Welcome to Ancient City of Loulan
The ancient city of Loulan was a small city established in the Western Regions of Xinjiang, China in ancient times. This city is about 300 square meters, covering the space of 108,240 square meters. 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 is that such a city 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.
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.
Exploration History
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. 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.
High Academic Values
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.
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.