The Silk Road Imprint on the SCO Canvas
Entering the Gansu Bamboo Slips Museum, each bamboo slip carries the memory of history, telling the story of the great development and prosperity brought by the ancient Silk Road, and inspiring people today to join hands in mutual exchange and learning to write new history.
From the ancient Silk Road with its camel bells to the穿梭往来的 China-Europe freight trains, from inscriptions on wooden slips to efficient electronic logistics records, today, on the new era Silk Road, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries are advancing side by side for common development, leaving a mark of shared destiny.
“Jointly building a better SCO homeland, allowing the people of all countries to live in peace, work happily, and enjoy happiness” — in July 2024, President Xi Jinping描绘美好未来 at the “SCO+” Astana Summit.
One year later, SCO national leaders will gather in Tianjin, China, using the “common homeland” as a blueprint to jointly描绘 a new vision for the SCO.
Historical Imprint of Opening Up the Western Regions
This is a drone photo taken on July 24, 2025, of the Xuanquanzhi Site, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Dunhuang City, Gansu Province.
He clearly remembers the scene in 1990 when archaeological team members braved the cold wind to excavate the Han Dynasty Xuanquanzhi Site: along the edge of a partition wall about 1.5 meters high, “bamboo slips were densely packed,” and “some characters were still clearly visible, as if written just yesterday.”
In 2014, the “Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor,” jointly申报 by China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, was successfully inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, with the Xuanquanzhi Site being one of the heritage points.
This is the Xuanquan Mileage Slip housed in the Gansu Bamboo Slips Museum, photographed on September 7, 2023.
Located at the junction of Guazhou County and Dunhuang City in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, Xuanquanzhi was named after a perennial spring on the nearby mountainside. Over 2,000 years ago, it was one of the highest-level post stations in the Han Dynasty’s postal system, an important node on the ancient Silk Road “west of Yangguan,” primarily responsible for delivering orders, receiving diplomatic missions, and transporting mail.
This is an exterior view of the Gansu Bamboo Slips Museum, taken with a drone on November 3, 2023.
Among the more than 20,000 Xuanquanzhi bamboo slips currently housed in the Gansu Bamboo Slips Museum, historical imprints left by envoys from Western Regions countries such as Wusun, Kangju, and Dayuezhi (involving present-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, etc.) can be found. A low-level official named Hong served as the head of Xuanquanzhi for nearly 20 years. Thanks to his diligent records, people today can learn about the grand occasions of hosting thousand-person missions and the marriage of a Han princess to the Wusun king, imagining the prosperous scene on the ancient Silk Road where “envoys were seen on the roads, and merchants and travelers never ceased.”
