The documents collected here derive from the day-to-day work of governing the Han empire (202 BCE to 221 CE) and illustrate the process involved in the major administrative tasks such as the implementation of the laws, the collection of tax, and the maintenance of security. As parts of an archive they supplement the standard histories of the Han period which concentrate on dynastic destinies, the activities of senior officials and the major decisions of state. Found first in 1900 and in more extensive caches of the 1930s and 1970s, the documents are the surviving fragments of orders and reports written on narrow strips of wood which were bound together to form a complete text. The present work assembles some 700 strips seen as the constituent parts of 43 original documents, whose form, content and date may be reconstructed with some confidence. Originating from the defence forces posted in the north-west, these strips reveal details of the organisation of military units, the establishment of junior official posts and procedures for the delivery of official mail to named destinations.
Their subject matter concerns the duties and living conditions of conscript servicemen and the maintenance of military buildings. They show how officials and clerks drew up routine returns of supplies, inspection reports or signal's logs. Photographs illustrate the uses of different sizes and shapes of wood for these purposes and demonstrate the validity of grouping the fragments together. The reconstruction of these documents bears an immediate influence on the bibliographic and textual problems both of received literary texts and of manuscripts found subsequently to those considered here. The book is of value to all students of Chinese administrative procedures and Chinese manuscripts.