Lop Nur paper, ink rubbing

Author: Zhuang Xingxing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-07-01
Features: The Great Series of Chinese Folk Calligraphy. Between 1900 and 1914, a large number of ancient documents were unearthed from an ancient city site located northwest of the Lop Nur in Xinjiang and on the southern bank of the Konqi River. In these documents, the city site was referred to as "Loulan" in Chinese texts and as "Kroraina" in Kharosthi texts. Therefore, the city site is known as the Ancient City Ruins of Loulan, and the documents are called the Loulan Documents or the Loulan Manuscripts. The Ancient City of Loulan was not very large, covering an area of about 108,000 square meters, but it became an important city in the history of China during many dynasties. It was once the Western Regions Commandery of the Wei and Western Jin dynasties, and during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, it was known as the Western Regions Commandery under the former Liang, Later Liang, and Western Liang. The name "Haitou" was derived from the fact that the Lop Nur was called "Lalan" during this period. The content of the Lalan documents covered a wide range of topics, including official and private correspondence, military and legal matters, resident household registration, agricultural production, commercial activities, living facilities, handicraft production, and connections with Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zang, Yanqi, Shanshan, Kucha, and Gaochang, playing a significant role in the study of ancient history, military, economy, and daily life.
In terms of writing, some of the Lalan documents were inscribed on wooden slips, while others were written on paper, all in ink. Although the paper and slips were extensively damaged over the centuries, most of them still remain clearly legible, making them extremely valuable for studying the development and changes of ancient calligraphy. Anyone who pays a little attention to unearthed ancient Chinese calligraphy works will notice a common feature of the Lalan documents: a significant portion of them are early paper-based ink inscriptions.
By comparing the paper-based ink inscriptions of Loulan, with the late Western Jin period work "August 19th, Fourth Year of the Yongjia Era" and the early Sixteen Kingdoms period "Li Bai Documents" as benchmarks, it can be determined that any inscriptions older than these two must predate the Sixteen Kingdoms period, while those less ancient than them must belong to the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Additionally, it can be observed that the majority of the paper-based ink inscriptions in the Lalan documents are from the Sixteen Kingdoms period.