The kingdom was originally an independent city-state, known in the almost undocumented language of its inhabitants as Kröran or Kroraina – which is commonly rendered in Chinese as Loulan. Chinese dynasties took direct control of the kingdom some time after 77 BCE, and it was later known in Chinese as Shanshan. The archaeologist J. P. Mallory has suggested that the name Shanshan may be derived from the name of another city in the area, Cherchen (later known in Chinese as Qiemo).[1][2]