanmar, to make a living. Both her parents used to be traditional jade miners.

"In the past, miners like my parents had to dig manually, and it was really hard work," Yu recalls.

"As a child, I grew up in the mining zone, and I learned about jadeite mining and the jadeite business from my parents."

According to Yu, a great many of the overseas Chinese in Kachin are involved in jadeite mining. Meanwhile, the raw stone markets in Kachin have attracted many dealers from Tengchong across the border.