Loulan Kingdom

Loulan, also called Krorän or Kroraina (simplified Chinese: 楼兰; traditional Chinese: 樓蘭; pinyin: Lóulán; Uyghur: كروران‎, ULY: Kroran ), and known to Russian archaeologists as Krorayina, was an ancient kingdom based around an important oasis city along the Silk Road already known in the 2nd century BCE on the north-eastern edge of the Lop Desert. The term Loulan is the Chinese transcription of the native name Krorän, and is used to refer to the city located near Lop Nur as well as the kingdom.

The kingdom was renamed Shanshan (鄯善) after its king was assassinated by an envoy of the Han dynasty in 77 BCE; however, the town at the northwestern corner of the brackish desert lake Lop Nur retained the name of Loulan. The kingdom included at various times settlements such as Niya, Charklik, Miran, and Qiemo. It was intermittently under Chinese control from the early Han dynasty until its abandonment centuries later. The ruins of Loulan are near the now desiccated Lop Nur in the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, and are now completely surrounded by desert.