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Seminar Held for Bamboo, Wood and Silk Book Studies
More than 150 scholars studying ancient books from both China and overseas gathered Thursday in Changsha to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the discovery of ancient Chinese books written on bamboo, wood and silk.
Meanwhile, they will discuss the research progress of the past century at the four-day international seminar.
Before the invention of paper, Chinese used to write on materials that absorbed ink, such as bamboo, wood and silk, a practice prevalent for nearly one thousand years from the 5th century B.C. to 4th century A.D.
In the year 1901, bamboo books were discovered for the first time in northwest China. The findings gained attention from world academic circles including the fields of linguistics and archeology. So far, some 260,000 slips of bamboo and wood books and a large amount of books written on silk have been found.
The ancient books ranging from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.) to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) include law, official documents and personal diaries, which are now widely regarded as a new depository for Chinese history during that period.
The study of bamboo, wood and silk books has become one branch of Sinology. The subject has attracted scholars not only from Asian countries whose languages originating from ancient Chinese but also from western countries such as the United States, Britain and Switzerland.
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