There are two reasons why we know so much about ancient #China. First, the #Chinese have been obsessive record keepers for most of their history. Second, said records were written on bamboo slats (like overlong bamboo Popsicle sticks), painted on with brush and ink in vertical lines of characters, a form that was amazingly resilient. In about the 2nd century AD or so paper began to replace bamboo until bamboo books—[called #简牍 or jiǎndú](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%AE%80%E7%89%8D)—got relegated to decorative or commemorative function. Today laser etching is used to make 简牍. I've [shared one such scroll already](https://pixelfed.social/i/web/post/614666925100401709), an instance of #茶经 (The Classic of Tea), which has become one of my favourite decorations. This one is the #道德经 (#DaoDejing), one of the foundational texts of #Daoism, all 5000 or so words of it, in a monstrous etching. This time I only got the scroll in a brocade bag; no stand (I already have one and plan to circulate my scrolls into it for variance in my decoration) or box. When unfurled it is almost as long as I am tall. This thing seriously **lurks**.