Miran (Xinjiang)

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 Kröraina, also known as Loulan, Yuni/Miran was thus part of the broader Tocharian cultures. In the early 1st millennium, it was also a thriving center of Buddhism with many monasteries and stupas. The Tibetan Empire gained control of the area during the 8th and 9th centuries, when the Miran fort was built.
As a result of desertification, Miran was later abandoned, and has since remained virtually unpopulated, isolated from other settlements and difficult to access, due to a lack of paved roads.
Lionel Giles has recorded the following names for Miran (with his Wade-Giles forms of the Chinese names converted to pinyin):
During the period of Tibetan occupation (mid-8th to mid-9th centuries), the area was known as Nop Chungu (or nob chu ngu).
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, 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 Buddha.
Miran was one of the smaller cities in Kröraina (also known as Loulan), which was brought under the control of the Chinese Han dynasty in the 3rd century. After the 4th century, Chinese records suggest it began to decline as a trading center.
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.
The ruins at Miran consist of a large rectangular fort, a monastery ('the Vihara' in Stein's accounts), several stupas and many sun-dried brick constructions, located relatively close to the ancient caravan track to Dunhuang, running west to east. The many artifacts found in Miran demonstrate the extensive and sophisticated trade connections these ancient towns had with places as far away as the Mediterranean Sea. Archaeological evidence from Miran shows the influence of Buddhism on artistic work as early as the first century BC. Early Buddhist sculptures and murals excavated from the site demonstrate a Serindian style similar to the traditions of western Central Asia and the Gandhara art of the northwest Indian subcontinent; other artistic aspects of the paintings found there suggest that Miran had a direct connection with Rome and its provinces.
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 Indian Kharoshti characters, and who was perhaps a Roman artist who traveled east along the Silk Roads in search of employment. Several artefacts have been found at the Miran site, including bows and arrows.