Museum focuses on bamboo, wooden slips in NW China

Staff member Yang Sheng checks the condition of preserved "Jiandu" at the warehouse of the Gansu Jiandu Museum in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 26, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

"Jiandu" are the bamboo and wooden slips on which ancient Chinese people wrote using ink and brushes before the invention of paper.

The Gansu Jiandu Museum is China's only provincial-level museum focusing on bamboo and wooden slips. It has a collection of nearly 40,000 such slips dating back to the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) and Western Jin Dynasty (265-317), and it also houses more than 10,000 other artifacts, including paper, textiles, woodenware, lacquerware and ironware.

A staff member of the Gansu Jiandu Museum arranges a work of "Jiandu" in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 26, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

Students sign signatures after visiting the Gansu Jiandu Museum in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Yuguo)

Staff member Yang Sheng (R) registers the information of "Jiandu" with her colleague Chang Xiaoli at the Gansu Jiandu Museum in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 26, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

Staff members of the Gansu Jiandu Museum conduct routine check in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 26, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

People visit the Gansu Jiandu Museum in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

People visit the Gansu Jiandu Museum in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

Xiao Congli (1st R), research director of the Gansu Jiandu Museum, talks with colleagues about digitalization of "Jiandu" in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

A staff member of the Gansu Jiandu Museum arranges self-made works of "Jiandu" in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

This undated photo shows a work of "Jiandu". (Gansu Jiandu Museum/Handout via Xinhua)

This undated photo shows a work of "Jiandu". (Gansu Jiandu Museum/Handout via Xinhua)

This undated photo shows a work of "Jiandu". (Gansu Jiandu Museum/Handout via Xinhua)

This undated photo shows a work of "Jiandu". (Gansu Jiandu Museum/Handout via Xinhua)