Bamboo slips originated in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, but they have been used until the Western Jin Dynasty. The history books engraved on bamboo slips, if any, can't be preserved now, and except for the early bamboo slips, most of the later bamboo slips were written instead of engraved. For example, bamboo slips of the Qin Dynasty unearthed in Longshan, Hunan Province are all written in ink.

Bamboo slips refer to bamboo pieces used for writing in ancient times, and also refer to bamboo pieces with words written on them. Written materials from pre-Qin to Wei and Jin Dynasties. It is a long and narrow bamboo (there are also sawdust, called wooden slips). Bamboo slips are wider than bamboo slips. Bamboo slips are called bamboo slips and wood slips are called wooden slips. All the books are written with brush and ink. Books for writing imperial edicts and decrees are three feet (about 67.5cm) long, books for copying scriptures are two feet four inches (about 56cm) long, and folk letters are one foot (about 23cm) long, so people also call letters "letters".

Important discoveries have been made in Changsha, Hunan, Jingzhou, Hubei, Linyi, Shandong, Dunhuang, Juyan, Wuwei and other northwest regions. Among them, books from the Eastern Han Dynasty were unearthed in Juyan.