Why Dunhuang Survived Instead of Loulan -- An Analysis of the Revolution of the Silk Road

In the northwest of China, there is the Taklamakan Desert, one of the largest deserts in the world, and under the dust, there is a prosperous city hidden. At the same time, in the depths of the desert, a ruined ancient city was sleeping. The two cities we are going to introduce today - Dunhuang and Loulan, are two very similar but completely different cities. The ruins of one of the cities have been buried by wind and sand, but the other city is still full of vitality until today. Loulans disillusionment is not just a natural factor, but the result of many different choices. We will analyze the endings of these two cities from three aspects (nature, human reasons, and religious reasons), and I also hope that you can gain some thoughts about choice while reading.