The Research and Conservation Center for Unearthed Texts, Tsinghua University, founded in September 2008, is a key university level humanities research institute focused on the conservation and research of unearthed texts. It was selected as one of the Key Research Institutes of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education and a Leading Institute among National Level Leading Centers of Collaboration and Innovation. The thirty faculty and staff members of the Center are comprised of twenty-four academic researchers, including 7 professors, 3 senior research fellows, 7 associate professors, 1 assistant professor, and 6 postdoctoral fellows. The fellows of the Center include such influential experts as professors Huang Dekuan, Huang Tianshu, Li Junming, Li Shoukui, and Liu Guozhong.

The Research and Conservation Center for Unearthed Texts strives to establish itself as a global first-class humanities research center through interdisciplinary and cutting-edge research projects. These projects combine the transcription and study of unearthed texts with research on ancient Chinese history and civilization. Currently the main task of the Center focuses on the preservation, transcription, and study of the Warring States bamboo manuscripts rescued and stored by Tsinghua University. At the same time, research is undertaken on other unearthed texts (such as oracle bone and bronze inscriptions).

The Center has made considerable achievements since its establishment, and especially its work in the transcription, research, and preservation of the Tsinghua University Bamboo Slips has received wide attention. The Center has won more than ten national awards and undertaken a number of significant national research projects, and has become one of the world’s foremost research institutes of unearthed texts and the study of ancient Chinese civilization. Finally, the Center has been entrusted by the eight Ministries and Commissions such as the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, Ministry of Education and State Language Commission to organize and conduct the “Paleography and Chinese Civilization Inheritance and Development Program”. In this role, the Center guides and collaborates with nation-wide research institutes of unearthed texts and Chinese paleography.