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Ancient City of Loulan

Loulan is an ancient city in Lop Nur, which was founded in the 2nd century BC as the capital of ancient State Loulan. It once occupied very significant position on the Silk Road.
In those days, crowds of merchants and travelers doing brisk trades there. But this fully developed city vanished in the middle of the 6th century AD, and it is now known as the Middle Kingdom's "Pompeii" all over the world. A Swedish explorer whose name is Sven Anders Hedin first discovered it at the beginning of last century. Then adventurers from America, Britain, Japan and Sweden set foot here for several times, and many invaluable relics were taken to foreign lands.
In early 1980s, the archaeological team of China formally carried on archaeological investigations and unearthing work at the ancient city of Loulan. A great number of historical relics including exquisite silk and woolen fabrics, potsherds, wood pieces, coins, jewelries and wood slip documents were found. Among them, the inscribed wooden slips and documents with words on them have high academic value. Another marvelous spectacle is a well-preserved mummy which could date back to 3,800 years ago. All these remains make the culture of ancient Loulan reappear in the world.