Loulan Kingdom
Loulan is the name of an ancient country in the Western Regions. Loulan is an ancient small country in western China, with the capital Loulan City (the site is located on the northwest coast of Lop Nur, Xinjiang, China). It leads to Qiemo, Jingjue, Kumi, and Khotan in the southwest, to Cheshi in the north, to Yanqi in the northwest, to Bailongdui in the east, to Dunhuang, and is the hub of the Silk Road. The Chinese are of Indo-European race. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty first entered the Western Regions, all his envoys passed through Loulan. Loulan served as the Huns' eyes and ears many times and attacked and robbed the Western Han envoys. In the third year of Yuanfeng (108 BC), the Han Dynasty sent troops to attack Loulan and captured its king. Loulan surrendered to the Han and was attacked by the Huns, so he sent his servants to pay homage to both sides. Later, An Gui, the servant of the Huns, was established as King of Loulan, and then he kissed the Huns. Wang's brother Wei Tuqi surrendered to the Han Dynasty and reported the situation to the Han Dynasty. In the fourth year of Emperor Zhao Yuanfeng's reign (77 BC), the Han Dynasty sent Fu Jiezi to Loulan to assassinate An Gui. He made Wei Tuqi king, changed the name of the country to Shanshan, and moved the capital to Muni City (near Ruoqiang, Xinjiang today). Later, the Han government often sent officials to farm in the old place of Loulan City. From Yumen Pass to Loulan, beacons and pavilions were set up along the way. During the Wei, Jin and Qianliang dynasties, Loulan City became the administrative seat of the chief historian of the Western Regions.
The Kingdom of Loulan disappeared about 1,600 years ago, leaving only the remains of the ancient city. The ancient city of Loulan is located at 89°22′22″ east diameter and 40°29′55″ north latitude. It is located in the north of Ruoqiang County, Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, the northwest corner of Lop Nur and 7 kilometers south of the Kongque River.
The ancient history of Loulan Kingdom is still unclear. The name Loulan was first seen in "Historical Records". "Historical Records. Biography of the Xiongnu" records that the Loulan people established a country around the 3rd century BC. At that time, Loulan was ruled by the Yuezhi. From 177 BC to 176 BC, the Xiongnu defeated the Yuezhi, and Loulan was under the jurisdiction of the Xiongnu.
Current status of the ruins
The ancient city of Loulan now covers an area of 120,000 square meters, nearly square, with a side length of about 330 meters. The entire ruins are scattered among the Yadan landforms on the west bank of Lop Nur.
The ruins of Loulan Ancient City are 350 kilometers northwest from Korla City and 330 kilometers southwest from Ruoqiang County.
The discovery of the ancient city of Loulan
The earliest discoverer of the Kingdom of Loulan was the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin. In early March 1900, the Hedin expedition followed the dry left river bed of the Peacock River to the Robe Wasteland. When they were crossing a desert, they discovered that their shovel had been accidentally lost in the campsite last night. Hedin had to ask his assistant to go back and search. The assistant quickly retrieved the shovel and even picked up a few fragments of wood carvings. Hedin was extremely excited when he saw the fragments and decided to excavate the ruins. In March 1901, Sven Hedin began excavations and discovered a large number of cultural relics such as a pagoda and three halls, as well as wood carvings with Greek art and culture, five baht coins, and a Kawhi letter. Then they discovered many beacon towers in the southeast of the ruins, which continued to an ancient city buried by wind and sand on the west bank of Lop Nur. This is the ancient city of Loulan.
The ancient city is nearly square in plan, with a side length of about 330 meters, and is almost entirely buried by quicksand. The city walls are built alternately with clay and red wicker. There is an ancient canal running diagonally through the city from northwest to southeast. There is an octagonal domed adobe pagoda in the northeast of the canal. On the earthen platform in the south of the tower, there is a group of tall wooden building ruins. Documents and slips in Chinese and Qilin scripts, five-baht coins, silk and woolen fabrics, daily utensils, etc. have been unearthed. In the middle of the southwest part of the canal, there are three large wooden and adobe houses. A large number of Chinese documents, wooden slips and early Sogdian and Qilin documents were unearthed in and around the houses, which are estimated to be the remains of the government office. A group of courtyards to the west may be official residences, and short residential buildings are scattered to the south. Various documents and slips unearthed in the city are called Lop Nur documents.
During the inspection process in the early 20th century, a large number of Loulan cultural relics were taken away by foreign inspection groups.
Loulan Culture
Loulan Culture can be called the world’s most cultural landscape. Archaeologists have confirmed that human activities in the Tarim River Basin have a history of more than 10,000 years. If we connect the ancient cities abandoned in the Taklimakan Desert of the Tarim River with a red line, we will be surprised to find that all ancient cities, including the Kingdom of Loulan, suddenly disappeared in the 41st and 5th centuries AD. They are all in the Hades Desert, which is 50-200 kilometers away from where humans live today. To this day, despite the great efforts of many scholars, the rise, fall and disappearance of the ancient city of Loulan is still a huge mystery, and the Loulan ruins have also become the focus of world attention.
The ancient city of Luntai, Qiemo ruins, ancient tombs, ancient beacons, mummies, ancient rock paintings, etc. are all world-class tourist attractions. In human history, Loulan is a name full of mystery. Its past glory has formed its special position in the history of world culture. The interest and enthusiasm shown by people in Loulan culture fully prove that Loulan not only belongs to China, but also to mankind. Loulan is an immeasurable historical legacy left to Bazhou by our ancestors and the pride of Bazhou people. It also means excavating, sorting out and studying Loulan culture. Bazhou people should bear greater responsibility in displaying Loulan and ancient Western culture in various ways. As the 21st century is approaching, the times have provided Bazhou people with an excellent opportunity. This is to take the rapid economic development as an opportunity and the comprehensive growth of economic strength as the premise to develop the cultural heritage of Loulan and the ancient city in a planned way. Make them serve the construction of modern spiritual civilization and material civilization. In fact, this is how we give Loulan culture new life in a new historical period.
Loulan Kingdom in History
According to "Historical Records of Dawan" and "Hanshu Biography of the Western Regions", as early as the 2nd century ago, Loulan was a famous "city outline" in the Western Regions. country". It leads to Dunhuang in the east, Yanqi and Yuli in the northwest, and Ruoqiang and Qiemo in the southwest. The southern and northern routes of the ancient "Silk Road" separated from Loulan.
The governor of the Western Regions during the Wei, Jin and Qianliang periods of China. Located in the northwest of Lop Nur, Xinjiang. The city was named because the Chinese documents unearthed from the site used the phonetic pronunciation of "Loulan" and Luolu as "Kuluo Laina". At the beginning of the 20th century, the British Stein and others came here many times to rob and excavate. After the 1950s, Chinese scholars conducted investigations and excavations.
Loulan is one of the thirty-six kingdoms in the Western Regions, adjacent to Dunhuang, and had close relations with the Han Dynasty around BC. The records of Loulan in ancient times are based on the records of "Book of Han: Biography of the Western Regions", Faxian and Xuanzang. "Book of Han·Biography of the Western Regions" records: "The Shanshan Kingdom, whose real name is Loulan, has a king who governs the mud city. It goes to Yangguan for 1,600 miles and to Chang'an for 6,100 miles. There are 1,570 households and a population of 44,100. Fa Xian said: "The land is rugged and barren. The clothes of the lay people are the same as those in the Han Dynasty, but the color of the carpets is different. There are more than 4000 Buddhist monks in the country." Xuanzang traveled there. At the end, there is a very simple description: "From then on, we traveled northeast for more than a thousand miles to the homeland of Nabobo, which is the land of Loulan."
The Loulan Kingdom in the Han Dynasty sometimes became the eyes and ears of the Xiongnu, and sometimes it was subordinate to the Xiongnu. The Han Dynasty played a two-faced policy, standing between the two major forces of the Han and the Xiongnu, and cleverly maintained its political life. Since Loulan was located at the strategic point of communication between the Han Dynasty and other countries in the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty could not cross this area to attack the Huns. The Xiongnu could not threaten the Han Dynasty without borrowing Loulan's power. Both the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu tried their best to implement a soft policy towards Loulan.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian, the Marquis of Bowang, as an envoy to the Dayue clan, but failed to establish an offensive and defensive alliance. After that, he sent a large army to attack the distant country of Dayuan, and sent envoys to the countries in the Western Regions many times. When these envoys passed through Loulan, Loulan could not bear the heavy burden and even killed the envoys. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty finally sent troops to attack Loulan. As a result, Prince Loulan was sent to the Han Dynasty as a hostage as evidence of surrender. Loulan also sent a prince to the Xiongnu to express his strict neutrality between the Xiongnu and the Han. Later, when the Han expeditionary army attacked a vassal state of the Xiongnu, King Loulan contacted the Xiongnu and stationed an ambush of the Xiongnu troops in the country, which angered the Han court. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once again sent troops to attack Loulan, approaching the capital of Jianni City. King Loulan was frightened and immediately opened the city gate to apologize. Emperor Wu asked him to monitor the movements of the Huns. In 92 BC, King Loulan died, and the prince who had been taken as a hostage in the Han Dynasty returned to succeed him. The prince was very sad and did not want to return easily, so his younger brother inherited the throne. The new king died soon after, and the Xiongnu took this opportunity to inherit the throne with the eldest son of the former king who had been a hostage in their own country. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was shocked when he heard the news, and quickly sent envoys to persuade the new king to come to the Han court, hoping to seize the throne. As a hostage, failed. In the next two or three years, no major incidents occurred between the Han and the Xiongnu, and they seemed very stable. The border of Loulan is close to the Yumen Pass. Han envoys often pass through this gate to go to the countries in the Western Regions. They have to pass through the desert called Bailongdui in Loulan. There are often winds in the desert, which rolls the quicksand into the air and makes it look like a dragon. Travelers get lost. The Han Dynasty keeps giving orders. The Kingdom of Loulan provided guides and drinking water. Because the Han envoys repeatedly abused the guides, Loulan refused to obey their orders, and the relationship between the two deteriorated. Emperor Wu of Han eventually sent assassins to assassinate the new king.
In order to marry a prince who was a hostage in the Han court, a beautiful concubine was sent back to Loulan to inherit the throne. But the king was terrified of assassination. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent troops to garrison Loulan in the name of protecting the king, thereby gaining the initiative to conquer the Xiongnu and other countries in the Western Regions. The above is the relationship between Han Dynasty and Loulan during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After that, the power of the Han Dynasty weakened, and Loulan betrayed him again.
The mystery of the disappearance of Loulan
In 400 AD, the eminent monk Faxian traveled westward to obtain Buddhist scriptures and passed by this place. He said in "Buddha Kingdom" that this place was "no birds above, no birds below." There are no animals around, only the bones of dead people are the only signs." After nearly 500 years of glory, Loulan, an important town on the Silk Road, gradually became depopulated and disappeared silently from the stage of history.
After the 4th century AD, Loulan Kingdom suddenly disappeared.
According to "Shui Jing Zhu", after the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the diversion of the Zhubin River in the middle reaches of the Tarim River at that time, Loulan was seriously short of water. Soller from Dunhuang led 1,000 troops to Loulan, and summoned 3,000 soldiers from Shanshan, Yanqi, and Qiuci. They crossed the river and diverted water into Loulan day and night, alleviating Loulan's water shortage problem. But after that, despite the maximum efforts and attempts of Loulan people to dredge the river, the ancient city of Loulan was eventually abandoned due to water shortage.
Some people say that the death of Loulan was caused by human beings violating the laws of nature. Loulan people’s blind and indiscriminate deforestation led to soil erosion, sandstorm invasion, river diversion, abnormal climate, epidemics of plague, reduced moisture, and saline-alkali weather. Accumulation eventually led to the inevitable demise of the kingdom.
No matter what you say, one thing is certain, the final blow to the Loulan people was the plague. This is a terrible acute infectious disease. According to the legend, it is called "hot nest disease". Once it becomes sick, an entire village will be affected and an entire family will die. In the face of a huge disaster, the Loulan people chose to flee - just like the previous migrations, they were all forced. The Loulan Kingdom collapsed, and people blindly went up the Tarim River. Wherever there were trees and water, they went there. Where they could survive, they went there. Those who could survive were the few. Loulan people want to cry but have no tears. When they set out on the road, they encountered an unprecedented strong wind and sandstorm. It was a huge formation that was buried in the sky. The sky was dark and the earth was dark, sand and stones were flying, and the sound was like a ghost. A city suddenly disappeared in the turbidity and blur...
At this point, The glorious ancient city of Loulan has disappeared silently from history forever. Although the fleeing Loulan people dream of resurrecting Loulan from generation to generation, dreams can only be dreams. Moreover, at the end of the dream, even the dreamer couldn't wait and disappeared. Loulan was still the territory of wind and sand and the kingdom of death.
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Loulan: Commonly known as the Shanshan Kingdom in the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty, it is an ancient civilization with a long history in the southeast of Shanshan County in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Think about 3800 years, what is this concept, how big a time span is this? In 3800 in the Central Plains, it was still the reign of the Xia Dynasty. The Loulan girl in the article lived in that era. No matter what the living conditions were at that time, the beauty of the Loulan girl is still left to those who lived in 3800 across time and space. For those of us who have never been to the ancient tomb ditch, it is not easy to find it. This is actually a developing Yadan landform, with similar ravines one after another, seemingly connected and yet separated. It was only after many twists and turns that we found the ancient tomb ditch in this group of ditches. The ancient tomb ditch is only a few miles away from the Kongque River. The cemetery was chosen on a platform, which also had the risk of flood control. It seems that people at that time paid great attention to Feng Shui. When I first saw the cemetery, I was shocked. On the huge cemetery, it seemed that Countless radiant "suns" fell, and each "sun" was a tomb. This scene made me wonder whether the nine suns that Hou Yi shot down fell on it. Here? Each cemetery has a "core". This "core" is composed of a tight circle of poplar wood piles. I counted, and there are 7 layers of poplar wood circles in each cemetery. "7 The number " must have had some meaning at that time. Maybe it has the same meaning as the fact that most pagodas have seven floors? Outside the cemetery, there are a group of small tombs with shallow burials. It is these small cemeteries that bring us An unexpected surprise came. When the first female mummy appeared in front of us, everyone rushed forward to take photos and leave a lasting memory.
I was deep in thought on the sidelines. I once saw the photos that Sven Hedin took of Loulan’s corpse, which left a very deep impression on me. I never thought that I would witness the real image of the Loulan female corpse with my own eyes, and it gave me a very strong feeling. Miss Loulan is indeed very beautiful. Their faces are small, their chins are pointed and round, and their eyes are big. It seems that we can still feel the clear and pleasant gaze in those bright eyes. The long eyelashes are clearly visible. The high bridge of the nose effectively enhances the beauty of the entire face. Her thick, naturally curly tawny hair is spread elegantly over her shoulders, and the top of her head is curled into a pointed felt hat. The edge of the dark brown felt hat is decorated with dazzling red velvet threads. The colors are coordinated and beautiful. There are also several colorful feathers on the left and right sides of the top of the hat. There is a fluffy fur around the neck, which is both warm and beautiful. His naked body was wrapped tightly in a woolen blanket. The exposed feet were wearing a pair of short-waisted leather boots that had been repaired several times. The overall image is that of a charming and beautiful girl. According to what researcher Wang Binghua, director of the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology later told me, they had used the wood, woolen cloth, sheepskin, etc. unearthed from the Gumugou Cemetery as materials, and asked the presidents of many authoritative domestic research institutions to do 10 sets of carbon 14 determinations. , except for the big difference between the two groups, the rest are all around 3800. Basically, it can be considered that the burial date of the Gumugou Tomb is around 3800 years ago. There was a story about the two groups of measurements that were quite different. That year, the Xinjiang Archaeological Institute sent the Loulan female corpse to Shanghai for exhibition. The impatient news reporters rushed to the airport to greet them. The comrade responsible for escorting the Archaeological Institute accidentally revealed the wrongly determined age of the female corpse. The next day in Shanghai " Liberation Daily was the first to publish a report that the Loulan female corpse was 6,000 years old. The 6,000-year-old corpse far exceeded the 5,000-year-old mummy record of the Egyptian Pharaoh and caused a sensation around the world. Fortunately, after a large number of test results came out, this error was corrected. Although the Loulan female corpse is only 3,800 years old, it was preserved in a natural state and is very well preserved, which is enough to set a world record. On the unearthed female body, we found shriveled bed bugs and dead lice in her long blond hair. Lice and bedbugs are "thermotropic" parasitic insects, but they don't leave when the human body dies and cools down. Or do they also have a deep love for the beautiful Loulan girl? This may be a new topic worthy of further study by entomologists. The life of the beautiful Loulan girl was actually very difficult. It can be seen from the crudely woven fur that she was barely able to wrap her body in and the leather shoes that she wore with numerous seams and patches that she wore. It can be seen that the material resources at that time were very poor. Judging from the excavated mummies or human bone specimens, people at that time were very young when they died. The difficult living environment caused them to exhaust their energy prematurely and reach the end of their lives. Where did the Loulan girl come from? After seeing the female corpses in the ancient tomb ditch, from their high nose bridges, tawny curly hair, and pointed felt hats, I suddenly felt that they were very similar to today's Tajik people. Archaeologists told me that my feeling was correct and that they did have some kind of affinity with the Tajik nation. In the tombs of the ancient Lob people, a small bag was placed on the blanket wrapping the body, which was equivalent to the lower part of the neck, and some fine flax twigs were stored in the bag. According to the research of Swedish scholar Bergman, this burial custom is similar to that of the Indian Bashi people. The Bashi people use a plant to produce the so-called "Haoma" or "Soma" in religious ceremonies so that the soul can ascend to heaven safely. The broken flax branches used by the ancient Luobu people probably also served this purpose. The Bashi people are a branch of the ancient Yilan people, and the Tajiks in Xinjiang are also a branch of the ancient Yilan people. This consistency in customs may also be a reflection of their ethnic origins. Of course, it is also possible for neighboring regions to show consistency in certain customs due to the exchange of cultural ideas. Xinjiang archaeologists have also conducted ethnographic determination on six skulls unearthed from tombs on the outskirts of Loulan. Five of them belong to the European race and one to the Mongol race. Four of the five European skulls are relatively consistent in shape, close to the Indo-Afghan type of the eastern branch of the Mediterranean, and the other one is between the Mediterranean and Pamir-Fergan types, but still has many characteristics. Possibly a variation of the Mediterranean race. The skull belongs to the Mongoloid race, slightly closer to the South Siberian type. From this, it may be speculated that the racial composition of the ancient Rob people was dominated by the Eastern Mediterranean branch of the European race. This characteristic is similar to that of the Pamirsek type residents, indicating that there is a close ethnosystematic relationship between them. The existence of individual Mongolian skulls also shows that the anthropological components of the ancient Rob people are not purely European.
The Luobu Depression, together with the Tarim Basin, was once an integral part of the ancient Mediterranean in geological time. After being cut off from the natural connection with the Mediterranean, it showed striking similarities in anthropology in historical time. This fact shows that environment and society are inherited.