Source: SYSU Libraries
Written by: SYSU Libraries
Translated by: Wang Xue
Proofread by: Dr. Zhou Yi

Recently, the Hong Kong Buddhist Education Foundation donated a Photofacsimile Reprint of the Wenyuan Pavilion Copy of the Siku Quanshu to Sun Yat-sen University Libraries. Based on the Wenyuan Pavilion Copy of the Siku Quanshu kept in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, it is reprinted by The Commercial Press (Taiwan) LTD. in sextodecimo format where four pages are compacted into one. The collection is made up of 1,500 volumes and worth nearly 500,000 yuan.

The Siku Quanshu (Imperial Collection of Four) is the largest collection of books in ancient China. Emperor Qianlong issued an imperial decree to compile the collection and it took a decade to complete. It includes over 3,400 kinds of ancient books, which were bound in over 36,000 copies with more than 79,000 volumes. It covers all the academic fields of ancient China and all the important books from the Qin Dynasty to Emperor Qianlong’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, and thus is a significant literature for the study of Chinese history and culture. After completion, the first revised copy was stored in Wenyuan Pavilion, while the Diben (the original copy) was kept in Imperial Academy. Later, six manuscript copies were placed in Wensu Pavilion, Wenyuan Pavilion, Wenjin Pavilion, Wenhui Pavilion, Wenzong Pavilion and Wenlan Pavilion respectively. After chaos caused by war, now there are only three surviving copies, namely, the Wenyuan Pavilion copy, the Wensu Pavilion copy and the Wenjin Pavilion copy, and the fragments of the Wenlan Pavilion copy in the world. Among them, the Wenyuan Pavilion copy is the most intact one, which was originally housed in the Imperial Palace in Beijing and then transferred to Taiwan. Currently, it is kept in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

Sun Yat-sen University Libraries have always attached great importance to various rare historical literature. The special collection hall on the fourth floor of the library on South Campus collects over 50,000 copies including the Siku Series, Dunhuang Literature, Books Integration, Series of Books published in the Republic of China period,Tripitaka, and other new photographic reprint of ancient books. The Hong Kong Buddhist Education Foundation is devoted to the communication of traditional Chinese culture. Its donation of Photofacsimile Reprint of the Wenyuan Pavilion Copy of the Siku Quanshu to SYSU Libraries will further enrich our historical literature holdings to provide better service to the users.