By the time of the setting of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, paper had already been invented. Why do kings often (according to the movies) receive letters on bamboo sticks?
Is this historically accurate?
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Sign up to join this communityBy the time of the setting of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, paper had already been invented. Why do kings often (according to the movies) receive letters on bamboo sticks?
Is this historically accurate?
Yes, this is historically accurate. Writing on bamboo slips was not entirely abandoned until the 4th century CE---over a century after the Romance of the Three Kingdoms takes place. As the Wikipedia article on the history of paper that you linked to states, the primary use of ancient Chinese paper before this was for wrapping things, not writing. One of the largest collections of bamboo and wooden slips to be found (140,000 pieces from Zoumalou) dates to the Three Kingdoms period.
Romance of Three Kingdoms
is a fiction written based on history but not exact history record so technicallyera of the Romance of Three Kingdoms
don't exist in reality. It's better to call itLate-Han era
or be more identical,Three Kingdoms era
.