New Han wooden strips discovered in Inner Mongolia ( 2003-12-08 09:33) (People's Daily)
New historical records from
Xin (8-23 A.D.), a short-lived regime at the end of the Western Han Dynasty (206
B.C.-24), were discovered on wooden strips from Han at Juyan, in Ejin Banner of
North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The discovery was made after nearly one year's research by archaeologists
with the state and local archaeological institutions on more than 500 wooden
strips excavated from 1999 to2002.
"From these wooden strips, we found abundant historical recordson Xin, the
historical materials of which had been scarce," said Xie Guihua, a research
fellow with the institute of history of theChinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Xin was founded by Wang Mang, a powerful minister at the end ofthe Western
Han Dynasty who usurped the throne. As the new regime lasted for only 16 years,
it is usually not accounted for in China's historical dynasties but still
considered to be an important period in China's history.
Twelve imperial edicts were discovered among those wooden strips.
According to Xie, to justify his regime, the usurper had tampered with the
Confucian classics, the Bible of ancient Chineseemperors.
"This was verified by a broken wooden strip, on which was inscribed the
imperial edict for Wang Mang's enthronement," said the famous expert in wooden
strips research.
According to historical records, relations between Xin and the peripheral
minorities had been strained. But elaborate records hadbeen lacking until the
discovery of those wooden strips.
A large number of wooden strips recording laws on punishment and
encouragement were also found. Officials and soldiers on frontier defense who
were accused of dereliction of their duties would be published according to
their military ranks.
"From those records, we can easily draw the conclusion that laws at the end
of the Western Han Dynasty were rather complete," said Xie.
Among those wooden strips, archaeologists found many account books of the
frontier defense institutions.
"The account books can be classified as daily report, monthly report,
quarterly report and annual report," Xie said. "It is of great significance to
the research on the financial system of the frontier defense organ of the Han
Dynasty."
The Ejin River valley is the current location of the Juyan region of the Han
Dynasty. Since the first excavation of a large amount of wooden strips in 1930,
more than 30,000 wooden strips have been unearthed in three batches in this
region.
According to Xie, all those wooden strips were unearthed in theregion where a
county institution of the Han Dynasty had been located.
"Four other provincial institutions were also set up at Juyan by the Han
Dynasty which we still haven't discovered. Therefore, the number of wooden
strips of Han at Juyan which are still buriedunderground must be much larger
than that of the unearthed," Xie noted.
