Nephrite such as Lantian, Shaanxi, were also in great demand). There, white and greenish nephrite jade is found in small quarries and as pebbles and boulders in the rivers flowing from the Kuen-Lun mountain range northward into the Takla-Makan desert area. River jade collection was concentrated in the Yarkand, and the White Jade (Yurungkash) and Black Jade (Karakash) Rivers in Khotan. From the Kingdom of Khotan, on the southern leg of the Silk Road, yearly tribute payments consisting of the most precious white jade were made to the Chinese imperial court and there transformed into "objets d'art" by skilled artisans, as
The First Series of Standardized Forms of Words with Non-standardized Variant Forms only three times in the "People's Daily" between 1995 and 2000. The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China has called on teachers throughout China to use and teach the forms recommended in "The First Series of Standardized Forms of Words with Non-standardized Variant Forms". Before March 31, 2005, a student's use of one of the variant written forms not recommended in the "First Series" on a test like Gaokao would not influence points earned on a given question. Implementation of the Ministry's policy is not to influence the usage of variant written forms in research on ancient