"That there was from early times a large Chinese community in Gaochang is shown by the fifth and sixth-century burials at Astana, predating the Chinese conquest of 640. The epitaph tablets, manuscripts and customs are all Chinese. The item shown here is a tablet in clay which would have originally been placed at the entrance to the tomb. It is dated to 571 and reads:
'eighth day, yimao, of the third month, beginning moushen, in the 11th year of Yanchang, xinmao, epitaph of the Administrative Counsellor, later Superior Administrator in the Board of Population, Wang Yuanzhi, posthumously entitled Senior Secretary.'
Clay with inscribed and painted characters
The British Museum, 1928.1022.202 (Ast.09)