In this combo photo, the upper half taken on Nov. 11, 2019 shows part of ruins of a pagoda before a reinforcement project at the site of ancient Loulan in the wilderness of Ruoqiang County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; the lower half taken on Oct. 20, 2020 shows the same part of the pagoda after the reinforcement project. A project launched in June 2020 to preserve the site of ancient Loulan, dubbed "Oriental Pompeii," was accomplished on Nov. 30. Loulan was a prosperous settlement built around 2,000 years ago to serve traders transiting through the ancient Silk Road. However, with time, references to Loulan mysteriously disappeared. (Northwest Research Institute Co., Ltd. of CREC/Handout via Xinhua)
