漂泊海外近80年，距今2300多年的帛书回家了

Two volumes of Chinese silk manuscripts dating back about 2,300 years have been returned to central China, 79 years after they were smuggled out of the country, through cooperation between Chinese and the U.S. cultural institutions.

经中美文博机构合作，两卷距今约2300年的中国帛书在流失海外79年后，已回归中国中部地区。

The second and third volumes of the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts -- precious cultural artifacts dating back to the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) -- were on Oct. 13 officially repatriated to Hunan Province. They will be permanently archived in the Hunan Museum in Changsha, the provincial capital.

长沙子弹库战国帛书（下称“子弹库帛书”）第二、三卷13日正式回归湖南，入藏湖南省博物馆。这两件珍贵文物可追溯至战国时期（公元前475年-公元前221年）。

The manuscripts, which were unearthed from a Chu-state tomb at the Zidanku site in Changsha in 1942, consist of three volumes: "Sishi Ling," "Wuxing Ling" and "Gongshou Zhan." They are a systematic record of astronomy, calendars, cosmology and military divination from China's pre-Qin period. The silk manuscripts, are the earliest examples of silk text discovered to date and the oldest classical Chinese book in the true sense. They were smuggled out of China in 1946.

子弹库帛书1942年出土于长沙子弹库楚墓，共分为《四时令》《五行令》与《攻守占》三卷，系统记录了先秦时期的天文历法、宇宙观及军事占卜等内容，是迄今为止发现的中国最早的、首个典籍意义上的帛书。其1946年流散海外。

At the accession ceremony of the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts (Volumes II and III) on Oct. 13, National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) head Rao Quan said that the return of the manuscripts is a significant achievement of years of Sino-U.S. cultural and museum cooperation, and an example for international cooperation on artifact restitution.

在10月13日举行的子弹库帛书第二、三卷划拨入藏仪式上，国家文物局局长饶权表示，子弹库帛书的回归，是中美文博界多年合作的硕果，更为国际文物返还合作提供了经典范例。

Through Sino-U.S. cooperation on the return of cultural property, the "Wuxing Ling" and "Gongshou Zhan" volumes were returned to China by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Asian Art this year, arriving in Beijing on May 18.

通过中美文物返还合作，5月18日，美国史密森尼学会国立亚洲艺术博物馆返还的《五行令》《攻守占》落地北京，回到祖国。

Duan Xiaoming, curator of the Hunan Museum, said the return of the silk manuscripts will enable the Hunan Museum to integrate the returned volumes with its existing collection, which includes the only original fragment of the Zidanku manuscripts, as well as other Chu-state artifacts.

湖南省博物馆馆长段晓明表示，湖南省博物馆将借助此次回归帛书，整合馆藏的国内唯一一片子弹库帛书原物残片以及其他楚文物。

The returned manuscripts have undergone 14 days of environmental adaptation observation after their arrival in Hunan Museum on Sept. 10. Following a non-destructive evaluation, they are now stored in a temperature-controlled and humidity-controlled environment. A team of experts is scientifically researching a microbial disinfection plan and conducting simulation experiments to ensure that the sterilization process does not damage the material or ink of the manuscripts.

帛书于9月10日运抵湖南省博物馆后，已完成14天环境适应观察，经无损评估后保存于恒温恒湿环境中。目前，专家团队正科学论证微生物消杀方案，开展模拟实验，确保在灭菌的同时不损伤帛书材质与墨迹。

The Hunan Museum has also completed standardized imaging of all the silk manuscripts, discovering over 40 previously imperceptible ink characters on one piece of silk that had not fully separated. 

湖南省博物馆已完成全部帛书的标准化影像采集，并在一片未完全剥离的帛书上发现肉眼不可见的墨迹字样40余个。