Wooden strips
recording the reception at Xuanquan Post unearthed from Xuanquan Post site date
back to the fifth year of Yuankang Reign of the Han
Dynasty(A.D.61)
Eighteen pieces of
strips form a complete volume by binding together. The length of each piece is
22cm long and 0.8cm wide. These wooden strips present the fees of reception
offered for marquis Changluo (whose name is Chang Hui) at Xuanquan Post.
Xuanquan Post was
vital to the contact between the West and the East. As a postal station,
Xuanquan Post needed to do the reception towards officials and envoys to or from
foreign countries. Therefore, a big amount of reception records were kept at
Xuanquan Post thus providing material data for the research of the Silk Road and
the relationship between the Han Dynasty and the West Fegions.Among these
regimes in the Western Regions, Wusun (a nomadic stepped nationality who lived
in Tarim Basin) was the biggest and the Han Dynasty had a close relationship
with Wusun Kingdom. Therefore, Xuanquan Post remained abundant material records
about Wusun Kingdom.