2,000-Year-Old Confucian Texts Unearthed in Yunnan Excavation

via Global Times, 23 May 2024: Recent excavations at Yunnan’s Hebosuo site have uncovered bamboo and wooden slips with content from The Analects of Confucius, indicating the text reached Southwest China over 2,000 years ago. The site, once the Dian Kingdom’s capital and later an administrative center during the Han Dynasty, revealed artifacts including 700 items and significant building remains, providing insights into the region’s historical administration and the spread of Confucian ideology.

Recent archaeological excavations at a site in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province have uncovered bamboo and wooden slips (known as jiandu in Chinese) with content matching The Analects of Confucius – a collection of ideas and sayings from the ancient Chinese philosopher. This indicates that the Confucian text had spread to China’s southwestern region over 2,000 years ago, experts said.

The Hebosuo site in Kunming was once the capital of the ancient Dian Kingdom and later became the administrative center of Yizhou Prefecture during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). Prior to the invention and widespread usage of paper, slips of bamboo or wood were tied together to form “books” that could be written upon and rolled up like scrolls.

Experts say these findings demonstrate that The Analects of Confucius reached the southwestern border shortly after the Han Dynasty established the Yizhou Prefecture.

Source: Ancient manuscripts reveal ‘Analects of Confucius’ spread to Southwest China 2,000 years ago – Global Times