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Paper long abstract:

Buried in the sand of Lop Nur, a mural tomb dated to the fourth to the fifth century CE in Loulan, Xinjiang barely drew any attention among international scholars since its discovery two decades ago. This tomb, despite the robbery, preserves magnificent traces showing the cosmopolitan taste of elites in Loulan. Before being devoured by the expanding Lop Desert, Loulan was an important hub along the Silk Road, connecting China, Central Asia, and the Steppes. The tomb located northeast of a fortified town served as a nexus of merging diverse cultural traditions and showcased the strategy of appropriating the Other’s visual vocabularies by local elites.

In this paper, I first articulate the tomb designer’s refined understanding of the Han Chinese’s notion of the afterlife through an investigation into the tomb structure and the coffin decoration, both of which derived from the Han dynasty. Then, this article probes into the pictorial program of mural paintings to reveal how the lifestyle of Western Asian and nomadic aristocrats was likely adopted by the Loulan elites. The depiction of banqueting and camel fights demonstrates a keen interest in incorporating noble pastime activities in tomb decoration to maintain status in the afterlife. Lastly, I turn to the religious aspect of this funerary monument. While the tomb’s double chambers and a long tunnel shares structural commonality with contemporaneous tombs in China, a circular pillar decorated with numerous wheels finds few parallels with Chinese burials. I argue that the presence of a central pillar covered by the wheel motif, signifying the Dharma Law, transforms the tomb’s rear chamber into a Buddhist sanctuary. The architectural implication of a Buddhist temple together with the mural painting showing a donor worshipping the Buddha provides critical evidence to understand the transmission of Buddhism at Loulan and the religious faith of the tomb occupants.