On January 6, the first volume Zhi Ri of Shuihudi Western Han Dynasty Bamboo Slips was released atanacademic symposium hosted byWuhan University. Through interpretation, experts restored the life of a grass-root official in the early Western Han Dynasty.

The Zhi Ri is a document form popular in the Qin and Western Han dynasties, but lost to posterity. It is usually based on a calendar table to record public and private affairs, similar to today's logs and diaries. According to the study, the author of the briefdiary of ShuihudiHan Dynasty Bamboo Slips was named “Yue Man”, who was a grass-roots official in the early Western Han Dynasty. In 14 consecutive years, herecorded the deeds of himself, his family and colleagues, including going out on business, measuring, farm land, compiling farmer household registrations, and organizing corporeal labor.

According to reports, the Shuihudi Western Han Dynasty Bamboo Slips contains all the written documentsunearthed in the Shuihudi Western Han Dynasty tomb No. 77 in amulti-volumeform.. The first volume,Zhi Ri, is co-edited by Hubei Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Bamboo and Silk StudiesCenter of Wuhan University. The editing and interpretation of the remaining seven volumes are also under way, focusing on the themes of government documents, private records, law codes and arithmetics.