The Origin of Loulan’s Name

In Chinese historical records, Loulan was one of the most famous countries in the Western Regions. Its name firstly appeared in the report that Zhang Qian reported to Han Wu Emperor after he had visited the Western Regions. According to all Zhang Qian heard and saw, the Records of history, Dawan Record wrote, “on the west of Yutian, the water was flowing towards the west and entering the west sea. And the water flowing towards the east and entering the Yanze. The Yanze moved under the ground and the south river was the origin of water. Where more jade, the water entered the hinterland. Furthermore, Loulan and Gushi had their own city walls and faced the Yanze. This period was the early stage that Hanzu knew its name “Loulan”.

Where did the name “Loulan” come from? Was the “Loulan” mentioned by Zhang Qian a country in the Western Regions or a city in the oasis? Hanshu, The Western Regions Records recorded, “Shanshan, its original name was Loulan”. The jade were produced in there and people lived where there was water and grass. The King of Loulan ruled the area of Lop Nur.

In 1901, Siwen·heding found the ancient loulan city that was only more than 100,000 square meters near Luobuzhuoer. According to the unearthed Falu characters, the western scholars called it “Kroraina” and thought that Loulan was transliterated from “Kroraina”. More than 150 pieces of Chinese bamboo slips were found in the city relic and so it was called Loulan. Corresponding two issues, we could conclude that the “Kroraina” was Loulan.

In his book the Kingdom of Loulan, Japanese Changzehejun thought that the immigrants brought the Falu characters “Kronaira” and it meant “land”, and its original name stemmed from remote India. Further, we could infer that Loulan on the slips was transliterated from Falu Characters and stemmed from “Kroraina”.

Chinese scholar Meng Fanren pointed that the Falu characters were spread into Xinjiang at the end of A.D. 2nd century and there were only 6 slips that recorded the word “Loulan”. The word appeared during the end of A.D. 3rd to the beginning of A.D.4th century. The local people could use the Falu character to record the phonetic symbol of existed word “Loulan”. Thus it could see, the local original inhabitants named “Loulan” and the “Loulan” of Chinese historical records was the transliterated pronunciation of this name.

In his thesis Loulan and Shanshan Issues, Chinese scholar Feng Chengjun said, “I think of the word “Lop” when I see the word “Lap”. I think that Loulan and Shanshan had the close relation with Lop Nur. If they couldn’t regard the name of state as the name of lake, the name of lake must be the name of state. The issue 2nd of “Shuijingzhu” cited examples from the Western Regions Records written by Shishi and called Lop Nur another name “Laolanhai”. “Laolan” and “Loulan” must be the some word and different transliteration. In Tubo language and Tibet language, Lop Nur was called “Nob” and Large Shanshan City was called “Nob-Chen” and Small Shanshan City was called “Nob-Chung” (Large Shanshan City means Roqiang and Small Shanshan City means the old city of Milan.). The name of state was the name of lake. Tibetan transliteration was rigorous. In Lop Nur, the original pronunciation “N” was changed into “L”. That was to say, the name “Lap” and “Nob” meant Lop Nur or Shanshan.

The word “Loulan” was not the special word of Loulan State or Loulan City and it was an old name that existed in Lop Nur. So, the Loulan State in Western Han Dynasty and the later Loulan City were named by the name of the Lake. In Chinese ancient records, “Laolanhai” could be the oldest phonetic symbol of Lop Nur.

Lop Nur had existed before the Wangengxinshi and it was the water center of the Talimu Basin. Loulan and Cheshi were close to it. So the ancient culture of Lop Nur Area came into being in this area. The ancient local residents used this name to call their own state and city. And it showed that Lop Nur was very important in people’s minds.

Translated by Beijing Star-light Translation Center
December 12, 2000