Most countries have problems with the trade in illicit drugs.
Because of this, it is highly prized in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the province of Guangdong. Wealthy people like to show off by sprinkling a little of the auspicious-sounding moss substance on food presented to honored guests. Then they headed into neighboring Inner Mongolia, plundering the moss fields there. What began as a way of supplementing their meagre incomes quickly developed into a turf war, which led to at least two deaths and more than 1000 injuries in clashes between the invading Hui and nomadic Mongolian herders. The moss grows intertwined with other grasses on the rolling steppes.