Professor devoted to study of bamboo and wooden slips | 教授耕耘简牍学

Figuring out obscurecharacters on pieces of bamboounearthed from tombs and wellsthat are thousands of years old,deciphering their meanings, andunraveling the history that liesbehind them is what Chen Wei,a professor at the School ofHistory at Wuhan University, hasbeen doing for the past 30 years.

一堆散乱的竹片，从两三千年前的墓葬、水井中出土，上面书写着晦涩的文字。这些是什么字，说的什么内容，背后又有怎样的历史，就是武汉大学历史学院教授陈伟30年来所做的事。

▲ Chen Wei consulting a book withphotos of bamboo slips Photo by He Xiaogang

Chen's affinity with thescience started in 1991 just priorto his graduation as a doctoralstudent. In that year, bambooslips unearthed from the No. 2Chu Tomb of the Warring Statesin Baoshan of Jingmen city inHubei were sorted out andpublished in a book. Chen wasso fascinated by the slips that hecut more than 200 images of them out of the book and hungthem all over his room. Hethought about them again andagain every day.

陈伟跟简牍“结缘”，发生在博士即将毕业的1991年。当年，湖北荆门市包山二号战国楚墓出土的竹简经过整理正式出版。陈伟被书中的竹简所深深吸引，于是将书中的竹简剪成200多条，挂满了整个房间，每天看着它们反反复复揣摩。

Chen's research in the fieldhas been unstoppable ever since,from Chu bamboo slips to Qinones, and then on to the Hanones that he is currently studying.

陈伟的简牍研究生涯从此一发不可收拾。由楚简至秦简，再至目前正在研究的汉简。

He has presided over threemajor state-level research projectsrelated to the study of the subject,and has edited and publishedbooks such as "The WarringStates Bamboo Slips Unearthed inChu State" and "The Collection ofQin Bamboo and Wooden Slips."They are hailed by academiciansas the "model of re-organizationand research of bamboo andwooden slips."

他主持了三个简牍学相关国家级重大课题，其主编出版的《楚地出土战国简册》《秦简牍合集》等，被学界誉为“简牍再整理研究的范本”。

(Edited by Ye Shiyu)