The Hunan Museum has discovered more than 40 previously unseen Chinese characters on the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts, ancient artifacts dating back some 2,300 years. Using advanced infrared transmission imaging, researchers identified the new characters on a silk fragment that had not fully separated, marking a major breakthrough since the manuscripts’ return to China.   Repatriated from the United States after 79 years abroad, the second and third volumes of the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts are now permanently housed at the Hunan Museum in Changsha. Unearthed in 1942 from a Chu-state tomb in Changsha, the manuscripts contain records of astronomy, calendars, cosmology, and military divination from the Warring States Period (475–221 B.C.).   “Artifact No. 109 actually consists of multiple layers of folded silk texts,” said Yu Yanjiao, director of the Collection Research and Exhibition Centre of Hunan Museum, to a Chinese news outlet. The new findings may shed light on the manuscripts’ meaning, offering further insight into the newly revealed characters and their stroke structure.   Source: China Central Television