In 139 BC, Emperor Wu of han sent Zhang Qian on an envoy to the Western Regions to open up a passage connecting trade and culture between the East and the West. The German geographer Richthofen first referred to this passage as the "Silk Road" in his book "China" in 1877.
The Silk Road stretched from Chang'an (now Xi'an) in the east to Persia and Rome in the west and india in the south. Through it, Eastern silk, tea, and porcelain were transported to the West; through it, Western Buddhism and Christianity were introduced to China.
In the western region, there was an ancient country that was an important meeting point of the Silk Road - Loulan. The earliest record of Lou Lan is found in the Western Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian's "History of Dawan Lie": Lou Lan, Gu Shi Yi You Chengguo, Linyanze.
Loulan is close to Lop Nur and merchants and monks from the East and the West will stop here to replenish food and water. Moreover, they also trade with the locals, as well as cultural exchanges. Therefore, Loulan was once very prosperous.
However, after the 6th century, Loulan, which lasted for about 700 years, no longer appeared in the history books, as if it disappeared overnight. It was not until 1934 that the Swedish archaeologist Sven Hedin was inspecting Lop Nur when he stumbled upon the ancient city of Loulan, which was covered by wind and sand.
At the same time, Sven Hedin also excavated a corpse of a Loulan woman. Although buried for thousands of years, the integrity of the female corpse is amazing. The good looks and idyllic demeanor of the female corpse show that she was once a beautiful person. This female corpse is affectionately known as "Princess Loulan".
Sven Hedin's discovery shocked the archaeological community. Since then, the "Loulan fever" has been set off around the world, and scientists who have gone to Loulan to investigate have been endless.
So, the mysterious Lou Lan, what has he experienced? Why did it disappear out of thin air? To unveil loulan, it starts with its state building.
(Sven Hedin in Loulan)
The place of contention between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu
In Indo-European languages, "Loulan" means "town, oasis". Archaeologists speculate that Loulan is a multi-ethnic and integrated country based on the face of the "Princess Loulan" unearthed and the remains of human movement in the Western Regions. The Aryans, who had trekked from Persia, settled northwest of Lop Nur and intermarried with the local Han and Qiang tribes to establish their own kingdom.
Loulan's superior geographical location not only brought it economic and cultural development, but also made it a place of contention between the two major forces of the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu.
During the reign of Emperor Zhao of Han, the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu, gained control of Loulan, and established a long history of the Western Regions in Loulan and sent troops to guard it. Until the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was still this official position. In 77 BC, Loulan was renamed "Shanshan" by the Han Dynasty.
(Loulan Ancient Kingdom near the "big ears" Lop Nur )
The Eastern Han Dynasty historian Ban Gu recorded the political, economic, cultural and other people's livelihood conditions in Loulan in the "Book of Han and The Tale of the Western Regions", and even the population was very accurate: "1,570 households, 14,100 mouths."
Although Loulan was rich, it was a small country after all, and it had to struggle to obtain living space among the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu. It was once unable to resist the oppression of both sides, but it failed, and could only continue to bow to the fate of submitting to both sides.
And those Han soldiers who left their hometowns and wells and traveled thousands of miles to garrison here were often depressed and sad because of homesickness. The poet Cen Shan's verses can best express this mood:
"Don't you hear the saddest sound of hu jia?
Purple-haired green-eyed bearded man blowing.
Blowing a song is still unfinished,
Sorrowful Lou Lan Zheng'er. ”
(Hear those mournful flutes?) It was blown by a local bearded man with green eyes. He finished blowing one song and then continued to play the next. Listening to the sad flute, I thought of my family thousands of miles away. ）
Stationed in the western region for a long time, the lonely mood of the defenders could not be solved. And some soldiers simply married and had children in Loulan and took root on the ground.
(Yumen Pass near Loulan Ancient Kingdom)
A country rich in beauty
In the Book of the Twenty-Four Histories of Jin, a story of Loulan Xianmei is recorded.
In 326, the State of Loulan went to war with the warlord Zhang Jun, who occupied Dunhuang. Lou Lan, who was defeated, had to send a Lou Lan beauty to Zhang Jun. Zhang Jun was very fond of this beauty and specially established a palace room for her called "BinXiaoguan".
If the history books cannot meet the imagination, then the excavation of the female mummy of Loulan is even more proof that Loulan is rich in beauty.
Following Sven Hedin's excavation of "Princess Loulan" in 1934, the Chinese archaeological team excavated two well-preserved female corpses in 1980 and 2003 at the Xiaohe Cemetery in the Loulan area.
One is called "Loulan Beauty" and the other is called "Little River Princess". Although the dried corpses have been weathered for thousands of years, it is still difficult to hide their beautiful faces before they were born.
In particular, the "Little River Princess", she has deep eye sockets, long eyelashes, a slender nose, thin lips, and a sweet smile on her face. The archaeological community asked experts to restore the original appearance of Princess Xiaohe based on the dried corpse, and its beauty was amazing.
(Little River Princess and her restoration)
And "Lou Lan Beauty" also has a well-defined face. In addition to her ornate attire, the felt hat on her head was also studded with the feathers of a gray heron. There was an ancient custom that when a wife died, the husband put a gray heron feather on her to represent his love for his wife.
The modern poet Xi Murong also wrote a moving poem "The Bride of Loulan" for this purpose:
My lover buried me in tears
Wrapped my smooth body with frankincense with pearls
Then use a trembling hand to take the bird feather
Stuck in my satin hair
He gently closed my eyes knowing
He was the last image in my eyes
Sprinkle flowers all over my chest and sprinkle them at the same time
And his love and sorrow
The sunset descends from the west to the sky since the bustling
My lover left alone
Leave me with eternal darkness and
Eternal sweetness and sorrow
......
The poet's poignant poems are full of romantic imagination, giving modern people endless reverie about Lou Lan and its beauties!
(Discover the location of the "Little River Princess" of the Little River Tomb)
The mystery of the millennium's disappearance
In 400 AD, the Eastern Jin Dynasty monk Fa Xian passed through Loulan when he went to Tianzhu to seek the Dharma. He later said in the Book of the Buddha's Kingdom that Lou Lan "has no birds on the top and no beasts on the bottom, and he looks all over the eye, but the dead bones are used as the ears." It shows that Loulan at that time was already extinct.
Although it is not clearly documented, archaeologists have made conjectures based on the changes in the geographical environment of Loulan and the possibility of ecological variation.
The first is the scourge of war.
With the strength of a small country, Loulan guarded the rare prosperity of the Western Regions. Caught between the great powers, and the covetousness of the surrounding small countries, Loulan is very difficult.
(Ruins of the Ancient Kingdom of Loulan today)
With the demise of the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains entered a long-term state of fragmentation. The Central Plains' protection of Loulan was unstable, and this state lasted until the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Lou Lan was therefore often caught up in war. It is likely that in a confrontation, it was eliminated by the other side and disappeared from it.
The national edict unearthed in Loulan has mentioned "Xianbei" more than 40 times. It can be seen that the biggest threat of Loulan in the western region comes from Xianbei. However, the history books do not clearly record it, so this is one of the conjectures of Loulan's demise.
The second is the plague.
In the excavation of cultural relics in Loulan, archaeologists found utensils similar to mouse clips. Apparently, it is for the capture of rodents. Rodents are very susceptible to plague, and there have been six large plagues caused by rats in the world, and thousands of people have died as a result.
With the backward medical level at that time, Lou Lan was unable to suppress the spread of the plague. As a small country of less than 20,000 people, there are only two paths to go. One is to wait for death, and the other is to migrate.
The third is water scarcity.
According to the Northern Wei "Notes on water classics", after the Eastern Han Dynasty, the rivers in the western region were diverted, resulting in a shortage of water in Lou Lan's eyes. At that time, Dunhuang, Loulan, Yanqi, Guizi and other areas cooperated in excavating strata to divert water, but in the end it was useless. In this case, only migration can gain vitality.
(The Village of Rob, where the "Rob people" of The descendants of Loulan live)
Yang Gao, an archaeologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, studied Lou Lan all his life. He said in "The Last Rob People" that the descendants of Loulan now live next to an ancient city called Milan in Ruoqiang County, Xinjiang. They once lived on the edge of Lop Nur for generations, had a special feeling for the desert oasis, and are now known as the "Rob People".
Loulan is still a stop on the Silk Road. However, more than a thousand years ago, those war drums and thunder, those swords and light sword shadows, have long been as calm and ancient as the thousand-year-old bride who has been hiding under the wind and sand for a long time.
How many of the once magnificent faces and past events have always been unable to withstand the changes of the times. Lou Lan, too.