287-year-old cemetery bill uncovered in Sichuan

A bill originating from the Qing Dynasty recording a debt owed to a cemetery was discovered when the staff in Dongxing Record Office in Neijing City of Sichuan was rearranging the archives on July 13, 2010.

The bill is as big as an A3 paper. The time record on the bill read Yongzhong first year (1732), which is 287 years ago. The bill was written on rice paper. The borrower was Wei Yuanliang whose father passed away but he didn't have private land to bury him.

He wrote this bill to Mr. Sun to promise that he would only borrow this land for cemetery. Another four witnesses were also in the scene.

According to the manager of the Record Office, this kind of bill belongs to significant "folk archives." It has very important archaeological significance and can reflect the economic, cultural and societal situation in a historically-specific period as well as provide reliable evidence for local folk culture study.

By People's Daily Online