- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Phoenix; New edition edition (7 Feb 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0753813297
- ISBN-13: 978-0753813294
- Product Dimensions: 19.7 x 13.1 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 929,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Stone of Heaven: the Secret History of Imperial Green Jade by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott Clark is one of those remarkable travel-cum-history books that manages to combine both glamour and mystery with the exposure of moral squalor and appalling political corruption. These are the things that gold, silver, diamonds have generated throughout history--and so too, it seems, has imperial green jade. The facts about the "stone of heaven" sound more like the wildest fictions of swashbuckling storytellers like Rider Haggard, or perhaps even Wilbur Smith. It is by far the most valuable stone in the world (diamonds are positively cheap compared to this stuff), and in its purest form, it derives from only one source: a remote mine in a valley in the very shadow of the Himalayas. The authors take us competently through the history of green jade, brought to life most entertainingly of all in the 18th-century skirmishes between the British and the Chinese--in terms of wiliness and cunning, a fine match for each other. They give us some great "well, would you believe it?" facts (one Chinese Emperor wrote more than 800 poems to his beloved jade collection). But the book really ignites towards the end, and becomes something very different, when Levy and Scott-Clark finally reach the world's only jade mine, now in Burma. Here there are facts to be learned that truly beggar belief. The mines are worked by around one million men, women and children. They are paid in government-supplied heroin. Needles are shared between around 800 people at a time. 99.9 per cent of the workers are HIV positive. The mine is declared an international disaster zone by the United Nations. And green jade is still avidly collected by Princess Michael of Kent, Danielle Steele, Nicole Kidman, and used by jewellers such as Chanel, Van Cleef and Arpels. This might have been a better, more focused book if the authors had cut the history and stuck to the horrific modern-day revelations. As it stands, its hefty 400 pages are too much, and too mixed in tone. But, its weight problem aside, this is still a wholly engrossing, if ultimately horrifying read.--Christopher Hart
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
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. Since its discovery nearly 2,000 years ago, Imperial Green Jade has been worshipped, ingested and traded. 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.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Inside fusty chronicles penned in a forgotten, languid script that few can now understand, storytellers recorded how it all began. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Inside fusty chronicles penned in a forgotten, languid script that few can now understand, storytellers recorded how it all began. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Jade Detectives,
This review is from: The Stone of Heaven: The Secret History of Imperial Green Jade (Paperback)
The book charts man's obsession with the stone through history from the ancient dynasties of China through to the terrible present-day hell holes which are the jade mines in northern Burma.The book mentions the importance of jade in funding much of the early political movements in China after the last emperor was removed and details the looting of the Forbidden City in Beijing following up where all the treasures ended up. The central story is about jade and what people will do just to acquire it documenting the lives of the rich and famous of the times and the dramatic historical events which characterised much of China's 20th century history. In later stages of the book we are shown the shocking accounts of the authors as they travelled to the present-day mines in Northern Burma where exploitation, Heroin addiction and AIDS are rampant. The book was initially hard-going for me in the first third of the book but perseverence is rewarded in the other two-thirds as the historical events, people and personal stories are fascinating and well-written.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a gripping and beautiful read,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Stone of Heaven: The Secret History Of Imperial Green Jade (Hardcover)
I can't say I ever wanted to read this book but I picked it up at the airport and couldn't put it down. It has stayed with me and I found the climax particularly unforgettable. This is what journalism used to be and here are two writers practising what I thought was a dead art. Even if you know nothing about Burma, or China or India or the British Empire - read this and learn - oh and enjoy.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An extraordinary tale mixing history and reportage,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Stone of Heaven: The Secret History Of Imperial Green Jade (Hardcover)
This is a fascinating investigation into imperial green jade. Forget fictional accounts of hidden treasures and lost mines -- the authors of this non-fiction classic hear rumours of incredible suffering in northern Burma and bravely struggle to the site to expose a medieval hell. Along the way they weave the history of the stone into the narrative -- and what a history!! Loved and fought over for centuries, jade assumes a personality all of its own as the pages turn. I can't rate this book highly enough.
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