Niya: The Still Homeland and Time

Author: Liu Wensuo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: When passing by the ruins, take a moment to stop and realize that the place you are walking through was once a vibrant oasis filled with the joy of life 1,600 years ago. Everywhere is a living miracle—Niya's architecture and cemeteries reveal the material and spiritual world of this early oasis city-state, leaving people today in awe. We can imagine the scene of this camel caravan entering the Niya Oasis: under the autumn sunset of the vast desert, accompanied by the tinkling sound of camel bells, loaded with silk, slowly entering this vast settlement deep in the Taklamakan Desert. Downstream of the Niya River lies a mysterious kingdom, said to use a strange ancient script resembling donkey lips, also known as the donkey lip script. The discovery and decipherment of this script have brought a dreamlike kingdom to life before people. However, there remains an unsolved mystery to this day: this kingdom had a highly advanced civilization, yet why was it abandoned? The people here seem to have just left their homes and never returned, as if time suddenly froze—what could be the reason for this?