Witnessing the Prosperity of the Silk Road in the Hangquan Han Bamboo Slips, Chinese Bamboo Slips | Dialogue with Time and Space Bamboo Slips | Silk Road | Hangquan
Looking back two thousand years ago, there was an important hub on the Silk Road, like a beautiful flower knot tied up in the middle of a long scarf, which was particularly eye-catching. It is the ancient post station site - Hanging Spring, which has been rated as a world cultural heritage site.
On July 30th, the "Bamboo Slips in China" online themed event visited the Hangquanzhi Site. While experiencing the Han Dynasty wooden slips, an important carrier of Chinese culture, up close, they also learned that as an important relay station on the Silk Road, the Hangquanzhi site preserved a large number of cultural relics that witnessed the prosperity of economic and trade exchanges between China and the West on the Silk Road. They also saw historical scenes of past characters' lives from a large number of bamboo slips.
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The reporter learned that the Xuanquan Temple was first built around the sixth year of the Yuanding reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, and was a post office. Located on a crucial road, looking east at Jiuquan and west at Dunhuang, it once shouldered the historical responsibility of welcoming and sending, transmitting information, and communicating with China and foreign countries. The large number and diverse types of cultural relics unearthed from the site fully record the arduous operation of the Silk Road in the Hexi Corridor during the Han Dynasty, while a large number of Western Regions horses and silk relics witness the prosperity of the Silk Road.
It is reported that the Hanging Spring Station is a historical record in China and the first archaeological excavation to confirm the site of a relay station. From 1990 to 1992, the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted a comprehensive excavation of the site, covering an area of 4675 square meters. The archaeological excavations included fortresses, stables, houses, ancient post roads, etc. The unearthed cultural relics included more than 35000 bamboo slips, 10 silk books, 10 paper documents, silk fabrics, crops, and livestock bones, totaling more than 70000 pieces. The numerous bamboo slips provide rich physical materials for studying the politics, economy, military, diplomacy, transportation, postal service, ethnicity, culture, customs, and other aspects of the Western Han Dynasty in China, and have extremely high cultural relic value.
![Witnessing the Prosperity of the Silk Road in the Hangquan Han Bamboo Slips, Chinese Bamboo Slips | Dialogue with Time and Space Bamboo Slips | Silk Road | Hangquan](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/aff0611fd9859131c1e4df68b4f44db4.jpg)
On June 22, 2014, at the 38th World Heritage Conference, the Hanging Spring Site, as an important node site on the Silk Road, was officially included in the "Chang'an Tianshan Corridor Road Network" World Cultural Heritage List.
Dunhuang Museum Rong Hongmei told reporters that the bamboo slips unearthed from this site truthfully record the operation status of the Silk Road two thousand years ago, the daily operation status of the transmission house, and the transmission status of postal books. These bamboo slips are the basis for confirming the existence of the road network of the Chang'an Tianshan Corridor on the Silk Road and also play an important role in the process of applying for World Heritage.
![Witnessing the Prosperity of the Silk Road in the Hangquan Han Bamboo Slips, Chinese Bamboo Slips | Dialogue with Time and Space Bamboo Slips | Silk Road | Hangquan](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/fab4694697a6ace44b4d9fecbcd0cd02.jpg)
People and events are the flesh and blood of history. The small stories in bamboo slips reflect the great history, placing them in the time and space of history, returning to the historical scene, shaking hands with time and space, and feeling the breath of cultural inheritance and life. Rong Hongmei further said that ancient people were very wise, and the selection of post station locations, the design and ingenuity in unearthed cultural relics, and the exchange of information in correspondence have all inspired us.