Loulan Bamboo Slips Ink Traces

Author: Zhuang Xingxing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The Great Series of Chinese Folk Calligraphy. Loulan, located on the northwestern shore of the Lop Nur in Xinjiang, was a famous and highly important city in Chinese history. It served as the seat of the Western Regions Commandant during the Wei, Western Jin, and Former Liang periods of the Three Kingdoms, and later became a military stronghold of the Former Qin, Later Liang, and Western Liang dynasties before being abandoned. In the late Qing Dynasty, the ruins of the Loulan were discovered and subjected to multiple loots, resulting in the excavation of a large number of ancient artifacts, including Buddha statues, coins, textiles, lacquerware, wooden artifacts, metal products, glassware, fishing products, hunting tools, seals, and documents. Among these, the number of documents was the highest. These documents are commonly referred to as the Loulan Documents and are sometimes called the Loulan Manuscripts. The Loulan Documents primarily consist of official and private correspondence from administrative institutions and garrisons in different periods of Loulan. Their contents are extremely rich, covering not only aspects such as the garrison, agricultural settlement, household registration, water conservancy, trade, law, warehouses, healthcare, postal services, contracts, and handicrafts in Loulan but also the connections between Loulan and Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Guchang, Yanqi, Kucha, Shanshan, and Jiaoquan. They hold significant value for the study of ancient Chinese history. Most of the Loulan Documents were written in Chinese characters, while a small portion was written in Kharosthi, an Indian script. They were all inscribed on wooden slips and paper. As the carriers of these documents were not very durable, most of the Loulan Documents suffered significant damage after enduring the relentless winds and storms of nature. Fortunately, thanks to divine protection, their inscriptions remain clearly legible. The Loulan Wooden Slip Documents span three periods—the Wei, Western Jin, and Sixteen Kingdoms—and involve many calligraphers. In terms of calligraphic structure and brushwork, they have continuously developed and matured from ancient to modern times, forming a pictorial record of the grassroots calligraphy history of that period. This pictorial record not only clearly demonstrates the gradual transformation from the presence to the absence of clerical script, making the ancient style become lighter over time, but also reveals the calligraphers' writing techniques and aesthetic concepts through aspects such as brushwork, composition, and style. Therefore, the Loulan Wooden Slip Documents hold extremely important value for modern scholars studying ancient calligraphy and also provide certain learning and reference for modern calligraphic creation.