Yau Ma Tei Jade Hawker Bazaar

This guide to the Yau Ma Tei Jade Hawker Bazaar in Hong Kong opens with a simple test for real jade, then follows the Guangzhou merchants who arrived after World War Two and built Hong Kong into the buyer of most of Myanmar's raw jadeite by the nineteen seventies. You'll hear about the Three Lees who controlled the trade, and about one couple's transaction with a single six-hundred-kilogram stone. The guide also traces jade's meaning across three thousand years of Chinese culture, from Confucius's writings to imperial burial custom. Try the cool-to-the-touch test on a piece from the tables around you.