The Yurungkash River flows north from the Kunlun Mountains across the gravel plains south of Hotan, carrying with it deposits of nephrite that have been collected since at least 1000 BC. The river's name in Uyghur means White Jade River, and its bed is famous enough that jade hunters wade into it year-round, hoping to find stones that the current has turned up.
The practical experience of visiting is more industrial than romantic: the riverbed outside the city is a landscape of gravel and churned earth, worked over by hand and by machinery in a manner that is more mining operation than picturesque natural spectacle. But the activity itself — dozens of people wading, bending, turning stones in the water with the practiced eye of long experience — is oddly compelling and entirely genuine. This is a trade as old as any in China, conducted in exactly the same riverbed.
The southern end of the Yurungkash, closer to the mountains, is more scenically attractive. Transport to reach the better sections requires a taxi and some negotiation; the driver will know where to go. Bring waterproof shoes if you want to wade in and look yourself.