Subscribe to free Email Newsletter

Clan tombs of Western Han Dynasty. Excavated in 1972

Location: Linyi, Shandong Province

Period: the end of 3^rdcentury BC - AD 1^stcentury

Significance: The finds have played the key role in studying ancient Chinese art of war, calendar, philology, system of recording, and other issues.

Introduction

Bamboo strips: (up); Lacquer cup with two ears: wine vessel or water vessel (bottom, length 17.5 cm, height 6.2 cm)

The Yinqueshan Han Tombs are tombs for family members at Yinqueshan, near Linyi in Shandong Province. The tombs are of two kinds: stone hall and rammed earth pit, inside which a lot of funerary articles like pottery, terra-cotta warriors, silk and jade, and a large number of Hna bamboo slips, were buried with the dead.

In 1972 two famous volumes on martial arts -- "The Art of War by Sun Bin" and "The Art of War by Sun Zi were unearthed out of the tombs after being lost for two thousand years, and are listed as one of the ten most important archaeological findings of modern times.

 The Art of War

Sun Zi:The Art of Waris the earliest and most valuable Chinese treatise on military science extant, dating from the late Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). The book is a condensation of the experience of warfare in that historical era, with the emphasis on precautionary and intelligence strategy. By revealing the nature and important rules of warfare. Sunzi:The Art of Warhas had a tremendous influence on military, political and philosophical thought in China. Down the ages it has been called a "military classic," and its author a "military genius." This work, now over 2,000 years old, has been translated into various languages since the 17^thcentury, and even today has a profound influence all over the world.

Sun Bin:The Art of Waris another ancient Chinese classic dealing with military science, written during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). Sun Bin was a direct descendant of Sunzi. It incorporates the experience of warfare into this later historical period. It inherits and develops the military theories contained in Sunzi:The Art of War. Sun Bin:The Art of Warwas lost for about 1,000 years, until 1972, when a copy of the work written on strips of bamboo was found in a tomb dating from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) at Yinqueshan, near Linyi in Shandong Province.