The Mystery of Loulan's Disappearance
Lop Nur is a changing lake, also known as the "migratory 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 "adjacent to the salt marsh", which refers to Lop Nur. Experts point out that the Peacock River and the Cherchen River flow into the Tarim River, which then flows into Lop Nur via the Kuruksay River. Lop Nur is the source of life for ancient Loulan, but its migration caused the water source to dry up, plants to die, and the climate to deteriorate. The people of Loulan could only wait for death if they stayed here, so they had no choice but to abandon their city and leave. As a result, 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 the result of 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 time 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, with nothing but endless sand and a vast expanse of emptiness.
The king was the supreme ruler of Loulan, the owner of all the land in the country, and all the people had to do 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 laws, land laws, hunting laws, tree protection forest laws, criminal laws, and inheritance laws. Research results show that Loulan's tree protection forest law is the world's first forest protection law.
Within the kingdom, states and cities were established, with local administrators in charge of each state and city. 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 responsible for collecting wines. In addition to these, Loulan Kingdom also had workshops for carpet weaving, pottery making and bow manufacturing.
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.
