Coffin wood excavated from Liu He's tomb in Nanchang, Jiangxi province. [Photo/Nanchang Evening News]

Ancient bamboo book discovered in the tomb

According to a previous report from the magazine Archaeology, the bamboo book unearthed from the Haihunhou tomb titled Wu Se Shi Sheng (Five-colored Food Treasure) is a book about the art of necromancy with five colors representing five kinds of food, resembling the Chinese wuxing (five phases of wood, fire, earth, metal and water) theory.

However, according to experts from Fudan University, "green" and "white" are only words about colors discovered in the book, which refer to black and white. As there was a chessboard found in the tomb before, experts guess the book is about Liubo, a popular chess game from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). After comparing with other chess-related books, the experts are more certain about the conclusion, who said that the Wu Se Shi Sheng should change its name to Liubo Chess Manual, which will be the first discovered book about Liubo chess.

As the archeological work of Liu He's tomb comes to an end, the Number 2 tomb that belongs to Liu He's wife will undergo excavation soon after the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.