kingdom · China, Tibet and Mongolia

Kroraina

176 BCE – 445 CE (approx.) · capital Kroraina (Loulan), Yuni

The kingdom of Loulan, later Shanshan, on the shores of Lop Nur, whose desert-preserved documents give an unusually detailed view of Silk Road life.

Origins

Kroraina, called Loulan in Chinese, was an oasis state on the north-western shore of Lop Nur in the eastern Tarim Basin, the first stop for travellers leaving China westward. It appears in a Xiongnu letter to the Han of 176 BCE. In 77 BCE the Han envoy Fu Jiezi assassinated its pro-Xiongnu king, and the Han installed Weituqi, renaming the kingdom Shanshan and moving its centre south to Yuni.

Rule and society

In the 3rd and 4th centuries Shanshan used Gandhari Prakrit in Kharoshthi script for government; hundreds of wooden tablets found at Niya record taxes, lawsuits, camels and slaves. Buddhism flourished, and its monasteries and paintings show Indian and Hellenistic influence. Chinese garrisons were stationed at Loulan, and its kings balanced between China and the steppe.

Decline and legacy

Weakened by the drying of Lop Nur and wars with its neighbours, Shanshan was conquered by the Northern Wei in 445. The ruins of Loulan and Niya were rediscovered by Sven Hedin and Aurel Stein around 1900.

Connections (3)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kroraina. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kroraina
MLA
“Kroraina.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kroraina. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Kroraina.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kroraina.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kroraina’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kroraina (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻