緬甸密支那 翡翠的詛咒

MYITKYINA, Myanmar — At 16, the gem trader’s son set out for the jade mines to seek his fortune in the precious stone that China craves. But a month in, the teenager, Sang Aung Bau Hkum, was feeding his own addiction: heroin, the drug of choice among the men who work the bleak terrain of gouged earthen pits, shared needles and dwindling hope here in the jungles of northern Myanmar.

緬甸密支那——這個寶石商人的兒子16歲時來到翡翠礦，想從這種讓中國發狂的寶石中尋找自己發財的機會。但一個月後，這位名叫桑昂巴烏(Sang Aung Bau Hkum)的少年需要滿足自己的毒癮：他用上了在這片挖出很多大土坑的荒涼地裏工作的男人的首選毒品海洛因，和別人共用針頭。希望在緬甸北部的叢林中漸漸消失。

Three years later he finally found what he had come for — a jade rock “as green as a summer leaf.” He spent some of the $6,000 that a Chinese trader paid him on a motorcycle, a cellphone and gambling.

三年後，他終於找到了自己爲之而來的東西：一塊“和夏天的樹葉一樣綠的”翡翠。他把一箇中國商人付給他的6000美元(約合3.4萬元人民幣)的一部分花在了買一輛摩托車和一部手機上，還在賭博上花了點錢。

“The rest disappeared into my veins,” he said, tapping the crook in his left arm as dozens of other gaunt miners in varying states of withdrawal passed the time at a rudimentary rehabilitation clinic here. “The Chinese bosses know we’re addicted to heroin, but they don’t care. Their minds are filled with jade.”

“剩下的錢都消失在我的靜脈裏，”他用手指輕敲着自己左胳膊的肘彎說，他身邊是在這裏的一家非常原始的戒毒所裏消磨時光的面容憔悴的礦工，他們有不同程度的脫癮症狀。“中國老闆知道我們上了海洛因的癮，但他們不管我們。他們滿腦子都是翡翠。”

Mr. Sang Aung Bau Hkum, now 24, is just one face of a trade — like blood diamonds in Africa — that is turning good fortune into misery.

桑昂巴烏現在24歲了，他只是涉足那些把好運變成痛苦的買賣——類似的還有非洲的血鑽——的一員。

Driven by an insatiable demand from the growing Chinese middle class, Myanmar’s jade industry is booming and should be showering the nation, one of the world’s poorest, with unprecedented prosperity. Instead, much of the wealth it generates remains in control of elite members of the military, the rebel leaders fighting them for greater autonomy and the Chinese financiers with whom both sides collude to smuggle billions of dollars’ worth of the gem into China, according to jade miners, mining companies and international human rights groups.

在日益增長的中國中產階層無法滿足的需求驅動下，緬甸的翡翠產業正在蓬勃發展，這本該讓這個屬於世界最貧窮行列的國家得到前所未有的繁榮。然而並非如此，絕大部分翡翠所產生的財富被少數人控制着，包括軍方精英成員、爲了更大的自主權而與軍方作戰的叛亂頭目，以及雙方都與之勾結的中國投資者，據翡翠礦工、礦產公司以及國際人權組織說，這些人沆瀣一氣把價值數十億美元的寶石走私到中國。

Such rampant corruption has not only robbed the government of billions in tax revenue for rebuilding after decades of military rule, it has also helped finance a bloody ethnic conflict and unleashed an epidemic of heroin use and H.I.V. infection among the Kachin minority who work the mines.

這種猖獗的腐敗，不僅偷走了政府在數十年的軍事統治後進行重建所需的數十億美元的稅收收入，而且爲血腥的種族衝突提供了資金，並在從事玉石開採的克欽少數民族中造成了海洛因濫用及艾滋病毒感染的流行。

The drug and jade trades have become a toxic mix, with heroin — made from opium poppies that long ago turned Myanmar into a top producer of illicit drugs — keeping a pliant work force toiling in harsh conditions as the Burmese authorities and Chinese business people turn a blind eye.

毒品交易和翡翠交易已成爲一種有毒的組合，從罌粟提取的海洛因在很早以前就讓緬甸成爲非法毒品的主要生產地，現在海洛因讓惡劣條件下勞作的礦工聽從擺佈，而緬甸當局和中國商人對這些視而不見。

At a time when Myanmar is experimenting with democratic governance after nearly 50 years of military dictatorship, its handling of the jade industry has become a test of the new civilian leaders and their commitment to supporting human rights and rooting out corruption, as well as an early check on whether they will reject the former junta’s kleptocratic dealings with China.

在經過近50年的軍事獨裁統治後，緬甸目前正在嘗試民主治理，緬甸對翡翠業的處理已成爲對新的文職領導人以及他們支持人權、根除腐敗承諾的一種考驗，也是對他們是否將拒絕像前軍政府那樣與中國進行暗中交易的早期檢查。

So far, experts say, they have failed.

專家說，到目前爲止，緬甸政府的表現不及格。

Washington is worried enough about the link between jade and violence — and the effect on democratic change — that it kept in place a ban on the gem from Myanmar, also known as Burma, even after it suspended almost every other sanction against the country since the civilian government came to power in 2011. But critics say the sanctions are useless because China attaches no such conditions.

華盛頓方面對翡翠和暴力之間的聯繫、及其對民主變革的影響有足夠的擔心，雖然美國在緬甸文官政府自2011年上臺以來，暫停了幾乎所有對該國的制裁，但仍繼續保持着從那裏進口這種寶石的禁令。但批評人士說，這些禁令沒用，因爲中國沒有類似的限制。

“The multibillion-dollar jade business should be driving peaceful development in Kachin and Myanmar as a whole,” said Mike Davis from Global Witness, an anticorruption organization. “Instead it is empowering the same elite that brought the country to its knees and poses the biggest threat to peace and democratic reform.”

“價值數十億美元的翡翠生意本該促進克欽邦、乃至緬甸全國的和平發展，”反腐敗組織“全球見證”(Global Witness)的邁克·戴維斯(Mike Davis)說。“然而並非如此，翡翠業仍在讓同樣的精英們受益，他們曾把國家搞癱瘓，現在他們成爲對和平與民主改革的最大威脅。”

Poverty Amid Riches

財富中滋長着貧窮

The fountainhead of Myanmar’s jade wealth is here in the mountains of Kachin State, which is rich in natural resources and poor in just about everything else. The country’s northernmost territory, Kachin shares a long border with China and is home to the Kachin ethnic group, a largely Christian minority with ambitions to gain more autonomy.

緬甸翡翠財富的源泉在克欽邦這裏的山區，這裏有豐富的天然資源，但幾乎沒有其他任何東西。克欽邦位於緬甸的最北部，與中國有漫長的邊界線，是克欽族人的家園，克欽族是主要信封基督教的少數民族，他們追求的目標是更多的自主權。

Myitkyina, the down-and-out state capital, is the gateway to the most active mining region, containing what experts say is the world’s biggest and most valuable trove of jade. With its broken sidewalks, stray dogs and cemeteries littered with syringes, Myitkyina is a potent symbol of the region’s ills. The city’s tea shops have a thriving illegal side business in selling heroin, one of the few trades that have grown alongside the jade industry.

密支那是克欽邦窮困潦倒的首府，是通往最活躍的礦區的必經之路，礦區有專家稱之爲世界上最大、最值錢的翡翠寶藏。密支那破爛的人行道、滿街的流浪狗，以及散落着注射器的墓地，是該地區糟糕狀態的有力象徵。城市的茶葉店經營着出售海洛因的繁榮非法副業，那是爲數不多的與翡翠行業同時增長的貿易。

“In every house, there is an addict,” said Gareng Bang Aung, a local heroin user.

“每家都有吸毒者，”當地的海洛因使用者格亮興昂(Gareng Bang Aung)說。

The city is the closest Westerners can get to the mining area, Hpakant. The government says it keeps the area closed because of sporadic fighting with the Kachin rebel army, but activists see a darker purpose: to hide the illegal jade and drug trades flourishing there. The only foreigners allowed past the military checkpoints, they say, are the Chinese who run the mines or go there to buy gems.

密支那是西方人能到的、距礦區帕敢最近的地方。政府說，禁止外人進入礦區是因爲那裏仍有與克欽族叛軍進行的零星戰鬥，但活動人士看到了其中的黑暗目的：隱藏那裏蓬勃發展的非法翡翠和毒品交易。他們說，唯一能通過軍方檢查站的外國人，是經營礦產、或去那裏購買寶石的中國人。

The lack of access adds to the mysteries of the jade industry, whose inner workings are deliberately obscured. Even the simplest information is not publicly available — including which companies operate the mines and how many are Chinese-run or financed despite laws banning foreign ownership. But interviews with jade miners and executives in Myitkyina, and with gem traders, diplomats and nongovernmental organizations elsewhere, reveal a dizzyingly corrupt and brutal industry funded almost completely by Chinese trade.

不能進入該地區增加了翡翠行業的神祕感，其內部運作情況被有意掩蓋起來。就連最簡單的信息也不公開，比如哪些公司經營礦山，有多少由中國人擁有或出資，雖然緬甸法律禁止外資擁有企業。但是，對密支那的翡翠礦工和管理人員、以及其他地方的寶石商人、外交官和非政府組織的採訪，暴露出一個令人眼花繚亂、幾乎完全靠中國貿易資助的腐敗和殘酷的行業。

Their descriptions of the harsh conditions at the mines were corroborated by rare footage filmed there by a local journalist hired by The New York Times.

這些人對礦場惡劣條件的描述，得到《紐約時報》聘請的一名當地記者拍攝的罕見錄像的佐證。

The video from inside the checkpoints shows lush rolling hills scarred by craters that descend for hundreds of feet into pits. There, hundreds of men worked in the searing heat, picking through rocks with rudimentary shovels, or their hands, in search of the gem.

這段在檢查站那邊拍到的錄像顯示，連綿起伏的蔥鬱丘陵佈滿了環形山口的傷痕，環形山口通往上百米深的坑底。在那裏，數百名男子用最基本的工具、或徒手在灼熱環境中尋找寶石。

In some cases, the miners shoot water from high-powered hoses to break up the rock walls, a dangerous practice that sometimes triggers landslides.

在有些情況下，礦工們用高壓管把水噴射到石壁上將其擊碎，這種做法很危險，有時會引發山體滑坡。

Also visible in the footage: an open-air heroin shooting gallery, hard up against a mine.

鏡頭中還可以看到的，是緊靠着一個礦場的一個打海洛因的露天輸液所。

Corruption Fuels Conflict

腐敗使衝突加劇

Myanmar’s jade industry took off in the 1980s after the introduction of market reforms in China. For the first time since Mao Zedong began banning private enterprise in 1949, entrepreneurs betting that the gemstone would become big business in China started jumping into the trade. Their financing helped build an industry that churns out the Buddha figurines and thick bracelets that have become status symbols for China’s middle class. The burgeoning market transformed the Kachin insurgency, which had started in 1961 as a fight mostly about political independence, into a raging battle that extends to natural resources. A 1994 cease-fire stopped the violence, but gave the Burmese junta and its Chinese backers control over the best tracts in Hpakant.

緬甸的翡翠行業在20世紀80年代中國市場改革之後開始騰飛。自從毛澤東1949年以後禁止民營企業以來，投注這種寶石在中國能賣大錢的創業者能首次開始參與這個交易。他們的資金幫助建立了一個行業，爲中國中產階級大量生產象徵地位的玉佛像和粗粗的玉手鐲。這個新興市場把始於1961年的克欽叛亂，從一個主要是有關政治的獨立鬥爭，轉變爲一場延伸到自然資源的熊熊戰火。雖然1994年的停火帶來了暴力的終止，但把帕敢最好礦區的控制權交給了緬甸軍政府及其中國支持者。

The cease-fire fell apart in 2011, with jade fueling the conflict by funneling money to both sides. Local news media say about 120,000 people have been displaced by the fighting that included military airstrikes in Kachin; the death toll remains in dispute.

翡翠交易帶來的錢給衝突的雙方火上加油，導致停火協議在2011年瓦解。當地新聞媒體說，戰火導致約12萬人流離失所，政府武裝還對克欽軍隊進行過空襲；死亡人數仍有爭議。

In an interview, Dau Hka, a senior official with the political wing of the rebel Kachin Independence Army, described a sophisticated revenue collection system in which mining companies that want to operate in areas under the rebels’ control “donate” money to them, providing half their operating budget.

反對派克欽獨立軍(Kachin Independence Army)的政治組織高級官員杜卡(Dau Hka)在接受採訪時描述了一個複雜的收費制度，根據這個制度，想要在反對派控制的地區運作的採礦公司會向他們“捐款”，爲其提供了一半的運營預算。

“The donations aren’t exactly legal,” he acknowledged.

“這種捐款嚴格來說並不合法，”他承認道。

The K.I.A. also makes money by working with Chinese companies to smuggle jade through the jungle into China, according to activists and a Chinese jade importer. “They’ll call us beforehand, and we’ll come in a convoy to pick up the goods,” said the trader, who would give only his surname, Chun. The rebels, he added, demand cash on delivery.

活動人士和一名中國玉石進口商說，克欽獨立軍還會與中國企業合作，把玉石通過叢林走私到中國，並從中牟利。“他們會提前給我們打電話，我們隨後會派車隊去取貨，”這名交易商只透露自己姓宗。他接着說，這些叛亂分子一般要求貨到付款。

Yet the fighters’ spoils pale in comparison to those enjoyed by the powerful Burmese military elite, whose companies receive the choicest tracts of mining land from the government, according to miners and international rights groups. Like the K.I.A., some military officers are also involved in smuggling, extracting bribes to allow the illicit practice, activists say.

然而，這些武裝分子的戰利品與強大的緬甸軍方權貴享受到的好處相比只是小巫見大巫。據一些礦工和國際權力組織說，緬甸軍方權貴的企業會從政府獲得最優質的礦區。活動人士說，就像克欽獨立軍一樣，一些軍方官員也參與走私，爲不法操作提供便利，從而索取賄賂。

“The top dogs are the Burmese military,” said Mr. Davis of Global Witness, which has investigated the Burmese jade trade.

“最大的贏家是緬甸軍方，”全球見證組織的戴維斯說。他曾經調查過緬甸的玉石貿易。

Perhaps half or more of the jade that is mined, those who study the industry say, vanishes into the black market. The Ministry of Mines, in an email response to detailed questions, denied that smuggling is a major problem. Although official jade sales generate significant tax revenue, David Dapice of Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, which did an extensive study of the jade trade, estimated that the government is losing billions a year to illegal trading. Possibly the greater tragedy, however, is the heroin epidemic ravaging a new generation of Kachin.

研究該行業的人說，在從礦山開採出的玉石中，可能有一半或者更多流入了黑市。緬甸礦業部在回覆一些詳細問題的郵件中否認了走私問題的嚴重性。哈佛大學艾什民主治理與創新中心(Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation)的戴維·達皮斯(David Dapice)做過玉石貿易的一項大範圍研究，他估計，儘管合法的翡翠銷售帶來了大量稅收，政府每年因爲非法貿易損失數十億美元。然而，更大的悲劇可能是毀滅了年輕克欽人的海洛因的泛濫。

Heroin’s High Toll

海洛因氾濫的高昂代價

For decades, heroin was rare in Kachin State. The surge in the jade trade changed all that, creating a market for drugs among the thousands of Kachin laborers who flocked to the mines seeking an escape from poverty.

曾經在數十年時間裏，海洛因在克欽邦都非常罕見。玉石貿易的增長改變了這種狀況，爲了逃離貧困而涌入礦山的大量克欽勞工中誕生了一個毒品市場。

But Ze Hkaung Lazum, 27, said the mines proved to be a trap. Heroin, he said, is sold in bamboo huts “like vegetables in a market” for between $4 and $8 a hit. Miners squat in the open, next to piles of used needles, with syringes hanging from their arms. If the drug fails to take the workers’ meager earnings, the prostitutes waiting nearby are happy to oblige for $6 per 20-minute session. Within months, Mr. Ze Hkaung Lazum was a frequent customer of both.

不過，27歲的澤康拉尊(Ze Hkaung Lazum)說，礦山是一個陷阱。他說，一些小竹屋專門出售海洛因，就像“市場裏的蔬菜”一樣常見，一劑海洛因的價格在4美元到8美元。礦工們蹲坐在露天，身旁是堆積如山的舊針頭，胳膊上掛着注射器。如果毒品還不足以花光工人微薄的收入，等在附近的妓女很願意以20分鐘6美元的價格提供服務。幾個月後，澤康拉尊就成了這兩種服務的常客。

Some miners, like Bum Hkrang, a 24-year-old recovering addict, say they need the drug to steel themselves for the backbreaking and dangerous work their Burmese and Chinese bosses demand; others say they simply fell into addiction because the drug was so available, with some heroin dealers accepting jade as payment.

有些礦工說，自己需要毒品的支持才能完成緬甸和中國老闆要求的繁重而危險的工作，這其中包括正在戒毒的24歲的本康(Bum Hkrang)；還有一些人說，他們染上毒癮只是因爲毒品太容易得到了，有些海洛因的經銷商接受用玉石來付款。

“Try digging all day with an iron rod and see how you feel,” he said, adding that he had abandoned his university studies for the promise of fast riches. Heroin, he discovered, gave him enough energy to work 24 hours straight.

本康說，“你試試整天用鐵棍挖礦，看看是什麼感覺。”他接着說，就是因爲有人向他保證幹這行能快速致富，他放棄了大學學業。他發現，海洛因讓他有了一天工作24小時的精力。

Miners say at least four out of five workers are habitual drug users. Users who overdose are buried near the mines, amid groves of bamboo.

礦工們說，至少五分之四的工人習慣性吸毒。因吸毒過量而死的人被埋在礦山附近，四周是茂密的竹林。

Over time, heroin abuse spilled into the broader population.

漸漸地，海洛因的濫用擴大到了更廣泛的人羣。

Like many locals, Tang Goon, who works on an antidrug project, believes the government is distributing heroin to weaken the ethnic insurgency, with the military allowing pushers past their checkpoints. “Heroin is their weapon,” he said.

就像許多當地人一樣，在禁毒項目工作的當古(Tang Goon)認爲，爲了遏制民族騷亂，政府正在從事銷售海洛因的勾當，軍方允許非法毒品銷售者通過檢查站。“海洛因是他們的武器，”他說。

But whether the trade is driven by politics or simple greed, the toll has been devastating.

然而，無論這種貿易是受到了政治因素的驅動，還是隻是因爲貪婪，它引發的代價都令人難以承受。

Kachin activists estimate that a sizable majority of Kachin youths are addicts; the World Health Organization has said about 30 percent of injecting drug users in Myitkyina have contracted H.I.V.

克欽的活動人士估計，絕大多數的克欽年輕人吸毒成癮；世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)稱，在密支那，約30%的注射吸毒者感染了艾滋病毒。

With virtually no funding from a central government focused on other priorities, the Kachin rely on church rehabilitation centers that preach a spiritual, if controversial, solution to addiction.

由於基本上無法從中央政府獲得資金，克欽邦依靠教堂康復中心，通過佈道，爲吸毒成癮提供一種具有宗教意義但卻可能引發爭議的解決方案。

At one, the Change in Christ center outside Myitkyina, the founder, Thang Raw, runs a treatment program based on rapturous hymnal sessions and baptismal-like dunks in a concrete water tank that are meant to soothe the agony of withdrawal.

在其中的一家教堂康復中心，密支那外的基督改變中心(Change in Christ Center)，創始人當羅(Thang Raw)負責一個治療項目，它依靠的是令人着迷的讚美詩閱讀會，以及在水泥修築的水槽裏浸禮似的儀式，從而緩解戒毒帶來的痛苦。

The treatment did little to help Mung Hkwang, 21, who despite the sweltering heat lay shivering recently inside the center’s thatch-roofed dormitory. His ankle, tattooed with a marijuana leaf, was shackled to his bed to keep him from running away to feed his habit.

這種治療沒有爲21歲的孟寬(Mung Hkwang)帶來多少幫助，不久前的一天，在悶熱的天氣裏，他躺在茅草屋頂的中心宿舍裏，渾身發抖。他那紋了大麻葉紋身的腳踝被拷在了牀上，這是爲了防止他跑出去吸毒。

“It ruined my life and destroyed my education,” he said.

“它毀了我的人生，毀了我的學業，”他說。

Just weeks later, Mr. Mung Hkwang ran away and died from a heroin overdose.

幾周之後，孟寬跑了，後來死於海洛因過量。

The Hand of China

中國之手

There are plenty of culprits in Myanmar’s illicit jade and drug trades. But many human rights activists reserve their harshest criticism for China, which they say is content to profit from the mounting chaos that has engulfed Myanmar’s jade industry.

緬甸的非法玉石和毒品貿易中，有很多罪魁禍首。但許多人權活動人士都把最嚴厲的批評都給了中國。他們說，中國心安理得地從緬甸玉石行業的日益嚴重的混亂中受益。

“China prioritizes naked greed over any concern for the local population or how the jade is extracted,” said David Mathieson, a senior researcher on Myanmar for Human Rights Watch.

“中國把赤裸裸的貪慾置於當地民衆或者玉石開採方式等問題之上，”人權觀察組織緬甸問題高級研究員戴維·馬西森(David Mathieson)說。

Jade has fired the Chinese imagination for thousands of years. According to legend, the birth of Confucius was prophesied by a unicorn who gave his mother a jade tablet heralding his destiny. To this day, many Chinese believe the stone wards off misfortune and heals the body.

幾千年來，玉石一直激發着中國人的想象。傳說中，孔子的出生之前，有麒麟獻玉書，上面預言了孔子的命運。直到今天，許多中國人還相信這種石頭能夠辟邪祛病。

“Jade, from ancient to modern times, is a symbol of grace to Chinese people,” said Zhi Feina, 34, a civil servant and repeat customer at the Beijing Colorful Yunnan Company, an opulent three-story jade emporium in Beijing where she was trying on bracelets.

“從古至今，玉對中國人來說都一種優雅的象徵，”34歲的公務員支菲娜說。她是北京七彩雲南商貿有限公司的常客，這是一家氣派的玉石商城，共有三層。此刻她正在商城內試戴手鐲。

The state-affiliated Gems & Jewelry Trade Association of China estimates that annual sales of jade are as high as $5 billion, more than half of which comes from Burmese jade.

政府旗下的中國珠寶玉石首飾行業協會估計，玉石的年銷售額高達50億美元，其中超過一半來自緬甸翡翠。

In a rare admission, China’s ambassador to Myanmar, Yang Houlan, confirmed that some Chinese are breaking Burmese laws, but he said Beijing was trying to clamp down.

中國駐緬甸大使楊厚蘭也罕見地證實，有些中國人違反了緬甸法律，但北京正在努力予以打壓。

“There are some businessmen engaged in illegal activities who, attracted by outsize profits, cross the border to mine or smuggle jade,” he said in an email, adding that the two nations have stepped up cooperation on border controls and money-laundering investigations. “But there are some parts of this illicit trade that, like drugs, can’t be stamped out.”

“一些商人受到巨大利益的誘惑從事了不法活動，穿越邊境去挖礦或走私翡翠，”他在郵件中說。兩國已經加強了邊境管控和洗錢調查方面的合作，他接着說，“但有些非法貿易，就像毒品一樣，是無法徹底根除的。”

Activists dispute the notion that the governments are serious about cracking down. Without a stronger push for reform from China, they say, they have little hope that conditions will improve.

活動人士不認爲兩國政府真的想要打壓這些活動。他們說，如果中國不大力推動改革，他們不相信情況會出現改善。

So far, there does not appear to be an appetite for major change. During an interview, Shi Hongyue, vice secretary general of the Gems & Jewelry Trade Association of China, refused to even discuss the ills plaguing the Burmese jade trade.

迄今爲止，政府似乎沒有做出重大改變的意願。在採訪中，中國珠寶玉石首飾行業協會副祕書長史洪嶽甚至拒絕談論緬甸玉石貿易的弊端。

When pressed about heroin at the mines, Mr. Shi was dismissive. “Honestly,” he said, “the amount of drugs they’re using isn’t really that much.”

在被問道礦工使用海洛因的問題時，史洪嶽似乎有些不屑。“老實說，”他說，“他們使用的毒品其實沒那麼多。”