Nia---A Still Home and Time

Author: Liu Wensuo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: When passing by these 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 are the architectural wonders and cemeteries of Niya, revealing the material and spiritual world of this early oasis city-state, leaving people today in awe. We can imagine the scene of this caravan entering the Niya Oasis: under the autumn sunset of the vast desert, accompanied by the tinkling of camel bells, heavily laden with silk, slowly entering this massive settlement deep in the Taklamakan Desert. Downstream of the Niya River lies a mysterious kingdom, said to use an unusual ancient script resembling donkey lips, also known as the Donkey Lip Script. The discovery and decipherment of this script have unveiled a dreamlike kingdom to the world. However, there remains an unsolved mystery to this day: this kingdom possessed a highly advanced civilization, yet why was it abandoned? The people here seem to have just left their homes on an outing but never returned. Time seems to have suddenly frozen—what could be the reason for this?