Land of Jade: A Journey from India through Northern Burma to China

by Bertil Lintner, Hseng Noung Lintner (Photographer)

Gripping record of a now legendary odyssey through northern Burma by reporter Bertil Lintner and family, updated by the author and newly indexed.

Genres: History, Travel, Asia, Nonfiction

474 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1995

Reviews

[phrajao · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book, even if you aren't particularly interested in Burma. Bertil Lintner--the Burmese government's perpetual thorn in its side--and his pregnant Burmese wife sneak into the hills of insurgent controlled Burma via Assam India and spend the next 1.5-2 years playing cat-and-mouse with the government army as they treck across northern Burma. Gives first-hand account of life for the various ethnic groups across Burma and the armies fighting for their freedom.

[Moe Ye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don’t get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoy the travelogue part and occasional shrewd political observation. As an ordinary person who likely would never experience what it is like in remote ethnic regions stricken with civil war, such accounts are invaluable to me.

However, I found the author’s impression of each rebel group to be highly based on his own predetermined prejudices instead of being neutral and factual as he claimed. Depending on the opinion he already held beforehand, he would find nothing to fault or everything wrong.

Also, his understanding of basic political ideologies is almost laughable for a political journalist. One example of describing the life of a former waiter at a hotel in Rangoon as “his days of capitalist exploitation at the Strand” comes to mind.

[DowdyGUMP · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m giving this book four-stars because the title is misleading (lol)
This book does not detail the Jade trade in Burma whatsoever; other than mentioning that the KIA controlled the mines for a time.

However, I love this author and depending on what you expect to get out of reading this book, it probably deserves five-stars (or less).

It gives you firsthand knowledge of pre-1989 CPB-controlled territory in Burma. MUCH of the book is completely unnecessary unless you really care about the daily life of Bertil Lintner at the time; but informative nonetheless.

There are plenty of tidbits of political information that is quite useful to us history-buffs, but you’re gonna have to do quite a bit of sifting to find it.

If like me, you were most interested in the Kokang, Wa, and hills of Kengtung, then you’ll be pleased with the three chapters detailing these special-regions.

[Tabitha Hane · Rating 4 out of 5]

In short, I found that this book provided helpful context to the ongoing conflict within Myanmar. The author provides vivid detail and it’s shocking how much of the detail from 1980s is still true of much of Myanmar today.

I would recommend to anyone keen on the above-mentioned context. Otherwise, they probably won’t find it very attention grabbing.

[dEstInEdnOmAd · Rating 4 out of 5]

thoroughly enjoyed it//

[Priyavrat Raghav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it greatly.
This book will turn you into somewhat of an expert on the subject matter which is so interesting, I wonder why it is entirely unknown in the world.
Recommended.

[Richard Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful adventure of a book! Written in 1986, this is the story of a trek of Homeric proportions through one of the last unmapped wilderness on the Asian continent. Revolutionaries, drug lords, jade miners, a very well written adventure story featuring a Western journalist his Burmese (Shan) photographer wife and their infant daughter. Between 1962-1990 Burma was almost completely closed off from the West. This book's intrepid on site reporting chronicles an important era in Burmese history."