Shanshan (Chinese: 鄯善; pinyin: Shànshàn; Uyghur: پىچان, ULY: Pichan, UYY: Piqan?) was a kingdom located at the north-eastern end of the Taklamakan Desert near the great, but now mostly dry, salt lake known as Lop Nur. It was previously known as Loulan Kingdom, but was renamed Shanshan after the king of Loulan was assassinated by a Chinese envoy in 77 BCE, and thereafter existed largely as a puppet state of China.