The documents collected here derive from the day-to-day work of governing the Han empire (202 BCE to 221 CE) and illustrate the process involved in the major administrative tasks such as the implementation of the laws, the collection of tax, and the maintenance of security. As parts of an archive they supplement the standard histories of the Han period which concentrate on dynastic destinies, the activities of senior officials and the major decisions of state. Found first in 1900 and in more extensive caches of the 1930s and 1970s, the documents are the surviving fragments of orders and reports written on narrow strips of wood which were bound together to form a complete text. The present work assembles some 700 strips seen as the constituent parts of 43 original documents, whose form, content and date may be reconstructed with some confidence. Originating from the defence forces posted in the north-west, these strips reveal details of the organisation of military units, the establishment of junior official posts and procedures for the delivery of official mail to named destinations. Their subject matter concerns the duties and living conditions of conscript servicemen and the maintenance of military buildings. They show how officials and clerks drew up routine returns of supplies, inspection reports or signal's logs. Photographs illustrate the uses of different sizes and shapes of wood for these purposes and demonstrate the validity of grouping the fragments together. The reconstruction of these documents bears an immediate influence on the bibliographic and textual problems both of received literary texts and of manuscripts found subsequently to those considered here. The book is of value to all students of Chinese administrative procedures and Chinese manuscripts.

魯惟一，英國著名漢學傢。1922年生，1962年獲倫敦大學文學博士學位。先後執教於倫敦大學和劍橋大學，對中國秦漢史和漢代簡牘有獨到而深入的研究，他把從古文書學的角度研究漢簡的方法推嚮新的境界。代錶性著作有《漢代行政記綠》（博士學位論文）、《漢代的中華帝國初期的日常生活》、《漠代中國的危機與衝突》、《通往仙境之路中國人對長生的追求》、《中國人的生死觀：漢代的信仰、神話和理性》、《漢代的讖諱、神話與君主政治》等，主編並撰寫《中國古代典籍導讀》、《劍橋中國秦漢史》、《劍橋中國古代史》等。