Loulan * Loulan Archaeological History Related Loulan Ancient Country Mystery

  "Yellow sand, a hundred battles wear gold armor, not broken Loulan will never return." This is a famous sentence from the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Changling's "From Military Campaign", although the ancient country of Loulan had already disappeared for many years in the Tang Dynasty, it still left a deep impression on the minds of Tang Dynasty scholars and often became an object of chanting.

  Loulan, first appeared in the historical records of Western Han Dynasty in our country.

  Sima Qian wrote in the Records of the Grand Historian: "Loulan and Gu-shi have walled cities, bordering on a salt marsh." He also said that it "produces jade, has much reed, tamarisk, poplar, and white grass; its people are nomads, following their animals, with horses, mules, and many two-humped camels." In fact, Sima Qian had never been to Loulan. He wrote based on the reports of Zhang Qian, an envoy of his time who went to the Western Regions three times in his life, experiencing all kinds of hardships, and was very familiar with the situation of various countries in the Western Regions.

  At that time, the ancient country of Loulan was located on the Silk Road and had fertile soil and water, so it once flourished.

  The Xiongnu were the greatest enemies of the Han Dynasty in the northwest. In order to compete for the territory of Western Regions, the Han Dynasty fought a war with the Xiongnu that lasted for 70 or 80 years, and Loulan was the first to bear the brunt. This competition had once reached a white-hot stage. Until 77 BC, General Huo Guang sent Fu Jiezi to assassinate the king of Loulan, and another brother was established as the king, and the capital was moved to Yilun City. The ancient country of Loulan was renamed Shanshan.

  Afterwards, Loulan was always a major stronghold of the Han Dynasty in the Western Regions.

  During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ban Chao was once active here.

  Three Kingdoms, Shanshan belonged to Wei.

  Western Jin, Xianshan Wang was enfeoffed as Marquis of Guiyi.

  In the fifth century, the famous monk Song Yun once went to Xizhou. The city was inhabited by the Ningxi General of Tuyuhun.

  After that, the ancient Loulan state disappeared and never entered any literature records. By the Tang Dynasty, the territory was unprecedentedly vast, when the Tang army arrived in the Western Regions, they had searched for Loulan but couldn't find it, from then on it disappeared, only existing in the imagination of border poets.

  In 1274, the great explorer Marco Polo also came east along the ancient Silk Road and did not see Loulan, only seeing endless yellow sand.

  Where did it go? Did it fly away without a sound? No, it lies quietly beneath the vast yellow sand, waiting for the call of science!

  Discovery over a thousand years later In March 1900, Swedish explorer Sven Hedin traveled east along the Tarim River to the lower reaches of the Konqi River in search of the elusive Lop Nur. His guide was Uyghur farmer Aerdike.

  On March 27, the expedition arrived at a small mound, when something terrible happened, Sven Hedin discovered that much of the water they had brought with them had leaked away. In the arid desert, no water meant death.

  They went to look for water sources, but found that the iron shovel they carried was lost. The guide was ordered to go back and find the iron shovel, on the way, he encountered strong winds and sandstorms, which blinded Erdick's eyes, so he had to hide first. After the wind and sandstorm passed, he opened his eyes, and an incredible scene occurred: an ancient city appeared in front of him: with city walls, streets, houses, and even beacon towers. Erdick was terrified. He thought he saw a devil's palace. He hastily walked around the empty streets of the city, picked up a few ancient coins, carried two beautifully carved wooden boards on his back, and rushed to Svenhedin's expedition team.

  Erdik's discovery left Sven Hedin so excited that he almost fainted. He knew this must be a major archaeological find. Due to lack of water, Sven Hedin had to leave the place. He decided to come back next year for a thorough investigation.

  In February 1901, Sven Hedin arrived here again with sufficient water and food. He found that this was an ancient city abandoned by people, which had once been quite prosperous.

  Sven Hedin excavated a large number of artifacts here, including coins, silk fabrics, grains, pottery, 36 paper slips with Chinese characters, 120 bamboo slips and several brushes. After Sven Hedin returned to his country, he handed over the artifacts to Himmler in Germany for identification. After identification, it was confirmed that this ancient city was indeed the famous Loulan Kingdom, which shocked the whole world. Later, many countries' expedition teams followed suit. In 1979, China conducted a large-scale excavation, and the magnificent Loulan Ancient Kingdom finally saw the light of day again.

  The brilliant ancient country of Loulan has been unveiled after the long-term efforts of historians and cultural relic experts.

  The ancient city of Loulan covered an area of about 100,000 square meters in the lower reaches of the Peacock River. In the center of the city was the administrative government office, which was built with earth and had thick and high gate pillars, and carved beams painted with vermilion lacquer. This was the power center of the ancient city, as well as its most luxurious place.

  Chengnan is a residential area with about 14,000 residents. The remaining houses show that there are Chinese courtyard-style buildings here, divided into main houses and wing rooms, and there are also orchards behind the houses.

  To the east of the city, there is a tall Buddhist pagoda. Five miles away, there is a Buddhist temple, which can be seen from here to understand the religious situation at that time. In the northeast of the city, there are also remaining earth piles, which are the ruins of the Han Dynasty post station.

  The northwest and southwest of the city have dense poplar forests.

  The streets in the city are clearly divided, and there is a river that runs from northwest to southeast through the city. There are concentrated cemeteries around the city, which can be seen as a glimpse of the customs and human feelings at that time.

  A large number of cultural relics have restored the past glory of Loulan. The city has unearthed a large number of documents and wooden slips; there are five-zhu coins from the Han Dynasty, as well as copper coins from the Xianbei Empire; there are silk fabrics and hemp nets from the Han Dynasty, as well as Persian murals, even Greek and Roman crafts with Athena as the pattern; There are also ceramics and lacquerware from various countries.

  All this shows Loulan's unparalleled importance in transportation, cultural exchange and trade between China and the West.

  The ancient Silk Road started from Chang'an, passed through the famous Dunhuang, and then went west to Loulan. Loulan was indeed a hub and vanguard of China's foreign exchanges. At that time, it was an international transit city with a considerable scale. Chinese merchants came here could choose different roads to go to all parts of the world, while people from all over the world gathered here from all directions and then went to Chang'an. As historian Konrad said: "The rise and fall of the ancient city of Loulan is a monument to world history."

  Let's think about the glory of Loulan in the past: magnificent buildings of different styles are everywhere, people flow on the streets, languages from different countries rise and fall, camel teams come and go one after another, merchants carry a large amount of money and goods to find a crowded hotel, Chinese soldiers may be indulging in wine and song, because this peaceful and lively scene seems to show their redundancy. However, all of this disappeared so suddenly and hastily, it seemed to disappear in an extremely short period of time, disappearing without a trace. What made this prosperous ancient city suddenly become a deserted city, and then buried under the thick yellow sand?

  The Mystery of the Disappearance of Loulan: A Preliminary Exploration Lop Nur is a lake that changes its location, known as "a migrating lake". In ancient times, Lop Nur was located north of the ancient city of Loulan. Sima Qian said that the ancient city of Loulan was "beside a salt marsh", which refers to Lop Nur. Experts point out that the Peacock River and the Charchan River flow into the Tarim River, then through the Kuruksay River into Lop Nur. Lop Nur is the source of life for ancient Loulan. The migration of Lop Nur caused the water source of Loulan to dry up, plants died, leading to a harsh climate. If the people of Loulan continued to stay here, they would only be waiting for death. Therefore, they had no choice but to abandon their city and leave. Thus, the ancient city of Loulan disappeared from history.

  But why did Lop Nur migrate? Experts have different opinions. Some people think that the Tarim River carries a large amount of mud and sand, causing Lop Nur to silt up, the lake bottom rises, and the Tarim River can only change its course, so the old Lop Nur dried up; some people think it is because the Tarim River flows in the valley with soft soil, it will change its course by itself, forming a new river bed, resulting in a new Lop Nur; there are also scholars who believe that the migration of Lop Nur is due to the uneven geological structure and movement.

  Many scholars also believe that the decline of ancient Loulan is closely linked to social and human factors. According to Chinese historical records, the last existence of the ancient state of Loulan was during the Eastern Jin Dynasty's Sixteen Kingdoms period, which was a time of great turmoil in China's history. Many northern ethnic groups established their own fiefdoms and fought each other, while Loulan was a strategic military location that was fiercely contested. The frequent wars and plundering raids destroyed the vegetation and trade routes of Loulan, causing devastating damage to its ecosystem and economy. A country on the edge of the desert, having lost these two basic elements, could not survive. And so it became the desolate landscape we see today.

  The king was the supreme ruler of Loulan, the owner of all land in the country, and all subjects had to provide labor service for the royal family. The king appointed an executive officer responsible for enforcing laws. Loulan had its own laws, including tax laws, water conservancy, land, hunting, tree protection and forest laws, as well as criminal law and inheritance law. Research results show that Loulan's tree protection and forest law is the world's first forest protection law.

  Within the kingdom, states and cities were set up, with local administrators in charge of states and cities. At the grassroots level, there were also heads of hundreds of households. In addition to these, the kingdom also had tax officials who not only collected taxes but also handled land disputes, private lending, and marriages between men and women.

  The social economy of Loulan Kingdom was mainly based on animal husbandry, followed by agriculture, gardening and handicrafts. The main livestock products and agricultural products were cheese, butter, meat and wheat. Gardening was mainly focused on grape and pomegranate cultivation, while the handicraft industry was mainly engaged in wine brewing. The kingdom had a wine bureau that specialized in collecting wines. In addition to these, Loulan Kingdom also had workshops for carpets, pottery and bow-making.

  The commodities traded in Loulan were mainly silk from inland China, as well as various goods such as glass from Dayuan and aromatics from Anxi. The five-zhu copper coins of the Han Dynasty and the currencies of various Central Asian countries could also circulate in Loulan.

  The Loulan Kingdom had primitive religious beliefs in the early days, which were later gradually replaced by Buddhism. From the 3rd to the 4th century AD, Buddhism became the main religion of the Loulan Kingdom at that time. Buddhism has its own independent monastic rules, and monks have relatively independent rights in the economic field. They occupy land, borrow grain, collect taxes, etc.

  A total of 575 paper documents were unearthed from the Lop Nur ruins, excavated separately by Swedish explorer Sven Hedin (1901, 157 pieces), British explorer Stein (1906, 201 pieces; 1914, 103 pieces) and Chinese scholar Hou Chao (1900, 65 pieces).

  The majority of these documents are official documents that have great value for the study of Loulan's politics, military affairs, economy, agriculture, culture and so on.

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