CGTN: WHY THE CHU SILK MANUSCRIPTS SHOULD BE RETURNED TO CHINA

BEIJING, April 30 (Bernama) -- In the winter of 1942, Several grave robbers in Changsha, Hunan Province, Central China, targeted an ancient tomb from the Warring States period (475–221 B.C.), breaking into this Chu-state burial site and stealing a trove of artifacts, including lacquerware, bronze swords, and silk manuscripts.

When selling the loot to tailor turned antiquities dealer Tang Jianquan, the robbers casually threw in a bamboo container with a silk piece they called a "handkerchief" as a free bonus. This "handkerchief" would later be identified as the renowned Chu Silk Manuscripts from Zidanku, the only known silk text from China's Warring States period. Zidanku, literally "the bullet storehouse," refers to the excavation site, an ammunition depot in the city's suburbs.