Shanghai Museum bamboo slips

The Shanghai Museum bamboo slips (Chinese: 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書; pinyin: Shànghǎi Bówùguǎn cáng Zhànguó Chǔ zhúshū) is a collection of ancient Chinese texts from the Chu state dating to the Warring States period and written in ink on strips of bamboo. The texts originated through illegal excavation, probably of a tomb in Hubei or Hunan province, and were acquired by the Shanghai Museum. The large size of the collection and the significance of the texts for scholarship make it one of the most important discoveries of early Chinese texts ever.