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Timecode
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Images
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Narration
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0:00
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TEASE:
Spectacular scenery
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High in Western China’s Kunlun
mountains men gamble with their money and their lives.
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Jade carving
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The prize is some of the finest jade on earth...
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Maiturouz
Praying to a sheep
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…but winning it requires many sacrifices.
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Happy faces
Disappointed/angry faces
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Life in the mountain camps is hard. And the work is
harder.
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00.28
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Explosions
Exhausted Kurban
Hauling huge rocks
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The jade must be clawed from the mountains grip, and
then manhauled down its treacherous slopes.
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00.36
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It’s a hard way
to make a living, but for over 2000 years, little has changed for the jade
hunters of China.
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TITLE:
JADE HUNTERS OF CHINA
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0:52
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Donkeys being packed and setting off
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In Western China, a
team of donkeys is loaded up for a journey that has been made since ancient
times.
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1:02
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It’s September, and these men are setting out
to bring supplies to a mining camp high in the mountains.
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1:14
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Trips like this have been made since the Qin
Dynasty, over 2000 years ago and the supply train has been running since May.
This is the last supply run of the season. In two or three weeks time, the
mountain weather will start to make mining impossible, and the camps will
close for the winter. But reports are coming in from the camps of
discontented miners, and not much jade.
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2:09
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Donkeys
Map of China: Zoom in on the west to show the Kunlun Mountains, the Tibetan Plateau and
Yutian.
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The jade expeditions climb into the Kunlun Mountains
from the town of Yutian,
on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau.
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2:22
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Wide pans of mountains
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Immense geological forces that raised these
mountains formed volcanoes, which melted the rocks to create the precious
mineral.
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2:37
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As the rocks cooled, those that contained silicon
formed crystals: crystals of purest, whitest, most highly prized jade.
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2:47
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Jade
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To Chinese people, it’s the most valuable of
all precious stones – the essence of heaven and earth.
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2:56
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Jade
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A simple small
bracelet made from white jade could fetch US$12,000.00.
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3:03
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WS mountains
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Men are prepared to risk their lives for such
fortunes.
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3:11
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Donkey caravan trekking into the mountains.
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But the mountains don’t yield their treasure
easily. Only an intrepid few dare to take it.
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3:20
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They’re
adventurers, gambling that somewhere here on the roof of the world,
they’ll find the vein that will make them rich.
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The
Alamasu Camp
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3:30
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Map showing location
of Alamasu
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3 days’ ride south from Yutian, eight men have
set up a camp at Alamasu, 14,000 feet above sea level.
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3:40
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Establishing shots
of Alamasu camp
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Most of these men come from Sichuan province 900 miles to the east.
Their clothing and equipment are minimal.
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4:06
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Inside
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Accommodation is very basic: rock walls and plastic
sheeting to keep out the mountain weather.
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4:33
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Sleeping
bags
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It’s all very lo-tech — but comfortable
enough, when the weather’s good.
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4:41
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Zhang Jianguo
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The leader, Zhang Jianguo is an entrepreneur. He
financed this expedition, and guarantees his workers a steady wage. But he
stands to gain or lose a fortune at Alamasu.
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5:04
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Remainder of Breakfast
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Back in their villages, these unskilled labourers
could earn around 70 dollars a month; they get twice that for each of the 3
months they spend here.
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5:18
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Though he’s only 21, Xiao Jiang has been well
paid for mining in these mountains for the last 7 years.
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5:34
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Lao Wang has earned enough to build a 2-story house:
the best in his village.
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5:40
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Men finishing breakfast
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5:55
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Tying the diesel fuel onto Kurban’s back.
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The strongest man on this team comes from here in
Xinjiang. As a child, Kurban helped his grandfather to herd sheep in this
region. Now he’s joined the hunt for jade.
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6:15
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Setting off
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Today, he carries the heaviest load, a tank of fuel
and leads the team to the mine site.
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6:23
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Cut back to the Lao Tian (the cook)
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Lao Tian – the cook – will spend the day
at camp, where he can wait for much needed supplies.
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6:33
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Walking up a slope
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The walk to work is steep, and – at 2 and a half
miles above sea level, where the air is thin and the temperatures are cold -
very strenuous, but the scenery is spectacular.
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6:47
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Singing as they walk through the mountains.
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And along the way, Kurban provides entertainment.
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7:20
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Arriving at camp, and beginning to work.
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The Alamasu mine is a modest operation. Zhang
Jianguo can only afford enough equipment for one or two miners to dig at
once.
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7:30
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Miners waiting
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The rest wait for their chance to blast the rock and
dig through the rubble.
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7:44
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Low oxygen can make men sluggish, and for young Xiao
Jiang, living at 13 thousand feet was a shock, at first.
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Overdubbed voices:
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7:53
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Xiao Jiang
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Xiao Jiang:
I had no appetite.
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7:55
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I couldn’t sleep.
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7:58
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I’ve never seen this before. It’s the
first time.
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8:00
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I just feel cool.
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8:02
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I feel the environment here is cool.
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WS mountains
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8:08
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Map showing location
of Hainilake camp
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To the west is a second camp called Hainilake
It’s 1600 feet higher. Here another team tries its luck against even
greater odds.
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8:21
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WS region
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The way to the Hainilake mine is a secret known to
very few people.
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Miners climbing over steep rocks.
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8:40
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Scenes including snow and ice.
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Here, the altitude, the temperature, the climate
– are all more extreme.
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8:52
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Man brings bundle of sticks to camp
MWS camp
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The miners of Hainilake aren’t Chinese;
they’re Uighurs: Sunni Moslems culturally more similar to the people of
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
to the west.
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9:15
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Man with wolf
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One
of the miners keeps a pet wolf.
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He
hopes to take it home with him to breed with a dog when the mining season
ends, in 2 or 3 weeks’ time.
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9:32
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That’s
all the time they have left this year and, so far, they’ve found
nothing.
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Drilling at the Alamasu Mine
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9:40
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Starting up motor at the Alamasu mine
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Back at Alamasu, Zhang Jianguo has invested in a
diesel powered compressor.
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9:57
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Kurban and the others struggle to start it each day.
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10:03
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Until 50 years ago, all the power in the Kunlun jade mines came from human muscle. Now, machines
such as this take some of the sweat out of the daily work of drilling and
blasting.
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11:02
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Drilling
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Always keen, Kurban takes charge of the pneumatic
drill.
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11:09
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Zhang Jianguo has time to sit and worry about his
investment.
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Overdubbed voices:
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11:20
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Zhang Jianguo:
The places we’ve searched haven’t shown
much promise.
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11:24
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Last year was slightly better.
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11:27
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This year hasn’t been good.
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12:12
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Stoppage
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Neither Zhang nor any of his labourers has much technical knowledge
about mining: they rely on experience and luck. And luck is never guaranteed.
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Overdubbed voices:
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12:23
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Zhang Jianguo:
If there are no good quality stones,
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like this year,
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there could be some losses.
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If we get some good stones, profits will be OK.
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Mining
carries certain risks with it.
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12.53
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It’s time to set the charges.
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Overdubbed voices:
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13.19
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Bring something over
to poke it. Use an iron bar.
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13.30
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Don’t push it
too hard otherwise it will explode.
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13.33
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It won’t
explode.
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13:48
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Yelling a warning
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Kurban sounds the
warning to keep clear.
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Explosion
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14:13
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Rocks rolling down a scree slope
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Saidikulami
Camp
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14:22
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Map showing location
of Saidikulami
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At the jade camp of Saidikulami, an anxious group of
Chinese miners faces the prospect of failure this season.
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14:33
14.43
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Mamat having a meal.
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A number of the men have caught the ‘flu in
the cold weather.
This labourer hasn’t eaten for days.
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14:50
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Dissolve to MCU Tian Wei
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Tian Wei is the foreman here – and he’s
losing money.
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14:55
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MCU Maiturouz
Half mix footage of mine
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In a last desperate attempt of find some jade,
he’s sent for Maiturouz, an old miner who claims to know of a hidden
mine nearby.
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Overdubbed voices:
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15:06
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Maiturouz:
When we first came in 1972,
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15:09
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there was an old man
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who told us there was a mine,
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where the rocks were very white.
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15:16
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We searched for that place lots of times, years ago.
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15:25
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Maybe it was buried or hidden under falling stones,
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No we couldn’t find it.
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15:34
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Footage of “the
lost mine”: soft edges and
“colorised”
blue to give it a mythical/dreamlike quality.
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Jade
hunters have been coming to the Kunlun
Mountains for
centuries.
Is
it possible that the old man knows about a mine that all these miners have
missed?
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15:45
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Maybe…
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Overdubbed voices:
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15:48
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Tian Wei:
I plan to go up tomorrow.
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To the places that you know
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After that, we will search around for the vein.
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15:54
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End on a pensive Tian Wei
FTB
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But this is a last desperate throw of the dice. Tian
Wei has less than 3 weeks to find jade, or lose his investment in the camp.
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Rain
at Alamasu
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16:08
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WS early morning in the mountains
Sequence of rain approaching.
Streams running
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This season has brought the worst summer rains to
the Kunlun Jade mines for 20 years.
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16:24
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On 4 days out of 10, it’s too wet for the
miners to go out in any of the three camps.
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16:41
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All they can do is wait…
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Lao Wang looks out at rain
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CU Cassette put into machine
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16:54
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Zhao Jianguo
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At
Alamasu camp, Zhang Jianguo has agreed to pay his labourers a high wage, rain
or shine.
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17:04
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On
wet days, he sees his investment trickle away.
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17:12
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Cook at work
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Lao
Tian, the cook, at least keeps the men well-fed.
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17:25
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Playing chess
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Apart from that, the labourers have to rely on a
sparse collection of music and games to keep boredom at bay.
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18:14
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Writing
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While Zhang does some bookkeeping, Xiao Jiang has
been fossicking for something he craves: a cigarette.
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Chooks running around outside
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Overdubbed voices:
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18:23
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Cigarette sequence
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Zhang Jianguo:
Where did you get the cigarette?
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Xiao Jiang:
From Kurban’s tent.
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Zhang Jianguo:
Where?
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Xiao Jiang:
From that tent.
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Zhang Jianguo:
Is it a butt?
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Xiao Jiang:
No. It’s a real cigarette.
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Zhang Jianguo:
You must be addicted.
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18:44
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Xiao Jiang:
I guess it can’t be lit.
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18:47
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Zhang Jianguo:
Come on, that cigarette’s rubbish!
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18:59
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Xiao Jiang:
It doesn’t taste like a cigarette.
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19:04
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Damn, it’s been crushed.
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19:06
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There’s no taste left.
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Cook pops out to the pipe to fill a bucket.
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19:11
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Kurban tapping on a canteen and singing
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Kurban tries to beat the camp blues by sharing his
repertoire of Uighur folk songs.
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19:30
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The rain not only dampens their spirits but
decreased their chances of going home to their families with a bonus in their
pay packet.
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19:48
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At last, the rain begins to clear.
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20:00
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The cook tips water off the plastic sheeting.
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The miners of Alamasu will soon head back up the
mountain to check the results of their most recent blasting.
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Searching
for the Lost Mine
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20:09
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Tian Wei and Maiturouz
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Meanwhile, over at Saidikulami, Tian Wei and the old
miner Maiturouz have begun their search for the lost mine: Tian Wei’s
last chance to save his investment.
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Overdubbed voices:
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20.32
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Miner:
The jade stone here is all in broken pieces.
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It is all like that, here.
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20.57
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If you prize it with this tool it will easily come
away.
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If you hit it, it will make a sound like
‘crack, crack’ like that.
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21.22
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This is all broken.
This area is all like that.
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21.28
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The vein starts up there and comes down through
here.
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21:34
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But Maiturouz doesn’t believe it’s the
vein they’re looking for. They try further up the mountain.
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21:53
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This is a promising site: Maiturouz advises Tian Wei
what to do.
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Overdubbed voices:
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21:59
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Sequence: looking at the second site.
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Maiturouz:
And over there, if it’s possible.
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Use the pneumatic drill.
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Drill two or threes holes near that side.
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Set off some explosive and have a look.
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21:09
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Don’t touch that on top.
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22:17
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But Maiturouz knows this isn’t the lost mine,
either.
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22:22
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Hours of searching bring them no closer to saving
Tian Wei’s investment.
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22:30
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MWS camp
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Tian Wei’s becoming agitated. He’s
looking sideways at once of his labourers, wondering if he’s secretly
found a vein of jade on another part of the mountain.
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Overdubbed voices:
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22:40
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Tirade by Tian Wei.
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Tian Wei:
What have you found over where you are?
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22:43
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Mamat:
Nothing.
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22:46
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Tian Wei:
Nothing at all?
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22:49
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Well just keep going!
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How many times have I told you?
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Keep looking until you know there’s really
nothing there.
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22:54
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Mamat:
But can’t you see that it’s raining?
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Tian Wei:
Then why have you told me you haven’t found
anything ?
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Mamat (OOV):
I’m just saying…
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Tian Wei:
Well, what do you to do? If you don’t want to
work, just leave.
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A pause while everyone calms down.
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23:31
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Tian Wei:
As I said, if we’re finished before September
10th,
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everything’ll be fine.
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If not, then all we can do is go back down.
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23:45
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There’s no point in staying here, because When
it snows,
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we can’t see anything.
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23:59
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Walking down the hill today, I suddenly realised
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that we’ve made a mistake.
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If we’d spent the money
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to employ a technician at the very beginning,
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we’d have been much better off.
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One technician is more use than all of us together.
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24:22
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When I go back down , I’ll ask the boss to
send me two technicians.
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24:29
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I’ll pay the salaries.
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24:33
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Then, if I can’t find anything, I’ll
just accept failure.
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24:38
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All my money is invested here.
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Pep talk
and mining at Hainilake
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24:52
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WS Mountains
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Even for experienced jade miners, life at 14,000
feet in the Kunlun
Mountains is no picnic.
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25:03
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MWS Hainilake camp
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It’s only breakfast time, but already the
labourers at Hainilake are complaining.
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25:14
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MWS breakfast
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Even the cook has been muttering that he never
expected it to be this hard.
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25:26
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Miners talking
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Even though most were born in this region,
they’re missing home, and some are griping about the work.
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25:38
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Miners talking
Mamat washing
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Seven miners have already left the camp, and if many
more go, it’ll seriously compromise the endeavour. Mamat – the
financier of this expedition – could lose his money.
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Food into the tent
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25:55
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Mamat prepares to speak.
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He has just a few more days of good weather left to
get enough jade out of these mountains, to make a profit. He needs his team
to stand by him – so he’s decided to give them a ‘pep
talk’.
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Overdubbed voices:
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26:14
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Mamat’s speech
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Mamat:
Now,
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26:11
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We’ve been together here 4 months.
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26:23
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I didn’t force you to come.
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26:26
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You wanted to come yourselves.
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26:30
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But if someone wants to leave.
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26:35
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OK. I really don’t care - just don’t
threaten me, okay.
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26:45
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Stay or leave, you must decide yourselves.
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It’s a tough job here we’ve got to do.
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26:57
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We all trust each other, that’s because we
know each other – well.
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That’s why I brought you all here.
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27:06
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I just hope everyone does their best.
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27:20
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Putting on helmets (over Uighur caps) and heading up
the hill.
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The path up to the mine would challenge a
mountaineer, but these hardy sons of herders climb it every day, in street
clothes and sandshoes.
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27:56
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Journey to the mine
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At this altitude, most people would gasp for breath
after just a few steps.
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28:11
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Every day the team must go six kilometres to the
source of the jade. It’s a tough climb that takes over two hours.
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29:33
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Tilt to mine
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The vein of jade they’re working, is located
at the bottom of a pit.
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29:39
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Men at mine
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Some of his labourers are inexperienced, but Mamat
is confident and clear about what he wants.
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Overdubbed voices:
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29:44
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Mamat directs operations.
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Mamat:
I want you to start drilling from here and then move
upwards.
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We’re going to focus on this place here.
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Dig out there and then set off the explosives.
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Dig here,
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Drill the holes right in here.
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Like this,
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Then we’ll place the explosives and clear the
sight and then we’ll blast it.
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Drilling
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31:26
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Blasting
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When the dust clears, they’ll gather their
treasure.
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Finding
Jade at Hainilake
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31:32
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Looking at what they’ve got.
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Once the rocks have stopped falling, the Hainilake
jade hunters climb down a rope of twisted yak hair, to check their blast
site.
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31:55
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CU rocks
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They’ve uncovered some second class jade.
It’s not the best, but Mamat and his team have something to show for
their struggles and investment.
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Overdubbed voices:
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32:06
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Mamat:
The bigger the better.
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It’st a shame, it’s too small.
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The colour isn’t bad.
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Bagging
jade at Hainilake
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32:44
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Mamat demonstrates good jade.
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Good jade has a watery shine and a smooth finish. It
looks translucent, like honey, with a pure even colour.
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32:59
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Throws bad jade over his shoulder.
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Any jade that fails these standards isn’t
worth carrying down the mountain.
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Kurban’s
Journey
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33:09
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Alamasu mine: sorting jade.
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The vein at the Alamasu mine has produced good jade
- well worth carrying down the mountain. . One rock weighs around 100 pounds.
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33:21
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Kurban tying rock
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Kurban – strong and ever willing – has
volunteered to carry it back to the camp.
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33:51
|
Kurban moves off
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Using
the makeshift sling of yak-hair rope, and a folded jacket as padding for his
back, he sets off. He’s carrying the weight of a small refrigerator on
his shoulders.
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|
34:13
|
Kurban walking
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He has a 6 mile journey ahead of him.
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34:48
|
Looks very fatigued.
|
Kurban has an ambition. He’ll use the money he
earns from jade to buy a motorbike, so he can trade sheepskins in the area
near his village. Such thoughts drive him on, but don’t make the load
any lighter.
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35:52
|
Lao Tian arrives
|
Lao Tian, the cook,
has taken a break from his lighter duties at the camp to walk up the
mountain.
|
|
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Overdubbed
voices:
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35.58
|
|
Put
it down.
|
|
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Kurban:
Yeah.
|
|
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Lao
Tian:
Put
it up there.
|
|
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Kurban:
No
its all right
|
36.12
|
|
Lao
Tian:
Put
in on top of the big rock.
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36.14
|
|
Too
hard to stand up again. No it doesn’t matter
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36:20
|
Other miners arrive
|
The other miners,
with lighter loads, have caught up.
|
36:29
|
Zhang Jianguo
|
The only load carried
by Zhang Jianguo is responsibility for the expedition.
|
36:47
|
Low angle shot
|
Kurban manages to
keep up with the others for a while.
|
36:57
|
CU feet
|
But altitude, weight
and fatigue begin to take their toll.
|
37:16
|
WS miners and camp
|
The rest of the team
is nearly home.
|
37:30
|
CU feet on mud
|
Each weary step is
more treacherous than the last.
|
39.01
|
WS Kurban
|
Kurban’s dream
keeps him going: He thinks often of a girl in his home village.
|
39:13
|
CU Kurban
|
If he buys the
motorbike, she’ll marry him. And he’ll give her the heart-shaped
pendant he’s been carving for her.
|
39.43
|
Cook looking at rock
|
After a 10 hour
journey, it’s an exhausted Kurban that finally makes it back to camp.
|
40.10
|
|
The reward for all
his effort may be small, but it’ll help his dream come true.
|
|
|
Sheep
Sacrifice
|
|
|
40:28
|
WS
mountains
|
For the jade hunters
of Saidikulami, there are no rewards this season.
|
|
40:45
|
Taking a sheep up to sacrifice it
|
Tian Wei and his team have done their best and
failed.
|
|
40:50
|
Sheep sacrifice
|
They’re making a final desperate appeal to the
god of the mountain.
|
|
41:07
|
|
They’ll
sacrifice a goat.
|
|
41:51
|
End with Tian Wei praying
|
Tian Wei gambled with the Kunlun Mountains.
|
|
41:58
|
|
And lost.
|
|
|
Big
Rock at Alamasu
|
|
|
42:13
|
MWS Alamasu
Large rock
|
Even the successful jade hunters must still face
risks. At Alamasu, cook Lao Tian and 3 other miners have accepted an offer
from Zhang Jianguo.
|
|
42:31
|
tying large rock to makeshift cradle
|
He’s promised them $120 to carry this rock
down the mountain.
|
|
42:51
|
|
The rock weighs 400 pounds: heavier than two large
men.
|
|
42:58
|
M4S men
|
Like sailors singing a sea shanty, they chant to
keep working in rhythm.
|
|
|
CU rock
|
|
|
43:10
|
MWS men with rock
|
Its finished retail value will depend on how
it’s cut and carved, but could be as high as $300,000 dollars. These
men are earning $30 each.
|
|
44:10
|
Sequence of taking the rock down the mountain.
|
The nearest point where they can transfer their load
to a donkey is still 5 or 6 days away.
|
|
44:18
|
Walking away down the valley
|
With about a tonne of jade altogether, Zhang Jianguo
and his Alamasu team have done better this year than the hapless miners of Saidikulami.
|
|
Taking
jade out of the mountains
|
|
|
44:35
|
Tilt down to miners in gorge
|
At Hainilake, they’ve also been successful,
but getting their jade out of the mine takes a 2 day journey through
extremely rough country. A small group makes the trip every few days.
|
|
44:51
|
Miners on slippery rocks
|
Each of these miners is gambling with his life.
|
|
45:11
|
3 miners carrying backpacks down steep rocks.
|
One slip on this cliff could send them plunging
12,000 feet to the rocks below.
|
|
46:19
|
WS bottom of cliff
|
Having negotiated the cliff, their next challenge
is a flooded river.
|
46.32
|
Crossing on flying fox
|
The gamble
isn’t over yet.
|
46:34
|
flying fox
|
They trust their
weight – and their lives – to a steel cable strung between rocks.
|
|
47:47
|
Trudging
|
The long haul takes them to a depot, which is
constantly guarded against thieves.
|
|
48:02
|
|
Before they head back to camp, the miners help to
prepare Mamat’s jade for market.
|
|
48:17
|
Weighing, and sealing bags with wire
|
Each bag is weighed, then fitted with a tamper-proof
seal: a twist of wire.
|
|
48:35
|
Dabbing paint
|
And a dab of yellow paint.
|
|
48:43
|
Donkeys
|
Donkeys now take over, carrying the jade for 3
days, to the nearest road.
|
|
48.53
|
Wider shots of donkeys heading away down the cliff.
|
And
with each step closer to market, the value of the jade increases.
|
|
49:03
|
WS mountain side
|
As
winter closes in, and the mining season ends, the jade hunters’ gamble
is over. Some succeeded; others failed. None lost their lives, but some lost
their fortunes. But the lure of riches is powerful enough to draw some back,
every year, to hunt jade in the Kunlun
Mountains?
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DUR: 30 SEC
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CREDITS
|
