In 2009, the steady rise of the jade industry ushered in a period of high – speed blowout. During this time, I witnessed the rise and fall of the family, as well as the final carnival brought to the industry by the crazy stone, and the ground of chicken feathers after the show.
All kinds of people in the game, greed, fear, cunning interwoven, staged all sentient beings. So I wrote down these things about my relatives and friends.
1
Ruili, Yunnan, in the summer of 2010.
Although it was now June, the mornings in the border town were still unusually cold. The temperature difference between day and night was huge in the mountains. Lao Chen felt chilly when he went out, even though he had specially added a coat.
This is ripe ground for Mr. Chen. As a young man, he had scoured for gold here, and after frequent visits, he gradually fell in love with the fresh air and simple folk customs.
Mr. Chen had retired from work in recent years. As he was getting older and involved in various mundane tasks, his body was becoming more and more difficult to cope with the long journey. But these two years the jade market again hot, Mr Chen is also hard to avoid a hot eye, just next to relatives cuanduo, want to take nephew grandson to make some money, this just out of the mountain again.
The market was deserted this early morning, except for three or two women who were sweeping the ground. Even within China, Burmese businessmen and some overseas Chinese maintain a slow pace of life due to time difference and living habits, which is not suitable for many Chinese.
My nephew was cowering with cold. “It’s too early, uncle,” he said. “There aren’t many merchants.
“The early bird catches the worm,” Mr. Chen said, choking back his words. The young man, accustomed to the comforts of life at home, was dreaming of making a fortune for nothing. He did not like it and did not bother to comment on it.
A slight Burman hurried into a half-opened stone shop, carrying a heavy bag that immediately caught Lao Chen’s attention. Out of professional sensitivity, Chen motioned for his grandnephew to catch up quickly, followed in.
The shop was dimly lit and the floor was strewn with cut-out material. Speaking to the shopkeeper, the Burmese man who had just come in undid the bag and dropped a stone on the ground. Mr. Chen squatted down, turned on the flashlight in his hand and examined it carefully.
This is a half cut material, about more than ten kilograms, two thirds still retain the black leather shell, has been stripped clean part in the light reflected purple glass luster, a half finger wide spicy green belt wrapped waist straight down, into the leather shell wrapped in the unclear place.
Spring color (refer to the two kinds of color with violet and green jade), quality of a material is pure, kind of water is good (refers to the emerald water head and water head, a head is refers to the emerald crystal grain thickness and the density of the crystal combined with head refers to the transparency of jade), strands of crack is not much, there are some gambling, is a very potential raw materials.
Lao Chen’s heart began to beat faster: after several days of turning, he did not meet any material that could be seen in his eyes. Today, it seems that money is coming. It depends on the price.
‘How much? Lao Chen motioned to the Burmese to make an offer.
The Burmese hesitated for a moment, and then Lao Chen asked again, before he said, “One million.”
Jade is a bidding industry, deal is the match between buyers and sellers, bargaining is inevitable, no one will take the first price seriously. Burmese businessmen, in particular, tend to charge wildly, and are seriously taken in. There was once a joke: a Chinese asked a Burmese how much a piece of material was worth, the Burmese said the price was two million, the Chinese didn’t want it, and casually returned six hundred, and finally the deal was done. Of course, all jokes aside, the price of rock depends on its value.
Mr. Chen smiled, waved his hand, shook his head and said, “The price is in chaos.”
That was the way of doing business with The Burmese, who lacked a sophisticated market to process and sell finished jade, and many Burmese valued jade on the basis of their own mining and transportation costs and empirical judgment rather than market pricing. The Chinese took it too much for comfort and did not take it seriously.
Mr. Chen put the stone away carelessly and looked not particularly interested. Then he held up two fingers and said, “Twenty thousand.”
The Burman shut his mouth and said nothing. He did not look angry, but rather lost. He looked for help at the shopkeeper and said a few words in Burman.
Mr. Chen knew that he was right: the owner was a novice, and whatever the source of his stone, he had no idea what it was worth. See his facial expression, the likelihood that sell badly is very big, so the price is easy to talk much.
Often, some Burmese who could not make it through life would sell their raw materials cheaply, something Mr. Chen had often met in his early years. The shopkeeper is a overseas Chinese, and Chen also had several sides of the edge, he saw some clues at this time, chatted with the owner of a few, turned to Chen said: “Boss, you carefully look at the material, give a good price, he was in a hurry to go home, want to sell more quickly. He had been offered two hundred thousand dollars before, and now he wants to sell it. Twenty thousand won’t do.”
The shopkeeper said so, which proved his judgment. Besides, if the shopkeeper could speak to him, there was a great possibility for the business to be concluded.
There was a long bargain, with the shopkeeper helping, and Mr. Chen was constantly pointing out the flaw in the stone and raising the price bit by bit until it reached 80,000. The Burmese still shook their heads, indicating that the gap was too wide to close the deal.
Lao Chen got angry, swore two words on the old man, and turned to go. His impatient grandnephew thought it was over, so he took the lead and went out.
Lao Chen deliberately slowed down his pace, and sure enough, before he had gone a few steps, the shopkeeper caught up with him and pulled him back. He said to the two of them, “Don’t worry about doing business, you are good friends.
The Burmese man remained silent for several seconds. Mr. Chen waved his hand impatiently and said, “That’s all right. My old friend has spoken. No, you carry your stones back to Your Burma.”
Lao Chen is also talking in his own words. There are many checkpoints among the states in Myanmar, and it is difficult to collect fees for customs clearance. It is not easy to transport stones, and generally the goods brought out do not want to take back. The shopkeeper translated Chen’s words to the Burmese, who thought for a long time, looked extremely embarrassed, and finally offered Chen his hand.
Lao Chen took the Burmese’s dark hand and sealed the deal.
My nephew went to the bank to transfer money, took the bill back, face to face acceptance, business will be settled. Chen whispered in his nephew’s ear: “Boy, you’ve earned enough for two years.”
The shopkeeper interrupted and said a few words. He easily took a commission of two or three thousand yuan. He was also in a good mood and smilingly sent the buyers and sellers out.
It was not until then that the sun rose.
2
Although guangzhou is thousands of miles away from Myanmar, it is the most important jade wholesale center in China, where tens of thousands of jade practitioners gather to engage in raw material trade and finished product processing.
“Ghost market” is the unique scene here. Every morning, before dawn, practitioners of jade from all sides gather in the market, placing different sizes of raw materials on stalls demarcated by the white line.
Lao Liu is also one of them. He gets up at 4:30 every day, washes himself for 20 minutes, and then walks to the raw material market by electric bike for about 10 minutes.
Lao Liu himself has a processing plant, opened more than ten years. For so many years, he had been assiduously buying materials, painting and taking apprentices with him. He knows his character, is meticulous and conservative, and has no great fortune and no great ebb and flow. These old Liu always had a mediocre life. 2008, when everyone lost money, passed smoothly. 2009, when everyone made money, did not make much money.
The morning market was bustling with people, many bright lights flashing in the middle. The person that sees goods most is the processing master that resembles with Lao Liu, the raw material that chooses a heart for doing work during the day.
At a corner of the market, Lao Liu noticed a young man who placed only two or three stones in front of him. It was supposed to be a “wild stall” — a stall of goods owners who had no fixed stalls and could only put them out for a while before the stall owners came to do business.
General wild stall has the probability of good material is lower, but old Liu dozen see this young man in front of a piece of material shape is not bad, do a place suitable, then bent down to carefully look, a glance was attracted.
Material planted water is not bad, light purple bottom, local has thick purple, rare is to still have a ribbon, regrettably is to did not remove skin shell completely, do not know the place that still did not peel below still has how much color, nevertheless, the light shows this part, already was the price is not poor.
This is really a very good quality decoration raw materials — Lao Liu in his mind, the colorless part can do mountain stone background, purple place to pick it made of vines and trees, green belt is the most important part to enhance the value, do not think of how to do, go back to have a good look, see what the design is appropriate.
The young man asked for 300,000. Lao Liu pondered for a while and felt that fifty thousand was a good price. He asked the young man: “Fifty thousand for sale or not?”
The young man shook his head: “The mistake is too far, the capital is less than, just somebody gave over one hundred and fifty thousand.”
Look at the young man look not like a lie, old Liu hesitated, do so many years, more than one hundred thousand business himself very rarely do, pocket money was not much, to their own vision is not so big confidence. The stone risk with too high price nature also is big, do not have to give others processing, need not go about stone value, oneself collect processing fee is OK.
A man leaned over to look at the stone. Lao Liu quickly picked up the sack next to him and covered the stone tightly. The more people, the more old Liu’s heart panic, good material does not wait for people, this market crouching tiger hidden dragon, once the person who is recognized, minute is to miss.
The young man was impatient. “Don’t cover your hands if you don’t buy it. There are others who want to see it.”
Old Liu clenched his teeth and said: “Buy, I’m sure to buy, you wait for me to call a friend over.” Then he gave his nephew Liu Zhe a call.
After waiting for more than ten minutes, Liu Zhe still hadn’t arrived. Old Liu and so anxious, in order to stabilize the young man, can only have no words to talk. Hearing Lao Liu’s question about how he bought the stone, the young man began to talk excitedly.
“I saw the stone knew well, spring green, the Burmese people to one million, I said he was gouging, so just pretend to go, Burmese nasty took me back to offer, he thought that I could not understand the words, as people said prices in myanmar, I heard, understood his bottom line, not as long as you talk about down.”
Lao Liu asked cautiously, “How much did you talk about it?”
The young man suddenly became alert and shut his mouth.
Lao Liu is a little embarrassed, and afraid of bad business, the in the mind is upset, sleepy Eyes Liu Zhe arrived.
Seeing the stone, Liu Zhe also got up in spirits. Liu Liu whispered the specific situation in his ear. Liu Zhe patted the stone and said earnestly to the young man, “Yes, it is not easy for you to have such good vision in your early twenties.
The young man laughed.
Liu Zhe continued: “You have been selling here for a long time. How many people have given you the price and you know how much. This thing is the price. I originally also see 100 thousand left and right sides, however with you also quite amiable, since other people gave price, also don’t let you embarrassed, I again give you how much add up, 160 thousand, graph a lucky, as you say 300 thousand that is impossible. See if you can sell it, or I’ll go.”
The young man felt less confident and replied, “Well, let me ask my uncle if he sells it. He wants me to sell it for at least a quarter of a million.”
“Ask me, I won’t stop you, but old people are like that. They don’t know the market and they just want to get more money. You must be new here, young man. To do this business with me is to make a friend. If you have any difficulties in the future, you should come to me.”
Liu Zhe’s glib tongue let the young man have no idea, he thought for a while and gritted his teeth and said: “Good, 160,000, to give cash.”
Lao Liu and Liu Zhe looked at each other and saw joy in each other’s eyes — a figure well below the market price.
Dawn, to the bank open time, the two sides in the bank to complete the formalities, when they dispersed, Liu Zhe said to Lao Liu: “I first take to see a few bosses, see if you can sell a big price, a few days later can not sell to take to you to see what design processing.
Lao Liu thought and agreed, he knew that Liu Zhe has some rich big customers in his hands, the price of the goods with his processing factory price is not a class, and his nephew is looking at grow up, will not make a difference, this two years this boy is rich, he may follow him also want to make a small fortune.
But to Liu’s surprise, this was the last time he saw the stone in person, even though he kept hearing all kinds of offers and calculating how much he could make from it.
3
The threshold of the jade industry is not high, but it is difficult to specialize, really do the craft finally can stand out, very few. It’s even harder if you’re not from a long line. Of course, it is not only a way to learn a craft, many people by reselling raw materials, can also make a living, Liu Zhe is one of the best.
Liu Zhe only joined the industry for more than a year, long past the best age to learn art. Lao Liu’s original intention is to let his nephew follow their own learning processing, to support the family. But Liu Zhe does not think much of this close uncle, although also thank him to bring oneself into line when he is penniless, but he always feels, uncle pedantic, timid and afraid of things, only know to work hard, do not know how to look up to learn others how to make money, so after arrive in Guangdong not long, uncle and nephew two people parted ways.
Liu Zhe is straightforward and loyal, mixed in the circle for a period of time, made friends with a number of industry leaders. He was well known for his connections, his quick wit and his fondness for hanging out with him. Taking advantage of the good market for more than a year, Liu Zhe stepped straight up, and his wealth increased exponentially, which made many people, including Liu, jealous.
This time follow old Liu trade is over, Liu Zhe knows, this money is firmly grasped in the hand.
But Liu Zhe is clear, the business that follows cannot let Lao Liu do, Lao Liu has an occupational disease, know to do pendant, vision is limited, he does not know the real value of this stone lies in making the bracelet with color. Liu Zhe can see this, but oneself also be to know only a pelt, can give how many bracelet in the heart is uncertain, listen to the opinion of the expert even.
Before the business was finished, Liu Zhe had already found several buyers for the stone, Lao Lin being one of them.
That afternoon, Mr. Lin was sitting on a sofa, listening to the grinding wheel grinding against the jade in the factory, sipping gongfu tea.
The door of the outer room was pushed open and some people came in uninvited. Sure enough, his acquaintance Liu Zhe came in, put the stone on the table, and came straight to the point: “Aren’t you looking for good material for bracelets, Lao Lin? See if this is right for your farm.”
This is a kind of water very good spring with color material, uniform texture of the whole body, only a little grain crack, old Lin examined under, some parts should be able to make bracelets, a no less than one hundred thousand. The lower part has not been peeled off, I do not know whether the ribbon will form flake or become more, in that case, this material will be of great value.
Stone more or less will be a bit gambling, even if the cut material, an inch below the stone will occur unpredictable changes, these are to do jadeite must face. Materials that have not been cut or have a small cut are at much greater risk than raw materials. Originally, Lao Lin was extremely disgusted with such stones that were too big for gambling. In his early years, he had bought several stones for gambling and lost all his money after cutting them. Later, he also made clear materials in a down-to-earth way and did not touch gambling materials any more.
Old forest side examine stone edge to ask: “want to sell how much?”
“Six hundred thousand.” Said the loss.
Lao Lin did not answer. After a long time, he put down his torch, rubbed his eyes and said: “I would like to offer up to 300,000 yuan at most. It is too risky to gamble on the sex. The next part, if it were better, would be a million dollars. But the risks are too great. There’s no need to take them.”
Liu Zhe heart a big stone fell to the ground, old Lin can ask price to 300 thousand, this stone make money is no problem.
For the old Lin quotation, Liu Zhe know in mind, this quotation is conservative. Fujian people’s mind is fine, Lao Lin is a piece of old ginger, all the raw materials he likes, burst color probability is very high, the profit space is absolutely considerable. Lao Lin at the end of that sentence let Liu Zhe heart also activate: don’t say full color bracelet, even with a small half circle of color, this stone is probably not hundreds of thousands of value.
So Liu Zhe did not hurry to answer the old Lin, said to go back to think it over, and then he said goodbye.
After going out, Liu Zhe made a phone call to Lao Liu, said about the situation, Lao Liu was also very happy after listening to, repeatedly said you see what to do, and finally explained one more: want to sell you sell it.
To be prudent, Liu Zhe in the next few days to find several people to look over, everyone gave different prices, the range is also quite large, the lowest more than 200,000, the highest 500,000 or 600,000. These completely different results let Liu Zhe have a number in mind, the expert also can not estimate accurately, that shows this stone can operate the room is very big.
Liu Zhe secretly thought, there is potential, you need to dig a dig, not in a hurry to strike.
Liu Zhe is not urgent, however old Liu however impatient, three days two times call to ask the situation, heard someone give price rang to sell quickly. The number that says is much, Liu Zhe also is a bit vexed, he knows uncle is a timid advocate, simply grind one’s teeth, gave old Liu 100 thousand, after the agreement stone sold again give old Liu a part of profit, be equivalent to Liu Zhe oneself dish stone comes down. Old Liu certainly had no problem with making money.
4
As the saying goes, immortals are hard to break inch jade, the jade under the epidermis will be what kind of appearance, even if it is several decades of old master also cannot say before cutting. A knife poor knife rich, this truth Liu Zhe understand, he is not willing to take this risk, so, Liu Zhe heart dozen is another idea.
In 2009, a large number of hot money into the market, the price of jade soaring, the hands of heroic guests are not uncommon, the origin of these mysterious guests seldom care about the real value of raw materials, simple and crude with his hands seems to never use up the money swept the market. The most typical practice is “bag shop”, the whole shop goods regardless of cheap and noble price all buy go, the degree of extravagance is evident.
There were brokers involved, who knew nothing of sculpture or raw materials, and who, by drawing in the resources of their clients, made a profit for both buyers and sellers by making the deal. Xiao Wang was one of the many brokers.
Thanks to the rich contacts accumulated by the elders, Wang has accumulated a large number of customer resources, and he has also gained a lot in the emerald circle in these two years. An accidental opportunity, Xiao Wang knew Liu Zhe, two people cooperate perfectly: Xiao Wang a telephone, determine when the customer should come down, probably need what type of jade goods, Liu Zhe will advance the appropriate supply of goods, ready to let the customer to choose.
After so many visits, the two became friends.
Immortals can hardly break inch jade
Holding such good goods in his hand, Liu Zhe naturally thought of Xiao Wang.
Those few days small king is in Beijing to handle affairs, Liu Zhe makes a phone call one after another, say to see a piece of good stone, somebody once gave more than 600 thousand, consigner is anxious to move now, 480,000 sell, oneself money is not enough, want to seek small king partnership.
In the mobile phone to see the picture, Xiao Wang feel reliable, and liu Zhe said the heart itch, think is pen not too small and big rich, with Liu Zhe in the phone a total, also do not have to go back, directly turned two hundred and forty thousand in the past, calculate half shares.
A few days later, Xiao Wang arrived with the client. At Wang’s bidding, Liu was in no hurry to deliver the stone, first renting a luxury suite for the client at the hotel and then arranging for the client to visit several bracelet shops and inquire about the prices of some full-color bracelets.
The thing is rare for expensive, full green bracelet price is not cheap, often millions or even tens of millions. To the customer is also a person, the price of these high goods has already heard, and then run a few wholesale shops, probably in the mind also have some score, plus is a money to find fun heart, natural germination of the idea of gambling. Seeing that the time was ripe, Xiao Wang suggested to the customer that it would be better to buy the stones themselves.
After getting the customer’s approval, Liu Zhe will choose the opportunity to partner this stone to the hotel for customers to see. After much calculation, they concluded that, with any luck, the material would be able to bet on three bracelets of almost full color or spring color, and the client was so tickled that he simply agreed to an offer of $1.5 million for the next day’s transfer.
Seeing things in the bag, Xiao Wang prepared to accompany the customer to return to Beijing after closing the account the next day, the evening will make an appointment with Liu Zhe to often go to THE KTV, open a small victory banquet in advance.
When singing drink son, Liu Zhe heartily admire ground to say: “brother this matter you grasp really arrive to the position, want to teach elder brother later!”
Xiao Wang patted Liu Zhe on the shoulder and said: “We two brothers should cooperate well and make some money quickly. I’ve been in Beijing these days and I’ve heard that many industries are going downhill, policies are going to change soon, and the luxury of jade is going to change very quickly, so maybe there won’t be many opportunities for such good business.”
While talking, Liu Zhe’s phone rang, it was his wife, ready to answer the phone has hung up. KTV noise is too big, Liu Zhe then rose the body to go out, carelessly kicked down block brand when passing corridor, the Liu Zhe that already had a few minutes of intoxicate did not care, while taking out a mobile phone to dial a number.
He never came back.
At noon the next day, Mr. Liu was found at the bottom of the elevator shaft by people who had been searching all night. He had lost so much blood that he had stopped breathing, still clutching his phone. The police on the scene clicked on the screen, which paused to dial his wife.
Police speculated that because of the dim lighting and drunkness, Liu ignored the warning sign for maintenance and fell into the open shaft in a rush to get downstairs when his wife answered the phone.
5
Liu zhe is also a classic rags-to-riches story of changing the fate of poverty, and it’s a sad ending.
After Liu’s death, his family sued THE KTV for compensation, and the KTV argued that there was no liability on the grounds that warning signs had been set up. In the end, the KTV paid tens of thousands of yuan symbolically.
And gave this thing bad luck matter, that stone client nature is to do not want, returned to Xiao Wang. Xiao Wang’s money for a time did not come back, afraid of material returned to Liu Zhe family after the capital is not back, and do not dare to take the stone out to sway to sell, a moment of fire, live in the hospital for a few days. Out of the hospital, I do not know who is listening to the idea, looking for a saw shop, do not want to peel all the stone shell, thinking of fighting luck.
Xiao Wang asked Lao Zhang, a senior teacher, for advice before peeling the stone. Lao Zhang held the stone for a long time, then shook his head and said that he would not cut it as far as possible. Although he could not see it clearly for a while, a master on the stone stopped peeling the shell to such a degree, obviously with great intention.
Wang hesitated a little, but felt that there was no other way, so he finally made up his mind and told the workers who had been waiting to go ahead.
The worker started the machine, adjusted the position to grind inch by inch, and the mortar water splashed continuously along the high-speed sand flakes. The onlookers stared at the stone in the master’s hand, unwilling to miss this rare opportunity to open their eyes.
When the skin is removed, the worker picks up the stone and washes it with clean water. The whole picture is clearly displayed in front of everyone.
Fate did not favor Xiao Wang, also failed to comfort the dead, this stone has been expert speculation and reverie on the dark part of the skin, full of cobweb like grain, as well as a variety of black and yellow color, not to mention the bracelet, even a pendant can not be taken out, even for the decoration, this color is far from the original.
Sighed the workman. “The first man who grinds this stone is a master. Not a single point. It takes a lot of vision to do that. I’m really impressed.”
Lao Zhang shook his head, pulled Xiao Wang aside and whispered, “I’m afraid there is something wrong with this good part of the stone. ‘pickling’ (dyeing) is very suspected.”
Several watchmen carefully examined the stone and shook their heads and walked away. Only one stayed, probably to try his luck, and after a lot of hard talk offered only twenty thousand. Xiao Wang rebuffed him and almost threw the stone in anger. But he packed the stone and returned home that night.
Since then, the stone has never been seen again. Some people said that Xiao Wang took it back and put it in the most prominent place in his home, as a warning to himself. Liu zhe’s family had also tried to recover the stone, but after reading Xiao Wang’s transfer record and comparing the cost of the stone with that of Liu Lao, the idea never occurred to them again.
Next, affected by multiple factors, jade market suddenly light, Xiao Wang no longer take customers down.
Business field human indifferent, a long time of nature have broken the news. Only Old Liu, at the beginning of a period of time drunk will also talk about the whereabouts of the stone, regret with their own missed wealth, time, they also feel boring, slowly mention less.
In 2015, Lao Liu went back to his hometown to visit an old friend. Speaking of the past, he said with deep feeling, “The more you make jade, the more you believe in your life. Some of you can’t run away, and you can’t ask for what you don’t have in your life.
Old friend Chen nodded. “A few years ago, I went to Yunnan to buy some stones for my nephew’s grandson, and asked him to take them to Guangdong to sell them. He saw the money so easy to think that they can stand on their own, east and West borrowed a sum of money, he went to buy a pile of garbage raw materials, are smashed in the hands to sell not to sell, now everywhere to avoid debt. I thought I was helping him, but now I see I’m killing him.”
Two people sigh with emotion unceasingly, drank a long time tea, scattered at this point.
Year after year, the jadeite market continues to be rife with stories of stone-rich, high-achieving people who look up to the winners and fool themselves into thinking they, too, will be lucky. But few notice how cruel and dark these stories are.
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