Loulan

Loulan (樓蘭; pinyin: L?ul?n) is an ancient town founded in the second century BC on the north-eastern edge of the Taklamakan desert. Loulan was an ancient kingdom along China's Silk Road in Xinjiang. The ruins of Loulan are on what were the western banks of Lop Nur, in the Ruoqiang county of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, now completely submerged in the desert (approximate coordinates, ).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A 3,800-year-old female mummy (circa 1600 BC) was discovered in Loulan in 1980 (see ), suggesting an even earlier inhabitation of the region.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 55 BC the area became a Chinese puppet state, called Shanshan. The Tarim River, which supported the settlement, subsequently changed course, and by the sixth century the city was abandoned.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pinyin: Pinyin (??, p?ny?n) literally means "join (together) sounds" (a less literal translation being "phoneticize", "spell" or "transcription") in Chinese and usually refers to H?ny? P?ny?n (????, literal meaning: "Han language pinyin"), which is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcripti...

Second century BC: REDIRECT 2nd century BC...

Taklamakan: The Taklamakan (also Taklimakan) is a desert of Central Asia, in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Some references state that Taklamakan means "if you go in, you won't come out"; others state that it means "Desert of Death" or "Place of no return". ....