Embarrassing

As Tengchong, a city in Yunnan Province with a 600-year history of jade processing, was undergoing redevelopment, crowds of local residents flooded to the construction sites to search for jade. The craze was based on the mythical claim that ancient Tengchong jadeite processors would use low-quality jade or leftover remnants as rubble for house foundations. Although experts said that the leftover jade, if it exists at all, is actually of little commercial value, the diggers kept shoveling, hoping they would find something special. The digging fever has proved problematic for the city’s social order and security, with the local government warning the public not to indulge in the empty dream of wealth.