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01,800-year-old documents provide intriguing insight into governance
千年简牍为我们讲述古代治理的故事
From house ruins and abandoned wells in Chenzhou, Hunan province, archaeologists recently unearthed a find of nearly 10,000 wooden slips used for recording various items from 1,800 years ago.
近期，湖南郴州的房屋废墟和废弃水井中出土了近万张木简牍，它们记录了1800年前社会的方方面面。
They helped to portray a detailed picture of social life during an era which was full of conflict as well as being a time of legends.
通过这些简牍，一个充满冲突和传奇的时代的社会生活的详细图景呈现在我们面前。
Dutou ancient city ruins in Linwu county, Chenzhou, yielded key findings on the past of a county with a rich history, according to last week's media conference by the National Cultural Heritage Administration in Beijing.
国家文物局上周在京召开新闻发布会表示，郴州市临武县渡头古城遗址取得关键发现，为古城悠久历史揭开面纱。
Historical recordings showed that the site was the center of an eponymous county from the Han Dynasty (206 BC to AD 220) through to the 6th century. This was supported by around 400 tombs found in the region from this period.
根据历史记载，渡头古城遗址曾是汉代（公元前206年至公元220年）至六世纪的同名“临武”县中心，这一点也被该地区同时期的约400座墓葬所证实。
Excavations in 2022 and 2023 focused on an area that was believed to be the county government. This in turn led to the discovery of the wooden slips, says Chen Bin, a researcher with the Hunan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Most of the unearthed pieces were official documents.
2022 年和 2023 年的发掘主要在县治所在地进行，这进一步导致了木简牍的发掘，湖南省文物考古研究院研究员陈斌表示。出土的大部分都是官方文件。
The slips, known in Chinese as jiandu, were a primary method of documentation in China before paper became widely used.
在纸被广泛使用之前，简牍是中国记录文件的主要方法。
Year markings on the slips indicated they were from the Wu Dynasty (222 to 280). Wu, with its capital in present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu province, for most of its time, once ruled a vast territory in East and South China.
简牍上的年份标记表明它们来自东吴（222 年至 280 年）。东吴首都位于今江苏省南京市，曾长期统治中国东部和南部的广阔领土。
In spite of its relatively short era, one of the trilateral powers in China from the last years of the Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdom period (220-280), its stories and folklore became familiar to the public due to the iconic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
尽管东吴周期相对较短，仅是汉朝末年三国时期的三国之一，但它的故事和民间传说因名著《三国演义》而广为人知。
The new findings compose the largest-scale discovery of Wu slips in history.
这些新发现构成了历史上最大规模对吴简的发现。
"We got a lot of material from these documents that enhances our understanding of administrative divisions, taxation, farming and the mining industry," Chen says.
“我们从这些记录中获得了很多材料，加强了我们对行政区划、税收、农业和采矿业的了解，”陈斌表示。
For example, some slips reveal how townships and villages were designated and governed during the Wu era. Other unearthed pieces showed contracts for paying tax and recordings of the operation of tin mines, which reflected in detail the economic activities of the city.
例如，一些简牍揭示了东吴时期乡镇和村庄的划分和管理方式。其他出土简牍还包括纳税合同和锡矿经营记录，详细反映了该城市的经济活动。
Trivial details about office life can also be illuminating. Slips were used by officials to practice their writing while others documented where they stayed overnight during business trips.
一些对于官员办公的琐碎细节的记录也令人大开眼界，官员们用简牍练习写作，还有一些简牍则是记录了他们出差期间过夜的地方。
Qi Dongfang, an archaeology professor at Peking University, says that "in history books, we see grand pictures of national affairs and key events. Thanks to these slips, we can vividly understand history from the mundane details of people's everyday life, which is more touching."
北京大学考古文博学院教授齐东方表示，“在历史书上，我们看到了国家事务和关键事件的宏伟图片。通过这些简牍，我们可以从人们日常生活的平凡细节中生动地了解历史，这更加动人心弦。”
