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Primary sourceDocumentQin dynasty, 3rd century BCE

Liye Qin Slips

Qin dynasty, 3rd century BCE

Tens of thousands of bamboo administrative slips from a Qin county, recording government business under Qin Shi Huang's empire.

These local administrative records document how Qin Shi Huang's empire was governed on the ground.

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A single narrow wooden or bamboo slip, pale yellow-tan, with a dark blackened top end and a pointed bottom end, mounted behind glass on a fabric-covered backing. Several lines of brown-black ink characters are written vertically down its face.
Liye Qin Slips, Qin dynasty, 3rd century BCE. Liye, Hunan, China.

About this source

What it is

The Liye Qin Slips are a large collection of bamboo slips unearthed in Liye Ancient City, Hunan, in 2002. More than 37,000 pieces carry over 200,000 Chinese characters recording government and legal documents from the Qin dynasty. They are now displayed at the Qin Dynasty Bamboo Slips Museum of Liye.

Why it matters

These slips are considered one of the most important archaeological finds of the Qin period after the Terracotta Army. They record local administration—taxation, labour and legal matters—under the unified empire Qin Shi Huang created, filling gaps left by later histories like the Records of the Grand Historian. They show how imperial rule actually worked at the local level, not just in grand monuments.

Look closer

  • Why might everyday government records tell us things that grand monuments like tombs or walls cannot?
  • What kinds of decisions or problems do you imagine local officials recorded on these slips?
  • Why do so many slips survive from a single small county rather than from the capital?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Emperor Qin Shi Huang on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Han Fei · c. 3rd century BCE

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