However, afterward, Loulan, this frontier town, gradually disappeared from history, until 1900, when Swedish explorer Sven Hedin accidentally got lost in the desert due to a shovel and stumbled upon the ancient city, giving the Loulan Ancient City Ruins a chance to be rediscovered.
The Loulan Ancient City Ruins, buried under wind and sand, were preserved intact, its city walls towering, yet devoid of human presence; the buildings within the ancient city were perfectly preserved, as if overnight, the entire nation had become an empty city.
The disappearance of Loulan was directly related to Lop Nur. In 1878, Russian explorer Przhevalsky discovered during his investigation of Lop Nur that the position marked on ancient Chinese maps was inaccurate, not located south of the Kuruktagh Mountains, but near the Altun Mountains, and the location identified by Przhevalsky is now just a Salt Marsh.
