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c. 100 BCE onwardReputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Nephrite Jade Flows East from Khotan

For the Chinese imperial court, white jade from a remote Central Asian kingdom outranked gold or silver

On the timeline · around c. 100 BCE onward · Zhang Qian and the Opening of the RoadBefore Silk: Camels, Jade, and Lapis LazuliZhang Qian and the Opening of the RoadNephrite Jade Flows East from Khotan450 BCE250 BCE100 BCE50 BCE

Quick facts

Source kingdom
Khotan, southern rim of the Tarim Basin
Rivers
Karakash and Yurungkash, from the Kunlun mountains
Value in China
Considered more valuable than gold or silver
Fashion shift
Pure white jade became available in the 1st century BCE

What happened

Once the southern route around the Taklamakan Desert came under Chinese influence, the oasis kingdom of Khotan became one of the most consistent tribute suppliers to the Chinese court, sending nephrite jade gathered from the Karakash and Yurungkash rivers that flow down from the Kunlun mountains. The World History Encyclopedia's account of jade in ancient China notes that a fashion for pure white jade from Central Asia took hold in the first century BCE specifically once this supply opened up following Han expansion, joining an existing preference for greenish jade that stretched back to around 6000 BCE. Khotan's jade was valued in China above gold or silver and was reworked by court artisans into ritual and ornamental objects.

Why it matters

Jade gave the southern branch of the road, the route skirting the Taklamakan through Khotan and Kashgar rather than the northern route through Turfan and Kucha, its own reason to exist independent of silk, tying a specific Central Asian kingdom's prosperity directly to a Chinese imperial appetite that predated the Silk Road by millennia.

How we know

The University of Washington's Silk Road Seattle project's overview of the trade routes documents Khotan's role using period artifacts, including silk fragments and coins found near the city, alongside the World History Encyclopedia's synthesis of the jade trade's chronology.

Sources

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Part of a timelineThe Silk Road29 events · How camel caravans, Sogdian merchants, and pilgrim monks stitched China to Rome, Byzantium, and the Islamic world across a thousand miles of desert and steppeView all →
Nephrite Jade Flows East from Khotan · The Silk Road · SourcedStory