The ancient city of Loulan was a small city established in the Western Regions in ancient times. It was in the western bank of Lop Nur, an only route by which to pass the Ancient Silk Road. In those days, around Loulan City there were criss-cross networks of waterways, shades of green tress, row upon row of houses, crowds of merchants and travelers doing brisk trades. But what makes people at a loss to account for is that such a city once with a population of thousands, its business economy fully developed, suddenly disappeared from the history after several prosperous centuries. The rise and fall of the ancient State of Loulan has all along presented a baffling mystery to us. The ancient State of Loulan was completely submerged by the desert. It was in the early part of this century that Sven Anders Hedin, a Swedish explorer, had found this ancient city of Loulan during his desert exploration to Lop Nur in Xinjiang. Immediately after the news was spread out, the world academic circles were greatly surprised and so people could see the historical relics of the ancient Loulan for the first time. At the beginning of 80’s in this century, the archaeological team of China formally carried on archaeological investigations and unearthing work at the ancient city of Loulan. They found a great number of historical relics in the ancient city of Loulan and also some historical remains of ancient waterways, farmlands, Buddhist pagodas and graves. The culture of the ancient Loulan has reappeared in the world.
The ancient Loulan city on the western bank of Lop Nur is located at 40 9′ 5′’ north and 89 5′ 2′’ east. This city is about 300 square meters, covering the space of 108,240 square meters. Now from the surface of the ground you can still see the remains of the city walls clearly, and especially the city wall on the south has been better preserved. Inside the city, all the buildings are collapsed, the roofs and wood posts of the buildings fallen apart on the ruins with one up on the other. On the ground there are broken potsherds, wood plates and wooden bowls everywhere. You can also find a number of the ancient “Wuzhu” coins of the Han Dynasty here.
The distribution of construction inside the ancient city is like this: the central part of the city composes the main buildings in the city. In the center of the ruins of many large-sized buildings, there are still kept several rows of the “three-roomed houses” which were built by adobe, and on both sides of them there are two larger foundation sites of the houses which are shaped. On these ruins there are piles of large-sized timber, among which there are thick round woods, round plinths and some spiral-shaped wood rails. Some pieces of timber are five or six meters long. From the foundations of the houses we can still see the traces of red paint on the square wood, this is probably the rulers’ yaman. At the eastern part of the ancient city, there is a Buddhist pagoda more than ten meters in height. In the western and southern parts of the city are the residential quarters of the common people. All these houses were coated with straw and mud, a special method which was often used in the Central Asian arid areas. The walls of the houses were made in the form of wattle walls by using reeds or Hongliu tree branches in criss-cross lines, then reinforced with straw or leather ropes, and then plastered with straw and mud outside. The roofs of the houses were also made of tree branches and reeds, coated with straw and mud on them. Beside these, the door frames of the houses were made of wood. As compared with the buildings in the center of the city, these houses looked apparently more simple and crude. The discovery of the ancient Loulan city confirmed that the ancient State of Loulan once had a historical period of flourishing and development, but later it became a desert.
http://lonelychina.com/images/korla/ancient-city-of-kroran-loulan3.jpgA large number of exquisite silk and woolen fabrics are found from the ancient graves in the cit
y and in the suburbs. Using natural silk to be woven into superb silk clothes was a great invention of ancient China. These silk clothes discovered in the Loulan area all belonged to the products of the inland provinces during the Eastern Han Dynasty in China, and it shows that the silk fabrics made in China had been the staple commodity on the ancient Silk Road in the very early years.
Among these Eastern Han silk fabrics discovered in the ancient Loulan area are the spun, fine silk, damask, brocade and embroidery. As for the spun silk, it is a kind of silk with one color and of plain weave; fine silk is a kind of plain weave which is finer and closer; damask is a kind of spun silk with one color silk lines woven into a kind of silk fabrics with figures and patterns; brocade is a kind of high level silk fabrics with various color lines woven into many kinds of beautiful patterns by the method of repetition of warp and weft. As a very high-level skill was needed in the use of the materials, color and designs and weaving of the brocades, etc. needed very high-level skill. People mentioned brocade in the same treat with the gold. As the saying goes, “brocade is the same as gold”. There are various kinds of the Eastern Han silk fabrics discovered in the ancient Loulan area. The color of these Eastern Han brocade weaves was blended well, and its figures and patterns were characteristic of Eastern Han period. Its main style was auspicious patterns such as floating clouds with branches and rolling leaves, lucky birds and beasts pattern, and among these were woven some propitious words.
The Eastern Han woolen fabrics discovered at the same time are also a great number of precious historical relics. These woolen fabrics were the special goods for the nomadic tribes in the northwest part of China. Both of the high-level silk and woolen fabrics were enjoyed by rich and powerful families and merchants. The woolen fabrics discovered here are beautifully colored and look like new ones, and among them the colored felt is exceptionally rare.
Among the large number of historical relics of the ancient Loulan, some have very high academic value. There are a great number of inscribed wooden slips and documents with words on them. From the beginning of this century to the 80’s, people have one after another discovered inscribed wooden slips and documents written in words for four times. Among these slips there are two kinds of words written on them. One kind is written in Kharosthi scripts, and another in Han characters. The time of them may be traced back to approximately the third or fourth century.
Kharosthi script appeared early in the third century B.C. in the period of the Indian Maurya Dynasty during the region of King Asoka. It was written in the northwest dialect of the Indian language, and first prevailed in northwest part of India and the present Pakistan area, then spread out to Afghanistan, Uzbek and Jajik regions, and it was also used in the ancient Yutian and ancient Loulan — the State of Shanshan of Xinjiang in China, but now it has already died out.
According to the records of historical documents, in 77 B.C., because of creating another new king, the ancient State of Loulan had once changed its state’s name into Shanshan. Those inscribed wooden slips written in Kharosthi scripts discovered in the ancient Loulan-Shanshan State look like the government official documents, the contents of which include the king’s edict, various kinds of contracts, account books and records, documents, official letters and private letters, some regional official documents, religious books in the temples. These script materials have great academic value in studying and finding out the aspects of society, politics, economy and culture, etc. in the ancient Loulan-Shanshan State.
On some of the inscribed wooden slips written in Han characters were written down the exact annual titles of the kings, the majority of which belonged to the reigns of the Wei and Jin Dynasties of China. From the contents of the slips we can see that they mainly recorded some correspondences and documents of the generals and soldiers who garrisoned the region and of the office of the Governor of the Western Regions which was set up there in the Wei and Jin Dynasties of China, and also some other materials of opening up wastelands, building up irrigation ditches and dams, planting crops. One of the slips also recorded a fact that in those days generals who garrisoned the region spread advanced agricultural technology — farming with plough and oxen.
The discovery of a great number of recorded inscribed wooden slips and documents provides an important basis in studying the early social history of the ancient State of Loulan.
Other artifacts were also unearthed at the same time, such as a number of “Wuzhu” coins of the Han Dynasty, a coin in the Kushan period, and some articles of lacquerware, bronze mirrors, pottery, some articles for daily use for the residents in the ancient Loulan city, and ornaments. All these show the wide social aspects of the ancient Loulan.
The culture of ancient Loulan has been submerged by the desert for many years, and at last it has reappeared in the world. In order to answer this historical “mystery”, many historians, archaeologists and explorers have explored for several decades, but it is only from the ancient Loulan ruins that people can find the answer.
But when was
the ancient Loulan city abandoned at all Nobody can tell the exact date, but from the historical documents we can see that in 399, when the eminent monk Faxian passed here, he described it as the desert without any people, so the last half of this century should be the period when the ancient Loulan became extinct after flourishing for some time. One slip in Kharosthi script discovered from the ancient Loulan city almost shows the same historical situation. The contents of this slip is: “In the reign of Fa Ser Mona Kingon July the eleventh, many people had left far away from the state”. Fa Ser Mona was the last king of the ancient State of Loulan-Shanshan, and he ruled from 321-234. From the records of the slips in kharosthid scripts we find that in the period of his reign, many people had left their state, among whom there were taxpayers, people who lost their land and had no houses of their own, etc. This record is basically the same year as the slip in Han characters, so from this we know that the ancient Loulan city was abandoned probably in the year after the 30’s of the 4th century. Obviously, the residents’ leaving from the ancient Loulan city, the withdrawing of the generals and soldiers who had garrisoned and reclaimed the region here made the farmland become desert, and their rigatoni canals were blocked up because they had long been out of repair. Aridity and desert covered these oases. This ancient city ruined at last.
Although the ancient Loulan city became the historical relics, the discovery of its historical culture provides new magnificence to the history, and it will be kept in the people’s mind forever.