Ancient bamboo and wood writing materials in China. Popular in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties (about 5th century BC to 3rd century AD). After paper was widely used, bamboo slips were gradually abandoned. At present, the earliest bamboo slips found are those unearthed from the tomb of Zeng Houyi in Suizhou, Hubei Province in the early Warring States Period, and the latest ones are those unearthed from Loulan Site in Lop Nur, Xinjiang, Minfeng Niya Site and Turpan Golden Tomb.
The contents of ancient bamboo slips are very extensive, including official documents and archives, private letters, copies of books, calendars and books specially used for burial. It has high historical value and is also a very precious calligraphy ink. Their discovery and research is one of the important achievements of modern academic circles.
Materials of bamboo slips:
Bamboo slips unearthed from Hunan Changsha, Hubei Jiangling, Henan Xinyang Chu Tomb, Hubei Yunmeng Qin Tomb and Hunan Changsha Mawangdui Han Tomb are mostly based on local materials. Wooden slips of the Han Dynasty were unearthed at Dunhuang and Juyan sites. 1944 wooden slips unearthed in Dunhuang were identified as materials such as Ilex, Populus tomentosa, Fraxinus mandshurica and Tamarix chinensis, all of which were wood of Salicaceae and Fraxinus mandshurica.
Most of the clothes are cut as pine. Because they are not produced locally, it is difficult to obtain materials, so the scrap list is cut and rewritten. The material of Juyan Han bamboo slips is roughly the same as that of Dunhuang Han bamboo slips, and there is also a very hard material similar to jujube. Few bamboo slips were found in Dunhuang and Juyan beacon tower sites, some were letters, some were copied from Cang Xie articles and medical prescriptions, and they were probably brought from the Central Plains.