On March 29, the “China in Bamboo and Wooden Slips: Exhibition of Exquisite Han Dynasty Discoveries from Gansu” was launched at the Liaoning Provincial Museum. The exhibition displays 253 exhibits (sets), including 248 original cultural relics and five sets of replicas. This is the first time that exquisite bamboo and wooden slips (jiandu) from the Han Dynasty have been exhibited in Liaoning Province.

The exhibition is divided into four sections: “The Era of Bamboo and Wooden Slips”, “The Silk Road in Bamboo and Wooden Slips”, “The Frontier Life in Bamboo and Wooden Slips” and “The Art of Calligraphy in Bamboo and Wooden Slips”. Through themes such as the history of slips’ discoveries, the grand stories of the Silk Road, the daily life of frontier families in the Han Dynasty, and the calligraphic artistry embedded in bamboo and wooden slips of the Han Dynasty, this exhibition uses bamboo and wooden slips as a medium to decode the unique cultural heritage of ancient Gansu. It also provides a comprehensive and vivid portrayal of the Silk Road civilization and the wisdom of Chinese culture as reflected in these historical artifacts.

Bamboo and wooden slips are writing materials made from bamboo or wood cut into standardized pieces. They were one of the main writing media for ancient Chinese people before the invention of paper. Since the 20th century, around 300,000 bamboo and wooden slips have been excavated across China, of which nearly 70,000 have been unearthed in Gansu Province. The Gansu Jiandu Museum is currently home to the largest collection of bamboo and wooden slips of the Han Dynasty in the country. Upon the opening of this exhibition, Zhu Jianjun, curator of the Gansu Jiandu Museum, was invited to the Liaoning Provincial Museum to give a special lecture entitled “China in Bamboo and Wooden Slips: Exploring Chinese Civilization in Bamboo and Wooden Slips”. Meanwhile, the Liaoning Provincial Museum also organized a large-scale social and educational activity “Passing on Bamboo and Wooden Slip Culture—Gathering at a Cultural Feast for Writing”, where nearly 100 teenage audiences made and copied bamboo and wooden slips on the site. This activity allowed them to savor the charm of bamboo and wooden slip culture firsthand.

Wang Xiaowen, curator of the Liaoning Provincial Museum, made a speech at the opening ceremony of the exhibition. She said, in recent years, the Liaoning Provincial Museum has been dedicated to promoting exchanges, cooperation and regional linkages among museums, striving to enhance the breadth and depth of cultural communication and create a more multi-dimensional Chinese civilization narrative system. This exhibition will strengthen cultural exchanges between Liaoning and Gansu, and provide Liaoning residents with the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the brilliant Silk Road culture.

The exhibition is co-organized by the Liaoning Provincial Museum and Gansu Jiandu Museum, and will last from March 29 to June 15, 2025.