Digital preservation brings 2,000-year-old bamboo slips to life

A tourist visits the Changsha Jiandu Museum. [Photo/shb.hunan.gov.cn]

Changsha Jiandu Museum, China's first museum dedicated to bamboo and wooden slips, is utilizing digital technology to display 366 sets of these ancient writings, which date from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) to the Wei-Jin Period (220-1234).

These ancient materials record daily life and local governance in Changsha over 2,000 years ago, serving as vital physical evidence of the continuity of China's writing system and its complete documentary heritage. They offer a unique window into the understanding of China's uninterrupted civilization, with their protection evolving from experience-based restoration to technology-driven preservation.

Restoration of the slips is an extremely meticulous process. Newly unearthed slips often come to light moist, fragile and even broken. Li Weijun, a post-90s restorer specializing in bamboo and wooden slips, said that each step in cleaning and reinforcing the slips requires careful, context-based judgments, often made by examining the fibers under a microscope: "We adapt our work to the slips, not the other way around." The craft is passed down through years of mentorship between senior and junior restorers.

Technology is transforming heritage preservation. Many slips are scanned individually to build a high-precision 3D database, with 3D CT imaging employed to predict their internal structure. "Digitalization is not about creating beautiful models, it's about preserving historical backups for future generations," said Ma Daizhong, the museum's curator. Some models have been integrated into public display systems, allowing visitors to "touch" virtual slips on interactive screens.

"Beyond simply restoring bamboo and wooden slips, we are protecting the spiritual heritage of the Chinese people," Li said. From fine needles in the restoration room to digital data on screens, the memory of this land's civilization is moving into the future in a new form.