(Photo : Inscribed bamboo-slips of Sun Bin's Art of War, unearthed in Yinque Mountain, Linyi, Shandong in 1972)

Ancient bamboo slips that features photos and illustrations of bamboo manuscripts, has been put on display through an exhibition at the UN headquarters to deepen understanding of Chinese culture and initiate dialogues among different cultures.

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The exhibition 'Chinese Classics Inscribed on Bamboo Slips' displays the photos and illustrations of bamboo manuscripts that dates to as early as 305 BC. These manuscripts have been collected by China's prestigious university, Tsinghua University and it represents the university's research achievements in recent years.

These manuscripts include Chinese classics as Book of Songs, Book of Change which are written in ancient Chinese Language around 2,300 years ago and these are considered as the treasure house of Chinese culture.

As per Chinese experts, the inscriptions on these bamboo manuscripts are written around 305 BC, an era in which great philosophers like Mencius, Chuang Tzu had lived. These Confucian Scholars were buried alive and their books were burned during the reign of first emperor of Qin Dynasty, though many manuscripts had survived over the period of time.

The bamboo inscriptions contain the thoughts of great philosophers that are in line with the current trends of peace, development and cooperation.

Before the invention of paper, Chinese people used to inscribe their ideas on bamboo, wood or on silk as writing material and character were written with a writing brush and ink. As per the ancient history experts, the use of bamboo and wood slips as written material has probably began around 3,000 years ago.

China's Tsinghua University had acquired a rare collection of bamboo slips of late Warring States period from Beijing that were reportedly smuggled out of China and these 2,500 bamboo slips has been the biggest collection of such ancient manuscripts.