--- SEARCH ---
WEATHER
CHINA
INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS
CULTURE
GOVERNMENT
SCI-TECH
ENVIRONMENT
LIFE
PEOPLE
TRAVEL
WEEKLY REVIEW
Learning Chinese
Learn to Cook Chinese Dishes
Exchange Rates
Hotel Service


Hot Links
China Development Gateway
Chinese Embassies
Info
FedEx
China Post
China Air Express
Hospitals in China
Chinese Embassies
Foreign Embassies
Golfing China
China
Construction Bank
People's
Bank of China
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Travel Agencies
China Travel Service
China International Travel Service
Beijing Youth Travel Service
Links
China Tours
China National Tourism Administration

Silk Road Tombs Damaged
Ancient tombs in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwest China, which may help solve the mystery of the Loulan Kingdom of 2,000 years ago, have been ransacked, according to yesterday's Guangming Daily.

A team of archaeologists who reportedly discovered the damage claimed the tombs probably included kings' mausoleums, which have never been found before.

But their claim was rejected by experts on Loulan studies in interviews with China Daily.

An excavation team organized by the local cultural heritage administration has set out today for the tombs in the vast Lop Nur desert in Xinjiang, said sources with the Xinjiang Archaeological Research Institute.

The tombs were found with mummies torn, bones scattered, murals destroyed and silk fabrics broken to pieces during the Spring Festival period (February 1 to 7 this year).

"We met with a white car which fled on sight. Following the tracks we saw the robbed tombs," said Zong Tongcang, member of the team and researcher with the Palace Museum in Beijing.

One mural smashed depicted a golden camel and a silver camel biting each other, and a man standing between them, making gestures to stop the fight. Zong said camels were symbols of power in Loulan.

"If what the team said was true, it would be the first time that such fabulous murals and coloured coffins were discovered in tombs of the Loulan Kingdom," said Zhang Yuzhong, deputy head of the Xinjiang Archaeological Research Institute.

Loulan Kingdom (176 BC - AD 630) was the hub of communications on the Silk Road which connected the East with the West. It mysteriously waned and was forgotten until the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin (1865-1952) discovered its relics in 1900.

"The tombs were built under a Buddhist pagoda, which was deemed holy in Loulan. The extraordinary burial site, tomb size, murals and paintings on coffins all hinted the tombs may belong to the kings," Zong was quoted as saying.

However, Lin Meicun, a professor with Peking University and a prestigious scholar on Loulan, told China Daily that it was unlikely kings' mausoleums were among the Lop Nur tombs.

"Lop Nur was, in the third century, the border between the kingdom and regions under the direct jurisdiction of the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). Kings' mausoleums should be built in Ruoqiang, the Loulan capital then, which is far from the Lop Nur," Lin noted.

It is the second major raid on the Loulan tombs since 2002.

"It is difficult to guard the relics in the vast Xinjiang, which makes up one-sixth of China's land territory. What is more, no one can live in the Lop Nur desert and guard the Loulan relics," said Zhang Yuzhong.

Zhang said investigations into the robbery are continuing.

"Protection of the Loulan relics is urgent," he noted.

(China Daily February 13, 2003)

Xinjiang Relics Evoke Allure of Ancient Silk Road
Loulan – A Lost Kingdom in Taklamakan
Qinghai Section, Major Trunk of Ancient Silk Road
4,000-year-old Tombs Re-Discovered in Lop Nur
Print This Page
|
Email This Page
About Us SiteMap Feedback
Copyright © China Internet Information Center. All Rights Reserved
E-mail: webmaster@china.org.cn Tel: 86-10-68326688