From Bamboo to Paper: The Evolution of Writing Materials

For centuries before paper became widespread, Chinese civilization recorded its history on bamboo and wooden slips known as jiandu. Though paper emerged during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), these wooden writing tablets remained the dominant medium through the Wei-Jin periods (220–420 CE). Archaeological excavations of tombs and settlements from this era continue to yield astonishing quantities of these inscribed slips, offering unprecedented windows into ancient administration, literature, and daily life.

The most significant early discovery occurred in 279 CE near Ji County (modern Henan Province), when a tomb raider named Bu Zhun stumbled upon a cache of bamboo slips in what scholars believe was the burial of King Xiang of Wei or King Anxi of Wei from the Warring States period. Though many were damaged by the thief using them as torches, imperial scholars managed to reconstruct 75 texts from the fragments—including historical records, philosophical works, and even a version of the Mu Tianzi Zhuan (Travels of King Mu). This “Ji Tomb Bamboo Texts” discovery marked China’s first systematic archaeological study of ancient scripts nearly two millennia ago.

Western Expeditions and the Race for Antiquities

The early 20th century saw a scramble for Silk Road artifacts as foreign explorers descended upon China’s northwest. In 1901, Hungarian-British archaeologist Marc Aurel Stein uncovered 40 Chinese slips and 524 Kharosthi-inscribed wooden tablets at the Niya ruins in Xinjiang, while Swedish explorer Sven Hedin excavated 277 Han dynasty wooden documents at Loulan in 1901. These finds—now scattered across European museums—revealed administrative networks spanning the Tarim Basin, with military orders, land deeds, and even personal letters like one addressing “Madame Chunjun” with jade gifts.

Japanese expeditions followed, most notably the 1909 discovery of the “Li Bai Documents”—four administrative letters from a Liang Dynasty frontier commander. Debate still rages about their exact provenance, highlighting how these fragile slips rewrite history: they prove Chinese control over the Western Regions through the Jin Dynasty, with slips bearing phrases like “By Order of the Jin Imperial Court” found 1,000 miles west of Chang’an.

Life in the Sands: What the Slips Reveal

The desert’s dry climate preserved extraordinary details:

– Military Logistics: Troop reports from Loulan detail exact acreage of barley fields (200 mu) and irrigation schedules, showing the Han garrison’s agricultural self-sufficiency.
– Everyday Commerce: A wooden pass from Niya authorized a “nine-year-old black-haired” Sogdian merchant named Hu Zhuzhu to travel the Silk Road.
– Legal Systems: Court records from 330 CE document land disputes resolved under Jin law, proving centralized governance extended to the Pamirs.
– Cultural Exchange: Bilingual Chinese-Khotanese contracts from 3rd-century Khotan reveal cross-border marriages and slavery practices.

Particularly striking are the “Tianjia Bie” land leases from Changsha’s Wu Kingdom (222–280 CE)—10,000+ wooden slips recording tenant farmers’ crop yields, tax rates (1.2 hu of rice per mu), and even drought exemptions. These economic snapshots counter narratives of the Three Kingdoms period as purely an age of war.

The Legacy Beneath Our Feet

Modern archaeology continues building on these discoveries. The 1996 unearthing of 140,000 Wu slips in a Changsha well revolutionized understanding of Three Kingdoms bureaucracy, while ongoing Xinjiang surveys uncover new Kharosthi and Tocharian texts. As digital imaging helps reconstruct charred fragments, each slip adds brushstrokes to our portrait of the ancient Silk Road—not as a mere trade route, but as a vibrant corridor of laws, letters, and lived experiences.

From tax receipts to love poems, these wooden pages remind us that history isn’t written solely by emperors and armies, but by merchants counting coins, soldiers planting wheat, and clerks filing paperwork under the same stars that guide archaeologists today.