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Approximately 2000 years ago, Loulan was an oases city and a famous stop on the Silk Road. Despite its small size, it was economically prosperous. Located at the half-way point along the Silk Road, on the west bank of Lop Nor Lake, it was a region enriched by the trading of goods such as silks, teas, fruits and jewels. It was one of the sites where the Sogdian letters passed through (Wood, 2002), and was also used as a stopover for travelling merchants. In short, it was flourishing economically while remaining a peaceful and beautiful region for both residents and visitors.

 

Map of Loulan and the Silk Road

 

Little else is known of the town that was once considered a kingdom along the Silk Road. It was tragically buried under sand and virtually disappeared. This can be attributed to the shifting of rivers. Consequently, the lack of water would force civilizations to move to a more desirable and sustainable location (Hopkirk, 1980).

A monk, Fa Xian, passed through Loulan on his way to India. He reported being impressed by the region, with its thriving economy and valuable position on the Silk Road. Only 200 years later, however, Xuan Zang reported a much different observation after encountering the ruins of the oases city. He stated that there were no traces of human life anywhere. It appeared abandoned; “the kingdom had vanished and the city was empty and deserted” (Wu, 2005).

 

An artist’s depiction of Loulan

 

Ruins of Loulan

 

 Sven Hedin receives the credit for rediscovering the ‘lost city’. His discovery of the ruins made him the most important explorer in the history of Western Region explorations (Wu, 2005). At the time of his discovery, the position of the city was under debate. He realized that it only made sense that the position of Loulan be determined by its dependence on Lop Nor Lake.  In order to determine whether his hypothesis was correct, he assembled a team of men and ventured into the Taklamakan Desert. With a lack of water and a team of tired animals, Hedin lost many men to the harsh conditions that greeted them upon entering the unforgiving desert.

    Loulan Settlement

His discovery of the exact location of Loulan was essentially an accident. His men had lost tools back at an excavation site. Hedin’s guide, realizing that the tools would be necessary if they were to find water, went back to look for them. A wind forced him off course and led him to the ancient ruins. Hedin saw the wooden figures that his guide had spotted and immediately realized that they were important (Hedin, 1996). Hedin, proud of his discovery, went back to the city several times in order to further excavate.

Sven Hedin’s team excavating Loulan

 Countless other explorers ventured through the deadly desert to the site of Loulan. Braving blazing days and frigid nights, men reached the site and were not disappointed. Most were greeted by the discovery of mummies buried under the sands of Loulan. They realized that the bodies were European-looking. They had high-bridged noses, beards, round eye-sockets and light or reddish hair. They were taller than any Asian, wore fur or cloths with interesting patterns, as well as leather and felt (Wood, 2002). These mummies appear to have been buried as early as 2000-1800B.C. (Barber, 1999).

Among these discoveries was one monumental discovery of what many now refer to as the Loulan beauty. Quoting a section from The Mummies of Urumchi by Elizabeth Barber, she described the mummy as:

…bundled up in a brown woollen wrap with her

funerary gifts around her. Framed by auburn hair,

her face looks so peaceful and hauntingly beautiful

that she has captured the imagination of the Turkic

population of the whole province, who nicknamed

her the Beauty of Loulan.

 

 

The Loulan Beauty (left: actual mummy discovered;

right: a sketch of what she is believed to have looked like…)

 

She is believed to have been of Turkic decent, even though that categorization barely suits her facial features. It was determined for certain that she was not Han Chinese. The burials of the Turks and Mongols came 1500 years after this woman lived. Therefore, it is only a belief that they were descended from her and other mummies that were discovered, possessing the same facial features. Furthermore, the majority of non-Chinese residing in Xinjiang today possess blue eyes and light or reddish hair (Barber, 1999).

 
The items that surrounded the Loulan Beauty tell much of her life. She was buried wearing ankle-high leather moccasins with a fur trim and a mid-length skirt, also leather with fur on the inside for warmth. She also wore a woollen cap or hood that could be secured under the chin. It is believed that she died in the winter months because, the way in which she was dressed, showed that she may have been concerned about keeping warm (Barber, 1999).

Loulan Beauty

 

The link that follows is a piece from a documentary of all the mummies discovered at Loulan. This specific section focuses only on the Loulan beauty. Chinese archaeologists explain what is believed to have been her life. Watch! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcyiiviM9_8

In the book, Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things: An Impossible Journey from Kabul to Chiapas by Gary Geddes, an explorer recounts his encounter with the Loulan Beauty:

…I managed to pay my respects to the Loulan Beauty

with her chestnut hair, which pushed out from under

a felt hat adorned with a goose feather. Her eyes, long

lashes still intact, had sunk below the cheekbones. Otherwise,

she was well preserved, even handsome. Five feet tall,

European, with type O blood and at least 3800 years of under-

ground experience, she did not look a day over forty-five, her

approximate age at the time of death.

…She appeared serene in her glass case in Urumqi, one shoulder

faintly visible through the threadbare weave of her garment, and

her lips pressed – in mirth, perhaps – around some truth, some

unspeakable enigma.

 

Although very little is left of Loulan, it is not as if it has disappeared completely. Curious tourists are still able to explore the lands and experience the ruins of what was once a booming kingdom, historians are able to visit the Beauty of Loulan in a museum and archaeologists are still attempting to reconstruct the lives of those that resided in Loulan. Although gaps exist in this intriguing story, the gaps are slowly being filled as more discoveries are made. One can only hope to be able to understand everything about this city at some point in the future.

Works Cited

Barber, Elizabeth W. The Mummies of Urumchi. Chapter 4. W.W Norton and Company Inc.: New York. 1999.

Geddes, Gary. Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things: An Impossible Journey from Kabul to Chiapas. Sterling Publishing Company Inc.: New York. 2005.

Hedin, Sven. My Life as an Explorer. Asian Educational Services: New Delhi. 1996.

Hopkirk, Peter. Foreign Devils on the Silk Road. The University of Massachusetts Press: Amherst. 1980.

Wood, Frances. The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia. Chapter 5. University of California Press: Los Angeles. 2002.

Wu, Dunfu. Footprints of Foreign Explorers on the Silk Road. 2005.

It has been discovered, after many years that, in the 10th century it was completely possible for a Jewish merchant to travel to China and retrieve valuable items. Archeological studies and literary sources have made it clear that there was Jewish participation in the Silk Road trade. The idea of this possibility even existing only came to light after European explorers and archaeologists, at the beginning of the 20th century, began to investigate the routes along the Silk Road. These routes were used by the merchants. The first discovery was made by Sir Aural Stein at Dandan Uiliq. What he found was a Judeo-Persian letter, written in Hebrew characters in the Persian language. It came from a Jewish merchant and was dated to the 8th century. The second discovery was made by Paul Pelliot six years later, while investigating a secret library in the caves of the Thousand Buddhas at Tun-huang. He examined thousands of Chinese manuscripts and purchased a large number to take to France, when he discovered a copy of a prayer text written in Hebrew. This suggested that it belonged to a Jewish traveller who may have arrived at Tun-huang by caravan from Persia. However, the most convincing evidence, by far, was the discovery of a Jewish settlement along the Silk Road. In it were tombstones and memorial tablets, in Judeo-Persian, which were inscribed with 11th and 13th century dates. Some even dated to the 8th century, confirming Sir Aurel Stein’s discovery to be accurate.

With all of this overwhelming evidence, it leads one to question why so much confirmation was needed after the first discovery of a Judeo-Persian text. Why was everyone so skeptical of the possibility of Jews traveling along the Silk Road? First of all, they originated in Israel, which is far from the Silk Road, but certainly not impossible. Secondly, although they were considered second class citizens in their Persian home, they were still able to participate in trade. Therefore, it was completely possible for a Jewish merchant to travel to and participate in the activities along the Silk Road.