WI Europeans discover Jade in Taiwan

Jade was highly valued by the Chinese (more than silver or gold) as a medium for jewelry within China. Concentrated around the village of Fengtain (Eastern Taiwan) there were jade mines that was hand-worked from 1952 until the introduction of roads and mechanical power in the 1970s (technically feasible). Of course such an operation would require slaves/serfs for the mines, a large active European presence in Taiwan, and it would give Europeans something to trade with the Chinese that they didn't quite value themselves like silver. Which kingdom was most likely to make this happen and what would the Chinese do about it?
 
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Very interesting thought. The question is when. When the jade is discovered and when it first starts being properly exploited can potentially produce some very different results.

If it happens early enough, the extra investment might make the island defensible come the fall of the Ming. In that case, Taiwan might well never be Chinese.

After Koxinga/Koksengia/Guoxingye seized the island, it's a different matter entirely. The island will be Chinese, yet efforts by outside powers to snap it up during the Qing time of troubles will only intensify.

If it comes under Japanese control it'll be even more profitable. I wonder what the development on that side of the island would be like. Historically a lot of the Japanese investment was in or near existing Han Chinese communities, though there was violence when they started timber extraction in native-Taiwanese areas. A whole industry in the east could go many different ways: it could plant a Chinese or Chinese-Japanese colony isolating and absorbing the local communities, or it could employ those local peoples and even reduce the Sinification of the isle.

For Japan itself this would make a big difference. Taiwanese sugar basically created the gold reserves that allowed Japan to leapfrog to Power status. If jade could really be a substantial revenue stream, you'd be seeing visible differences in Japan, with a significant component being their military investments.
 
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What was Chinese jade consumption like? On what scale?

If you wanted to participate in the Ming economy on any non-subsistence level, silver needed to pass through your hands. That in the largest state in the world, whose population was booming.

Jade I don't know. If it's only purchased by a limited class, even very high prices might not really justify it. Or might at least not have a dramatic impact other than locally.

Although perhaps some good capitalist can convince the rising Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese/Korean middle classes that they need to give a certain amount of jade to each son or something.
 
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What was Chinese jade conception like? On what scale?

If you wanted to participate in the Ming economy on any non-subsistence level, silver needed to pass through your hands. That in the largest state in the world, whose population was booming.

Jade I don't know. If it's only purchased by a limited class, even very high prices might not really justify it. Or might at least not have a dramatic impact other than locally.

Although perhaps some good capitalist can convince the rising Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese/Korean middle classes that they need to give a certain amount of jade to each son or something.
Despite the importance of silver as currency, the value of jade has been historically unmatched throughout 2000 years of Chinese history, examples including the He Shi Bi. The Emperors and every noble existing is willing to pay a hefty price for as many jade as they can find.
There is also the traditional Zhua Zhou that involves Jade in the sinosphere for the middle class.
 
I wonder how the Chinese will react to this, first of all would they know if the mining operation was secretive like the Portuguese? Second of all would they care, the usual thing was to make the land as a tributary. No European power could project enough power against a determined Chinese attempt at taking the island, atleast when China isn't suffering turmoil or until European naval technology outstrips Chinese naval power.
 
Despite the importance of silver as currency, the value of jade has been historically unmatched throughout 2000 years of Chinese history, examples including the He Shi Bi. The Emperors and every noble existing is willing to pay a hefty price for as many jade as they can find.
There is also the traditional Zhua Zhou that involves Jade in the sinosphere for the middle class.

Well and good, but one of these seems to be somewhat general and the other an anecdote. What we really want to work from is some information about the price of jade over a couple centuries and the corresponding historical production. Not to mention the production figure details on the Taiwan source.
 
Apparently, the Taiwanese mines accounted for 60% of world production between the 1970s-1990s but closed down due to higher costs of operation. The problem is that those figures are industrial and non-qualitative, since most jade mining nowadays occurs in British Columbia where higher quality jade is found. Either way its a relative cost thing, jade today at 1000s$ a ounce to a 40K/year American is nowhere near the fortune it was to an average European several centuries back where only Chinese nobles had them.
 
If Japan were to find and claim the jade, about what time might this take place?
I wasn't aware of jade being mined in Taiwan, so I wouldn't know when it was first discovered there OTL.
 
If Japan were to find and claim the jade, about what time might this take place?
I wasn't aware of jade being mined in Taiwan, so I wouldn't know when it was first discovered there OTL.

Probably during Hideyoshi's proposed invasion of the island assuming it actually occurs. Or later on during their colonisation of Taiwan after the First Sino-Japanese War.
 
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