Then & now: Stone stock

Jade has been treasured in China for millennia and remains so esteemed that few Chinese don't own a piece - even if only an inexpensive trinket. As Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck noted in her autobiography, My Several Worlds: A Personal Record, in the 1930s, jade was "a possession to be cherished by anyone who can find it or buy it or steal it".

"Chinese women ask for jade ornaments for their hair, for jade bracelets and rings, and old men keep in their closed palms a piece of cool jade, so smooth that it seems soft to the touch," she wrote. "The poorest courtesan has her bit of jade to hang in her ears or use as a hairpin and the most successful and popular actresses wear jade instead of diamonds, because jade is the more sumptuous jewel against a woman's flesh."

Of the broader value ascribed to jade in the Chinese world, Buck wrote: "Rich men buy jades instead of putting their money in banks, for jade grows more beautiful with age. When men die, their families put jade in the tombs with them to keep them from decay."

Jade has long been regarded as an investment vehicle. In the 30s, Aw Boon Haw, the "Tiger Balm King", amassed one of the world's best private collections of the stone - displayed at Haw Par Villa, the family home in Singapore, it could, by appointment, be viewed by the public.

Burmese jade - known for its mostly deep green hues - has a long history in south China. The contemporary opening up of jade mines in Bhamo and Myitkyina has historical parallels.

For centuries, Burma maintained a tribute relationship to China and - to any objective observer - this dependency seems to be returning. With wholesale Chinese economic penetration into Myanmar in recent years - a process set to accelerate further with galloping economic liberalisation in the country - even more of its jade has been mined for the burgeoning Chinese market.