Liye Qin Slips

The Liye Qin Slips (Chinese: 里耶秦簡; pinyin: Lǐyē qínjiǎn) is a large collection of bamboo slips which were unearthed from Liye Ancient City in Longshan County, Hunan, China in 2002.

[1] Archaeologists found more than 37,000 pieces of bamboo slips, on which more than 200,000 Chinese characters record government and legal documents of the Qin dynasty.

[2] It is considered the most important archaeological discovery of the Qin dynasty after the Terracotta Army unearthed in 1973 in Xi'an.

Some in the academic circles have argued that its importance is no less than those of Oracle bone script and Dunhuang manuscripts.

[3][4] The slips, used for writing in ancient times, have great significance in furthering research on Qin dynasty politics, economy and culture.