Qin Bamboo Slips Excavated in Shuihudi, Yunmeng

The Qin Bamboo Slips Excavated in Shuihudi, Yunmeng were excavated in 1975 in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province. They contain a large number of legal documents from the period around 221 BC, when the Qin unified China, representing the first systematic discovery of Qin legal codes. The Qin legal codes encompassed a vast spectrum of governance, including agricultural production, market transactions, corvée labor mobilization, official duties, and relations with ethnic minorities, demonstrating that the legal system of the Qin Dynasty had achieved a remarkable level of precision, rigor, and comprehensive detail. The Qin legal codes had a profound impact on the Han Dynasty(202 BC–220 AD) and subsequent traditional Chinese law.