Lou-Lan
(Roran)

RUSSIAN / Evgeny Kruchina 

Shinchosha (1968) (pb)

 

There once was a small country in western China called Lou-Lan, which had a population of about 14,000 people. An oasis city in a desert region, Lou-Lan was situated on the shores of a huge lake, Lop Nur, and surrounded by dense poplar forests and reed swamps. Being sandwiched between huge Han Dynasty China and the ferocious and daring Xiongnu nomadic confederation, Lou-Lan was exposed to the threat of pillage and plunder by the Xiongnu, and it was also used by the Han as a base for punitive attacks on the Xiongnu. So it sought to survive by adapting to the changing times—sometimes affiliating itself with the Xiongnu and sometimes with the Han. Finally, the Lou-Lan people accepted a Han promise of protection, abandoned their land, and went south to build a new city, Shan-Shan (New Water), on the banks of a small lake. Subsequently, the people living in Shan-Shan continued to nurture the dream of returning to Lou-Lan, which was being used by successive Chinese dynasties as a garrison base for punitive attacks on the Xiongnu.

Some six centuries later, a young military commander of Shan-Shan launched an expedition in an attempt to recapture Lou-Lan, the land of his ancestors, but all he found was desert. In the 20th century, Lou-Lan was rediscovered by a Swedish adventurer called Sven Hedin, who excavated the buried ruins of Lou-Lan and also proved that Lop Nur shifted to different locations within the desert according to a 1,500-year cycle. The wandering lake, with abundant water flows and water fowl as well as thick forests is continuing to make its way in the direction of Lou-Lan.

 

GENRE: Historical fiction