Some 100,000 slips of bamboo and wood from China's Three Kingdoms Period (220 A.D.- 280 A.D.), discovered in Changsha in south China's Hunan Province, have proved of great value for both archeology and the study of Chinese calligraphy in ancient times, according to specialists in this field.

The slips, discovered in October 1996, record in detail the means of imposing and collecting farmland rents, the tax system, and also several cases of corrupt officials in the Wu Kingdom (222- 280), invaluable additions to the understanding of society during the Three Kingdoms Period.

Zhang Wenbin, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said the Chinese characters on the slips are also masterpieces of the calligraphy.

Hundreds of slips of the Eastern Han Period (25 A.D.- 220 A.D.) and around one thousand slips of the Western Han Period (206 B.C.- 24 A.D.) were also discovered nearby in 1997 and 1999, respectively.

Zhang said that archeologists will complete excavations and classifications at the Changsha site by the year 2005, and a series of books on the discoveries will be compiled. The first volume on the findings was already published on October 28 this year.

He added that construction of a center in the city for the protection, study and exhibition of the discoveries is expected to start soon.

Ancient Chinese wrote on either wood slips or bamboo slips, as paper was not commonly used in China until the Eastern Han Period.