Among the Qin bamboo slips unearthed in western Hunan, A Qin bamboo slips, which were "moved to the Dongting by post", are regarded by archaeologists as the earliest epistolary style in China, with a history of more than 2,200 years.
There are seven characters on this Qin bamboo slips, which are equivalent to the postal label used now. The "Youyang Yin Cheng" on this piece of paper was an imprint on the seal with cement when people sent letters at that time, which is equivalent to the sealing strip used today. This is the necessary procedure for the official delivery of letters at that time, which can ensure the safe delivery of mail to the destination.
As a postal label, this bamboo slip may be the sender's label when sending an email, which is equivalent to the envelope we use to write letters today, or it may be a simple reply from the recipient after receiving the email, telling the other party that the email has been delivered safely. Before the Qin Dynasty, no complete physical letters were found. This "moving the tomb to Dongting by mail" provided valuable material for studying the early postal system in China.
When studying the cleaned Liye Qin bamboo slips, it is found that a Qin Dynasty postal book should be sealed and registered before being sent, and as long as it is late or damaged during the operation, it will be investigated for responsibility. At the same time, every mailing interval should record in detail the nature, quantity, type, recipient, publisher, seal integrity, payment time, sender and a series of contents; In addition, after the postal book is delivered to the destination, it should be signed for registration, and when the postal book is opened, the unsealing record should be made.
The word "Kuaixing" was also found on a wooden slip in the nature of a postal book unearthed in Liye, indicating that there was "express mail" in the Qin Dynasty. With the establishment of a unified multi-ethnic country and centralized feudal autocratic regime in China in the Qin Dynasty, it is urgent to establish a fast, efficient and safe information transmission system nationwide to ensure the timely transmission of administrative documents and military information between the central and local governments, thus gradually forming an effective postal book transmission, operation, reception and assessment system, thus ensuring the efficient operation of post offices and the timely transmission of government decrees and military information in the Qin and Han Dynasties.