Earlier this week on January 19, 2026, researchers at Tsinghua University in the Chinese mainland published Volume 15 of The Bamboo Slips of the Warring States Period, unveiling five long-hidden texts on horse management.
Deposited at Tsinghua in 2008, the university's collection of approximately 2,500 bamboo slips from the Warring States era (475–221 BCE) is the largest known trove of its kind. Since 2010, interdisciplinary teams of historians, zooarchaeologists and veterinary scholars have been piecing together these ancient manuscripts.
Volume 15 focuses exclusively on equine care. Its five texts cover:
- Equine appraisal: criteria for evaluating a horse's age, health and potential
- Veterinary treatment: ancient remedies and practices for common ailments
- Training techniques: early methods for guidance, harnessing and riding
- Stable management: feed, shelter and seasonal care routines
- Performance preparation: strategies for military, agricultural and ceremonial use
These writings represent the earliest systematic record of horse husbandry, offering fresh insight into Warring States animal management. For modern scholars, they illuminate connections between early veterinary practices, economic life on ancient battlefields and the evolution of human–animal relationships.
As 2026 marks the Year of the Horse in the traditional Chinese zodiac, this discovery resonates with both cultural tradition and academic curiosity. From blog discussions on sustainable animal management to digital reconstructions of historical techniques, these bamboo slips are primed to inspire a new generation of global researchers, historians and equine enthusiasts.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
