One very old article of commerce Jade, and it is not realized by everybody that the so-called Chinese Jede comes from the jade mines in the Myitkyina District of Burma from where it Is taken either land oF by' sea to China to be cut. The story told locally of the origin this trade Is Interesting and may bbe quite true.
Many centuries ago, it Is said, a caravan of Chinese muleteers who had come to Burma to trade was reluming home with toads of local produce which they had bought, and feng of the men to balance his load fon the cradle of the mule's saddle joked up a stone to tie on the inter side of the load, a practice Thich if stilt common. He tied it on with his leather thongs, and there it remained for the long journey home.
Weeks later when the caravan Jarrived at its destination and the loads, were unstrapped, he saw that the Teather thongs id rubbed through the rough brown coat of the stone und exposed the green of the interior. By a mere accident he had picked up a stone of high quality Jade, Jade already well known and highly ied by the Chinese, who obtained from some other far distant source, bhut they had no idea of its existence Burma.
Naturally, the muleteer could not remember where he had picked up this particular stone, which was by no means, the only one which had been used for the sime purpose in the caravan, and it was only afler Tong search that the present jade mines were found. Be the story true for false the mines have cer! been worked and the stone exported to China for several centuries Cargo Must be of Great Value recent times communication with China by' sea has become easier and cheaper than by land, and one result has been the growth of a large population of immigrant Chinese in Lower Burma, The 1931 Census showed that there' were 198,000 Chinese in Burma altogether, an me crease of 45,000 in ten years, and there are probably now over 200,000, Of these 193,000, about 67,000 were Yunnanese who had come overland into the Shan States and the northern Gistriets of Upper Burma; a certain rnuimber of these had settled down as cultivators, but the majority were ither traders or muleteers, who come over in the cold weather and return to their homes in the rains, Chinese mules are the commonest form of transport both for om cial and private purposes in the frontier districts. The other 96,000 Chinese came mainly from Canton and Fukien, are scattered over Burma, over 30,000 o¢ them being resident in Ran goon. "Most of them are in trade, but there are a large number of artisans, mainly builders and carpenters, and a smaller number in other walks of life such as mining in the tin and wolfram areas in Tavoy, and In trade there are a few profes: sions where the Chinese predominate they' almost monopolize "the Paw shops, and they form a largo pro-Portion of liquor-shop licences and 8f pork-butchers all over the country, Tu Rangoon the community plays an Important part in most branches of trade and commerce, and is prom= Ment in the, public life of the town. There Is a Chinese Chamber of Comnyeree, which relvens a member the Legislature, and the quarter of Rangoon where the bulk of the com munity tives is 30 predominantly Chinese that nobody except a Chinese has ever succeeded In winning the seat" for this electoral area, The community. also has two representa: tives of its own on the Munieipat Corporation, Some of them are Chinese subjects, some are naturalized British subjects, and others are British born, of the second or even third—generation which has been settled in Burma, Of the latter a considerable number Pre of mixed Chinese and" Burmese blood, number of Chinese Im= migrants marrying "Burmese wives, though the proportion of - Chinese women to men in Burma seems to be increasing of late years, 'The mixed marriages of Chinese and Burmese are much more successful than' most mixed marriages, pre sumably because the two races are 0 similar in type; the Chinese trader nearly alway fairly well-to-do and the Burmese woman who secures him og a husband is considered Tucky: the children generally have a Chinese name, but adopt the Burmese ress and language, They inherit as q rule their father's character and have more power of application thin the Burmese, and considerable demand in. pro requiring y combination of honesty and accuracy, such as ac~ countant. The artisan class, og Is Inevitable in any big city, contains 1 certain proportion of rough charac: ters and the potty traders in the small towns and villages are not always free from suspicion of deals ing in opium and illicit liquor, but fon the whole the Chinese community industrious and law-abiding.
The number of articles which it profitable to transport for several andred aniles by mule is naturally all, and they must he articles of value in proportion to their eight. The best quality of jade of that peculiar shade of green and that "high degree" of translucency ich the Chinese "favour. would felch almost any price, and the forl-Uunate discoverer of a large piece was well repaid for transporting bby road five-or-600 miles to some place on one of the rivers from where it could the sent by boat down fo the big cities of the cast of China, Even now the overland trade Gxists, though it is generally cheaper send the stone by rail to Rangoon and thence by sea to Hongkong where most of the best jade is still cut
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.