Miran (Xinjiang)
Location | China |
---|---|
Region | Xinjiang |
Coordinates | 39°14′03″N 88°56′22″E / 39.23417°N 88.93944°E |
Miran (simplified Chinese: 米兰; traditional Chinese: 米蘭) or Mirān is a former city that existed until the 1st millennium, on the southern rim of the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang, China. Located at an oasis, where the Lop Nur desert meets the Altun Shan mountains, Miran was once a major point on the Silk Road.
Under the name Yuni, Miran was for a time the capital of the ancient kingdom of
As a result of desertification, Miran was later abandoned[when?], and has since remained virtually unpopulated, isolated from other settlements and difficult to access, due to a lack of paved roads.[citation needed]
Names
- "Yuni, old capital of Loulan [Former Han]
- "Old Eastern Town" ; "Little Shanshan" [Later Han]
- Qitun Cheng ; Tun Cheng [Tang]
- Mirān [modern name].[2]
During the period of Tibetan occupation (mid-8th to mid-9th centuries), the area was known as Nop Chungu (or nob chu ngu).[3][page range too broad]
History
In ancient times, Miran was a busy trading centre on the southern part of the Silk Road, after the route split into two (the northern route and the southern route), as caravans of merchants sought to escape travel across the harsh wasteland of the desert (called by the Chinese "The Sea of Death") and the Tarim Basin. The routes went around its north or south rim.
During the 1st millennium CE, a river flowed into the area from a nearby mountain range, and Miran had a sophisticated irrigation system. As a result of the river drying-up,[when?] the region experienced desertification and Miran was gradually abandoned.
Archaeological excavations (undertaken since the early 20th century) have revealed an extensive Buddhist monastery complex, which existed between the 2nd to 5th centuries. Buddhist devotees would have walked around the covered circular stupas, whose central pillar contained relics of the
Miran was one of the smaller cities in
In the mid-8th century, Miran became a fort town because of its location at the mouth of a pass on one of the routes into Tibet. This is where the Tibetan forces crossed when the Chinese army withdrew to deal with rebels in central China. The Tibetans remained there, using the old irrigation system, until the Tibetan Empire lost its territories in Central Asia around the middle of the ninth century.[5]
Archaeology
The ruins at Miran consist of a large rectangular fort, a monastery ('the Vihara' in Stein's accounts), several stupas and many
This Romanesque style is thought to be the work of a Buddhist painter known as "Titus" (𐨟𐨁𐨟, Tita), who signed his painting at Miran with his name in
Expeditions and visitors to the site
- 1876: The first person to mention the ancient site was Lopnor lake, which, judging from its geographical position on his map, must have been Miran.[13]
- 1905: Ellsworth Huntington, an American geologist, the first to examine Miran, identified the fort, the monastery, and two stupas during a short visit, and recognized the Buddhist character of the site.[5]
- 1906-1907: Aurel Stein visited and excavated Miran fort and surrounding sites during his second expedition to Central Asia, carrying out a thorough excavation of the fort, uncovering 44 rooms (site numbers M.I.i - M.I.xliv). He excavated other sites in the area, mainly to the north and west of the fort (site numbers M.II - M.X), including several temples containing well-preserved Buddhist fresco and stucco images.[14]
- 1902 and 1910: Count Ōtani Kōzui sent missions from Kyoto to some Taklamakan sites, among them Miran, to bring back Buddhist texts, wall paintings and sculptures.[15]
- 1914: Aurel Stein returned to Miran on his third expedition, excavating other sites in the area (site numbers M.XI - M.XV), which were ruins of stupas and towers. The objects found in these included more stucco images and wooden carved objects.[16]
- 1957-8: Professor Huang Wenbi lead a team from the Institute of Archaeology, CASS, spending six days at Miran, and a report was published in 1983 describing the fort and two stupa/temple sites, and a number of finds.
- 1959: A team from Xinjiang Museum spent ten days in Miran examining the fort, temple site and dwelling areas. A report of their considerable findings was published in 1960.
- 1965: Rao Reifu, an engineer, investigated the remains of a substantial irrigation system in the Miran area and published his findings in 1982.
- 1973: Another team from the Xinjiang Museum visited the site an investigated the fort, temples and irrigation system. The excavations and the artefacts found in these sites were discussed in an expedition report by Mu Shunying in 1983.
- 1978-80: The most extensive investigation of the site so far was carried out by Huang Xiaojing and Zhang Ping of the Xinjiang Museum. Their 1985 report discusses the fort, 8 stupas, 3 temple sites, 2 beacons, dwellings, tombs, a kiln area and a smelting site.
- 1988: The archaeological team of XJASS visited the site and published a report, containing little new information.
- 1989: Professor Wang Binghua visited several of the temple sites.
- 1989: Christa Paula visited Miran, and published a description with photographs.[17]
- 1996: Peter Yung visited Miran recording his experiences in words and photographs.[18]
Transportation
See also
- Shanshan
- Lop Nur
- Xiaohe Tomb complex
- Niya
- Loulan Kingdom
- Charklik
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Whitfield 2004, p. 188.
- ^ Giles 1932, p. 845.
- ^ Thomas 1951, pp. 119–166.
- ^ Hansen 2012, pp. 53–54.
- ^ a b Whitfield 2004, p. 189.
- ^ van Oort 1986.
- ^ Neelis n.d., citing Rhie 1999, pp. 385 & 429
- ^ "Ten Centuries of Art on the Silk Road". Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ^ Grousset 1970, p. 49.
- ^ Foltz 1999, p. 48.
- ^ Santoro 2006, p. 31.
- ^ Hall & Farrell 2008.
- ^ Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich (1879). From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor. London: Sampson Low.
- ^ Stein, Mark Aurel (1921). Serindia. Oxford: Clarendon.
- ^ Sugiyama, Jiro (1971). Central Asian Objects brought back by the Otani Mission. Tokyo National Museum.
- ^ Stein, Marc Aurel (1928). Innermost Asia. Clarendon Press.
- ^ Paul, Christa (1994). The Road to Miran: Travels in the Forbidden Zone of Xinjiang. London: HarperCollins.
- ^ Yung, Peter (1997). Bazaars of Chinese Turkestan: Life and Trade Along the Old Silk Road. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
References
- ISBN 978-0-333-77527-1.
- S2CID 129458952.
- OCLC 496037284.
- Hall, Andrew; Farrell, Jack (2008). "Bows and Arrows from Miran, China". Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries. 51: 89–98. from the original on 2021-07-11.
- OCLC 1035751829.
- Neelis, Jason (n.d.). Waugh, Daniel (ed.). "Silk Road Trade Routes". Art of the Silk Road. Silk Road Seattle. Archived from the original on 2021-09-07.
- van Oort, H. A. (1986). The Iconography of Chinese Buddhism in Traditional China. Vol. II. Leiden: E. J. Brill. OCLC 216716227.
- Rhie, Marilyn Martin (1999). Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia. Vol. 1. Leiden & Boston: Brill. OCLC 40193480.
- Santoro, Arcangela (2006). "Miran: The Viśvāntara jātaka on Visual Narration Along the Silk Road". Rivista degli studi orientali. 79 (1/4): 31–45. JSTOR 43927043.
- OCLC 13155471.
- ISBN 9781932476132.
External links
- Along the ancient silk routes: Central Asian art from the West Berlin State Museums, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material from Miran
- Some Aspects Of Jataka Paintings in Indian and Chinese (Central Asian) Art
- Mīrān Fort - Placename Information on the Digital Silk Road website