Bamboo-strip books gave people a chance to read and write, and in the process spread Chinese culture through centuries
One of the most poignant moments during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games on August 8 was the scene where 3,000 performers in the guise of Confucius disciples, each holding a roll of bamboo-strip book, recited the Confucian classics.
This performance presented to the audience a very important period in the development of Chinese culture. It was called the Spring and Autumn Period (around 770-476 B.C.), a time of major social changes when various schools of political or philosophic thought emerged, including Confucianism, legist doctrine, Taoism and Mohism. The founders and representatives of these schools wrote books on their doctrines and debated with each other, giving rise to the blooming of academia in China's history. The thoughts during that period laid a solid foundation for the development of culture in China's feudalist period and also had a deep influence on ancient Chinese culture as a whole.
One of the crucial factors helping to support such cultural prosperity is the change of writing materials. When Chinese characters were first created, they were inscribed on animal bones, tortoise shells or bronze ware. But because these materials were not easy to find and difficult to inscribe, characters did not gain popularity. This meant that until the Shang Dynasty (17th century-11th century B.C.), those who could read or write were limited to a small group of intellectuals, which greatly affected the spread of knowledge and culture. This situation did not change until the appearance of books and documents written on bamboo or wood.
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