Kunlun

The Kunlun country above Khotan joined mountain resources to the oasis routes of the southern Tarim Basin. Jade occurred in the region's rivers as well as mountain quarries. Its extraction linked the highland landscape with distant workshops and courts, giving stones from this difficult terrain a value far beyond their place of origin.

After the Qing conquest of the region in 1759, the court mobilised local Muslim nobles and workers to obtain jade. Nobles helped locate reserves and organise labour; tribute shipments went to the imperial court in spring and autumn. Large stones travelled overland towards Beijing, where the Imperial Household Department arranged their manufacture into objects. A jade basin bearing a Qianlong poem dated 1774 identifies Khotan as its source. Such commissions connected the mountain-and-river resource country with imperial administration, transport and artistic production.