Exhibition on ancient bamboo, wooden slips opens in Beijing

An exhibition on bamboo and wooden slips of the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-207 B.C.) opened Tuesday at the National Museum of China (NMC) in Beijing.

A total of 175 pieces (sets) of bamboo and wooden slips from Liye village, central China's Hunan province, together with 35 pieces (sets) of cultural relics of the Qin Dynasty collected by the NMC, are on display. Of the exhibited bamboo and wooden slips, more than 40 pieces are shown to the public for the first time.

Bamboo and wooden slips were the most important writing materials before the invention of paper in ancient China.

The exhibition, which is divided into four parts, gives audiences a closer look of the "work log" written by the people of the Qin Dynasty.

In 2002, over 38,000 bamboo and wooden slips of the Qin Dynasty were unearthed in Liye village, Longshan county in western Hunan, which provides a panoramic view of government operation and social life back then.