Chinese archaeologists have discovered a bamboo slice in a tomb dating back over 2,000 years in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China.

The bamboo slice is 50 to 60 centimeters wide in different parts and its surface is black and red. It is supposed that the bamboo slice was painted black and red by the ancients and that the original length of the bamboo slice should be 1.05 meters.

Wang Bo, a research fellow with the archaeological department of the Xinjiang Regional Museum, said that the bamboo article might be the bamboo walking stick recorded in historical books.

Since the bamboo article has fallen apart, what it is remains unknown.

However, Wang Bo said that the discovery is of high value, adding it demonstrates that Xinjiang and interior parts of China had cultural, economic and trade exchanges more than 2,000 years ago. Wang explained, bamboo does not grow in Xinjiang.

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2002)