In November of the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong (1772), Zhu Yun, a scholar of Anhui Province, raised the issue of compiling the Yongle Canon, which was approved by the Qianlong Emperor, and then he ordered that the compilation of the books be compiled together with "all the official engraved books collected by the provinces and wuying halls", known as the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book". In this way, the compilation of the Yongle Canon led to the huge project of compiling the "Four Libraries Complete Book" and became the direct reason for the compilation of the "Four Libraries Complete Book".
In the process of compiling the Siku Quanshu, the first step was to collect books. The collection of books began in the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong (1772) and ended in the forty-third year of Qianlong (1778), which lasted for seven years. In order to commend those who entered books, the Qing court also formulated award methods such as awards, inscriptions, and names: "Trophies" means that those who have entered more than 500 kinds of books will be given a "Ancient and Modern Book Integration"; Those who have entered more than 100 kinds of books will be given a copy of the "Peiwen Yunfu". "Inscription", that is, those who have entered more than 100 kinds of books, choose a refined and mellow book, and the Qianlong Emperor will inscribe the simple end of the chant to show grace. "Name" means to indicate the name of the adopter or bibliophile in the abstract.
With the strong assistance of local governments and the positive response of bibliophiles, the book collection work has progressed smoothly, with a total of 12237 kinds of books collected, of which 4808 kinds of books have been entered from Jiangsu, ranking first among all provinces; Zhejiang has 4600 kinds of books, ranking second. Private bibliophiles Ma Yu, Bao Shigong, Fan Maozhu, Wang Qishu and so on also entered many books.
Organize your books
The base of the Four Libraries has six sources:
Neifu Ben, that is, government collections, including wuying halls and other books in the inner court;
Zanzhuoben, i.e., books compiled by order from the early Qing Dynasty to the Qianlong Dynasty, including the works of the emperors;
Books collected by the provinces, that is, books collected by the governors of the provinces;
Private donations, i.e. books submitted by provincial bibliophiles voluntarily or on order;
Popular books, i.e. books taken from popular societies;
The Yongle Canon is a compilation of books from the Yongle Canon.
The Four Libraries put forward specific opinions on the above books that should be copied, engraved, and stored. The book that should be copied is a work that is considered qualified and can be copied into the Four Libraries Complete Book. The Book of Inscribed Books is considered to be the best, and these works are not only copied into the Siku Quanshu, but should also be engraved separately for wide circulation. The books that should be preserved are works that are considered unqualified and cannot be copied into the Siku Quanshu, while only their names remain in the General Catalogue of the Siku Quanshu and are included in the inventory.
For works that should be copied and engraved, it is necessary to compare the differences between different books and different books, and choose a better book as the base book. Once a book is set as the base of the four libraries, it must also undergo a series of processing, and the flying stick and eyebrow batch are the products of processing. The flying sign, also known as the clip sign, is a note for the branch official to correct the typo and write the preliminary examination opinion. Such slips of paper are often affixed to the roll and sent to the registrar for review. Those who approve of the revision can use the Zhu pen path to change the original text, otherwise no changes will be made. It is then submitted to the chief compiler for third instance, and after analysis, the chief compiler may disagree with the revision officer's review opinion and adopt the preliminary examination opinion of the branch official. After the third trial, it will be submitted to the Imperial Palace.
Copy the base
The scribes were initially brought from Baoju, and later, it was found that this method had drawbacks such as bribery and bribery, and then changed to the method of examination, the specific method is: when it is necessary to increase the number of copying personnel, the notice is issued first, and after the applicants register, they are ordered to write a number of lines on the spot, and whether their handwriting is correct or not, and they are selected for admission. Although the examination method is superior to the Baoju method, it also has inconveniences, so in the end it was changed to selecting from the first students of the township examination, and those whose examination papers were well-written were selected and hired.
In this way, 3826 people were successively selected to serve as copiers, ensuring the need to copy the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book". In order to ensure the progress, a quota for copying is also stipulated: each person can copy 1,000 words per day, 330,000 words per year, and 1.8 million words for 5 years. At the end of the five-year period, those who copy 2 million words are listed as first class; Those who copied 1.65 million words were listed as second class. According to the rank, four official positions were awarded to the state, the state judge, the county clerk, and the main book. Those who find that the font is not neat, remember once, and the penalty is 10,000 words. Due to the effective measures and the clear distinction between rewards and punishments, the copying of the "Four Libraries" has progressed smoothly, with 600 people engaged in copying work every day, at least more than 600,000 words can be copied.
The revision process
The revision process is the last key step. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the editing work, the Siku Quanshu Library formulated the Regulations on the Punishment of Meritorious Deeds, which stipulates that if the misspelled word is the original error, it will not be remembered; If there is no original error, if it is indeed a transcription that causes errors, each typo has been recorded once; If the original error can be found, sign the corrector and record the merit once in each place. After each volume, the title of the reviser shall be listed to clarify his or her responsibilities. After two levels of resumption, a book is read by the president and finally decorated. Branch schools, re-schools, presidents, etc. perform their respective duties, which really play an important role in ensuring the quality of the "Four Libraries".
The Qianlong Emperor built the Seven Pavilions of the North and South in order to store the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" in imitation of the famous library building "Tianyi Pavilion". In December of the forty-sixth year of Qianlong (1781), the first "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" was finally copied and decorated. Then it took nearly three years to complete the second, third and fourth parts, and store the Wenyuan Pavilion, the Wenshu Pavilion, the Wenyuan Pavilion, and the Wenjin Pavilion, which is the so-called "North Four Pavilions". From July of the forty-seventh year of Qianlong (1782) to the fifty-second year of Qianlong (1787), three more were copied, which were stored in the Collection of Wenzong Pavilion, Wenhui Pavilion and Wenlan Pavilion in Jiangnan, which is the so-called "South Three Pavilions". Each Siku Quanshu was bound to 36,300 volumes and 6,752 letters. The books of the Seven Pavilions all have seals, such as the Zhu Wenfang Seal of the Wenyuan Pavilion Collection, which is the first of the wenyuan Pavilion treasure, and the Zhu Wenfang seal of the Qianlong Imperial Treasure.
In the process of compiling the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book", he also compiled the "Four Libraries Of the Whole Book", "The General Catalogue of the Four Libraries", "The Concise Catalogue of the Four Libraries", "The Examination of the Four Libraries", "The Collection of Books of the Wuying Temple", etc. These books can be seen as a by-product of the compilation of the Four Libraries. The Siku Quanshu Huijiao is the essence of the Siku Quanshu, which contains 473 kinds of books and 19931 volumes. The folio size and binding form are the same as those of the Siku Quanshu. In the forty-third year of Qianlong (1778), two copies were copied: one in the Imperial Garden of the Palace, and the other in the Weiyi Bookstore in the Changchun Garden outside the east wall of the Yuanmingyuan. The two hundred volumes of the "General Catalogue of the Four Libraries" are the general catalog of the books and bibliographies of the "Four Libraries Complete Book". The table of contents is preceded by "ordinary examples", the first four parts of the subset of history are titled with a general order, and before the major categories there is a small order, and under each book there are author introductions, content summaries, version sources and other reference texts. Because these texts are written by famous scholars such as Ji Yun, Dai Zhen, Yao Nai, and Shao Jinhan, they have important academic value.
The twenty volumes of the Concise Catalogue of the Four Libraries are a compendium of the General Catalogue of the Four Libraries, which does not list the bibliographies, but only the books included in the Four Libraries, and the summary of each book is also relatively simple. The 100 volumes of the "Examination of the Complete Books of the Four Libraries" are a compilation of records of the corresponding copied and inscribed books of the Four Libraries, and the book has a high reference value for the revision of ancient books. The "Wuyingdian Juzhen Edition Series" is printed in wooden movable type. It includes 138 kinds of "inscribed" books in the Siku Quanshu. After the series of books was engraved and printed in 4 kinds, the host Jin Jian, through comparison, believed that wooden movable type cost less money and high practical value, and changed it to wood movable type printing and publishing. Jin Jian wrote the wooden movable type printing process into the book "King Ding Wu Ying Dian Ju Zhen Edition Program" and included it in the "Siku Quanshu", which is an important document in the history of ancient printing and has been translated into German, English and other circulation to the world.
Circulating situation:
It has been more than 200 years since the completion of the "Four Libraries complete book". Among the seven parts, the Wenyuan Geben, Wenzong Geben and Wenhui Geben have disappeared, and only the Wenyuan Geben, Wenjin Geben, Wenshu Geben and Wenlan Geben have been handed down to this day. Wenyuan Ge Ben is now in Taiwan Province, Wenjin Ge Ben is now in Beijing Library, and Wen Shu Ge Ben is now in Gansu Provincial Library. Wenlan Geben was destroyed in many places in the war, and later handed over the supplementary copy, basically completed, and is now in the Zhejiang Provincial Library.
The Siku Quanshu (1773) can be called the richest and most complete integration of traditional Chinese culture. Chinese literature, history, philosophy, science, industry, agriculture, medicine, almost all disciplines can find its source and bloodline, almost all emerging disciplines about China can find the soil and nutrition for its survival and development from here. Since then, as a symbol of national orthodoxy and national foundation, it has become the "treasure of the country" that Chinese and even Oriental readers dream of settling down and establishing their lives, and the "treasure of the country" for future generations to maintain the system and promote the great cause of dynasties. The Siku Quanshu collects more than 3,460 kinds of books, more than 79,000 volumes, and more than 36,000 volumes, which are divided into four parts: classics, histories, sub-collections, and collections. Among them, the "Jingbu" is divided into 10 categories, such as "Yi, Shu, Poetry, Li, Spring and Autumn, Filial Piety, Five Classics, Four Books, Music, and Primary School"; The "History Department" is divided into 15 categories, including "main history, chronicle, chronicle at the end of the book, other histories, miscellaneous histories, edicts and deliberations, biographies, historical notes, records, seasonal orders, geography, officials, political books, catalogs, and historical commentaries"; The "sub-department" is divided into 14 categories, such as "Confucianism, Bingjia, Dharma, Peasants, Physicians, Astronomical Algorithms, Magic Numbers, Art, Genealogy, Miscellaneous Scholars, Books, Novelists, Interpreters, and Taoists"; "Collections" are divided into 05 categories such as "Chu Ci, Bei Ji, Total Collection, Poetry Commentary, and Song And Song". There are 44 categories in total. In order to preserve this batch of classic documents, the emperor "imperial approval supervision" collected more than 3800 literati from all over the country, concentrated in the capital, lasted ten years, and copied seven books in orthography, together with the base, a total of eight. The pavilion is hidden deeply, and it is rare for the world to see it. Although copied by thousands of people, the font style is dignified and standardized, and the pen is scrupulous, like a person. Therefore, whether from the content or from the form point of view, it has a very rare research, collection and appreciation value. After several wars, more than half were destroyed, making this huge production in the history of world publishing a priceless treasure that is rare in the world.
In February of the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong (1773), the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" officially began to be compiled, with Ji Xiaolan, Lu Xixiong, and Sun Shiyi as the chief editors, Lu Feiqi as the chief school officer, and more than 400 people under it, including the repair officers, branch officials, and supervising officials. Celebrity bachelors such as Dai Zhen (master of sinology), Shao Jinhan (master of history), Yao Nai, Zhu Yun, etc. also participated. At the same time, nearly 4,000 scribes were recruited, and hongcai and master's degrees were gathered together, and the grand event was unprecedented, lasting 10 years. To the forty-seventh year of Qianlong (1782), the compilation was initially completed; Qianlong was completed in the fifty-eighth year (1793). The huge cost is the concrete embodiment of Kangqian's prosperity in cultural history.
In March of the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong (1773), shortly after the establishment of the "Four Libraries of Complete Books", the presidents considered that this book covered ancient and modern times, and the number would be huge, so they put forward the proposal of dividing the color decoration of the scriptures, histories, sub-books, and collections of books. After the book is completed, they are decorated in four colors according to the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, that is, the green of the warp department, the red of the history department, the white of the sub-part of the moon, and the gray and black of the collection department for easy review. Because the "General Bibliography of the Four Libraries" is numerous and difficult to read, the Qianlong Emperor ordered the compilation of a bibliographic book that only records the title, volume number, age, and author's name, so that scholars can "find the summary from the bibliography, and obtain the whole book from the summary". In the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong (1774), the chief compilers Ji Yun, Lu Xixiong, and others followed the qianlong emperor's edict to publish the books copied into the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" one by one according to the four parts of the subset of scriptures and histories. If there are issues that require special clarification, the number is skimmed. The book was completed in the forty-sixth year of Qianlong (1781) and consisted of 20 volumes. It is actually a compendium of the General Catalogue of the Four Libraries. The classification of classical Chinese cultural texts began with Liu Xiang's Beilu of the Western Han Dynasty. In the Western Jin Dynasty, Xun Xun created a four-part method, namely the four major departments of classics, history, sub-divisions, and collection. After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the royal library and the secretarial province, the Hanlin Academy and other important collections of books were stored in four libraries according to the scriptures, histories, sub-books, and collections, called "four libraries of books". Qingqianlong opened the "Siku Quanshu Library" and when it was compiled, it was called "Siku Quanshu". Because of the compilation of the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book", many important classics before the Qianlong Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty were able to survive in a relatively complete manner. The Seven Books of the Four Libraries are divided into Wenyuan Pavilion in the Forbidden City, Wenshu Pavilion in Shengjing (present-day Shenyang) Palace, Wenyuan Pavilion in Beijing's Yuanmingyuan, and Wenjin Pavilion in Chengde Mountain Resort in Hebei Province, which are the North Four Pavilions, also known as the Inner Pavilions, which are only for the royal family to read. The other three are hidden in the Wenhui Pavilion in Yangzhou, the Wenzong Pavilion in Zhenjiang, and the Wenlan Pavilion in Hangzhou, that is, the Three Pavilions of Zhejiang, also known as the South Three Pavilions, and the South Three Pavilions allow literati to enter the cabinet to read. In modern China, due to the continuous war and chaos, only three of the seven "Four Libraries" have been completely preserved. The Wenhui Pavilion and wenzong Pavilion were destroyed during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement; The Wenyuan Pavilion collection was burned down by the Anglo-French forces; Many of the collections of Wenlan Pavilion were also scattered, and they were basically completed after being copied, but they were no longer the original books. In 1948, when the Nationalist government in Nanjing withdrew from the mainland and went to Taiwan, when transporting some precious collections of the National Palace Museum in Beijing to Taiwan, it brought to Taiwan the most precious collection of the Four Libraries, the Four Libraries Quanshu, which is now stored in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
Revision of the history of books
When Qianlong compiled the Siku Quanshu, he destroyed the total number of books unfavorable to the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, which was statistically 13,600 volumes. The total number of books burned, 150,000. The total number of destroyed plates is more than 170 kinds and more than 80,000 pieces. In addition to burning books, the Qing court also systematically destroyed the archives of the Ming Dynasty. There are only more than 3,000 archives of the Ming Dynasty, mainly the archives of the Tianqi and Chongzhen Dynasties, but also a small number of official documents of the Hongwu, Yongle, Xuande, Chenghua, Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli, and Taichang Dynasties.
The compilation and revision of the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" can be said to be a national book that must be submitted for inspection, and the texts of the predecessors involving Khitan, Jurchen, Mongolian, and Liaojinyuan must be deleted and revised. More than 3,000 kinds of banned books were seized, more than 150,000 were confiscated, and more than 700,000 books were burned in total, and the number of forbidden books was as many as the books collected by the four libraries. "When the edict was first issued, he cut his teeth in the history of the Ming Dynasty. Subsequently, the Sikuguan discussion, the Wei Song people said Liao Jinyuan, the Ming people yanyuan, their arguments were particularly biased, and everything was intended to be destroyed,...... After Longqing, as for the late Ming Dynasty, it will be written by Xiang Xianchen and will be left behind." During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the writings of Zodiac Zhou, Zhang Huangyan, Yuan Jixian, Qian Sule, Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, and Sun Qifeng were all banned. Later, it was slightly relaxed, and some people's writings were only "changed and violated, and destroyed without hesitation." However, the works of Qian Qianyi, Lü Liuliang, Qu Dajun, Jin Bao, Dai Mingshi, Wang Xihou, and Yin Jiaquan were particularly severely banned. The books destroyed during the Qianlong period "nearly 3,000 kinds, more than 60,000 to 70,000 volumes, and the number of kinds is comparable to that of the four libraries of books now received." Another example is the Song Dynasty's "Khitan Official", which records the Liao Dynasty's observations: "The officials of the Hu people, the officials who lead the ministers in the Fan are all Hu obeyed, and they are called Khitan officials." The Privy Counsellor and the Zaichen are known as the Northern Privy Councillor and the Northern Prime Minister. Those who lead the ministry in Yanzhong, although the Hu people are also Hanfu, are called Han officials. Those in power are known as the Southern Prime Minister and the Southern Privy Council. Sikuben was tampered with as follows: "Khitan officials, those who lead the ministers in the middle are all different, called Khitan officials." The Privy Counsellor and the Zaichen are known as the Northern Privy Councillor and the Northern Prime Minister. Those who lead the ministry in Yanzhong, although the people of the country are also Hanfu, are called Han officials. Those in power are known as the Southern Prime Minister and the Southern Privy Council. "Change "Hufu", "Huren", etc.
Li Yuerui, a Shaanxi jinshi who supported the new law at the time of the penghu reform, mentioned in his notebook "Repentance Yi Zhai Pen Multiplier" that the Wuyingdian edition of the Twenty-Four Histories was edited by the Qianlong Imperial System and the Siku Guanchen. "If you read Wu Yingdian's Twenty-Four Histories, only the "History," "Han," and "Guozhi" are worthy of scrutiny, and the "Book of Jin" is secondary, and the false characters cannot be enumerated."
In Fairbank's famous book The United States and China, he clearly pointed out the true intention of the Qing rulers in compiling the Siku Quanshu: "Through this huge project, the Qing court actually carried out a literary inventory (literary "Religious Judgment"), one of the purposes of which was to ban all works that criticized foreign rulers. When compilers search for rare and complete texts to be included in this large library, they will be able to identify all heretical works that should be banned or destroyed. As L.C. Goodrich argues, this is the largest rule of thought
Rare books: refers to those books that have historical relics, academic materials and artistic representation, or have special value in one of them. In general, versions that are older or have been carefully proofread with fewer errors can be called rare books.
Orphan: A certain moment or manuscript of a book. Takumoto has only one copy of the world that has been circulated as an orphan book.
Secret Book: Private collectors keep it in the house, put it in a high cabinet, and the version that is not allowed to be read by outsiders is a secret book.
Forbidden Destruction: The previous generation or the current world was banned and destroyed due to the reason, and the version that survived by chance is the forbidden version. In ancient times, it was very dangerous to preserve such forbidden books, and once discovered by the authorities, it would suffer great disasters, so its circulation was extremely difficult. Precious.
Embroidery Book: The illustrated version in the middle of the book is the embroidery book. This type of embroidery book is very popular because of its vivid form of expression, but it is very precious because of the complex process of painting, the price is expensive, and the finished product is small.
Lithograph: Select the hard and wide stone with a smooth surface to be polished and carved into a lithograph, and then use the ink to write the text on the special pharmaceutical paper, transfer the handwriting on the medicinal paper to the lithograph, and then roll brush ink to print the book as a lithograph.
Manuscript: A book copied from a base. Among them, there is a kind of photocopy manuscript, which is a book that covers the transparent paper on the base and imitates it according to its original font and line.
Fragments: Books that are mutilated due to various reasons (such as transportation, resale, copying, disputes, etc.) in the process of circulation are fragments.
Supplement: A book that has been supplemented by the works of the predecessors of the previous generation and written with the intention of the previous generation.
Continuation: A continued description of the content of the works of the predecessors of the previous generation, with the main purpose of continuing the meaning of the original work.
Preserved books: Books that have been specially preserved for some private purpose are generally retained by heirlooms for generations and are regarded as the most precious treasures.
Scriptures: Yi Class, Book Class, Poetry Class, Ritual Class, Spring and Autumn Class, Filial Piety Class, Five Classics General Meaning Class, Four Books Class, Music Class, Primary School Class.
History Department: Main History, Chronicle Class, Chronicle End Class, Other History Class, Miscellaneous History Class, Edict And Discussion Class, Biography Class, History Banknote Class, Record Class, Seasonal Order Class, Geography Class, Official Class, Political Book Class, Catalogue Class, Historical Commentary Class.
Wenjinge's Siku Quanshu has a total of 6144 catalpa book boxes and 36304 books. After the book is clamped up and down with a wooden splint, it is wrapped with a ribbon and placed in the book box. After opening the lid, pull the ribbon to easily remove the book. The lid of the book box is engraved with the title of the book and the order of the department to which it belongs, which is clear and clear, and is easy to consult.
Wenzongge edition
Wenzong Pavilion is located at Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang. Wenhui Pavilion is a royal library, located in yangzhou Tianning Temple West Garden Grand View Hall. In the forty-second year of Qianlong (1777), the two Huaiyan Zhengyin were sent to the two "Ancient and Modern Book Integrations" of the Tianning Temple Palace in Yangzhou and the Jinshan Palace in Zhenjiang, and they asked them to build a library building on the scale of the Tianyi Pavilion in the palace. In the forty-fourth year of Qianlong (1779), the Zhenjiang Library Was Completed, and Qianlong gave the name Wenzong Pavilion. In the following year, the Yangzhou Library Cabinet was completed and given the name Wenhui Pavilion. The two cabinets are each included in the collection of "Ancient and Modern Book Integration", and there are still many empty book cabinets in the cabinet, and then each receives and stores the "Four Libraries complete book". In the first Opium War in the second year of Daoguang (1842), Wenzong Ge's "Four Libraries Complete Book" was destroyed by the British army. When the taiping power developed in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Zhenjiang and Yangzhou were conquered by the Taiping army, and Wenzong Pavilion, Wenhui Pavilion and their stored Siku Quanshu were reduced to ashes.
Wenlan Pavilion Edition
The original "Ancient and Modern Book Integration" library hall in the shengyin temple palace in Hangzhou was rebuilt in the forty-seventh year of Qianlong (1782) behind the hall, and was completed at the end of the following year. In the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1861), the Taiping Army captured Hangzhou for the second time, and Wenlan Ge's "Four Libraries Complete Book" was scattered in large quantities. The Hangzhou bibliophile Ding Shen DingBing brothers collected the remnants and obtained 8140 volumes, only a quarter of the original book. In the third year of Tongzhi (1864), the Taiping Army retreated, and the Ding brothers did not hesitate to buy from the people at great expense. In the sixth year of Guangxu (1880), Wenlan Pavilion was rebuilt on the original site of the old pavilion. The Ding brothers returned the books and copied them one after another. After the Republic of China, it was collected by the Zhejiang Provincial Library. In 1914 and 1923, the two organizations of manpower to supplement the Ding brothers' banknotes were incomplete. WenLan Ge's "Four Libraries Complete Book" began to gradually return to its original. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it was transported to Aoki Pass, and after the victory, it was transported back to Zhejiang and is now stored in the Zhejiang Provincial Library.
Bunkyo version
A summer resort at Rehe Palace (present-day Chengde, Hebei Province). In the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong (1774), the construction of Wenjin Pavilion began, and it was completed the following year. In November of the forty-ninth year of Qianlong (1784), the Siku Quanshu was included in the collection. In 1913, Wenjinge's "Four Libraries" was transported back to Beijing by the Nationalist government and stored in the Wenhua Hall Antiquities Exhibition Hall. In 1915, it was transferred to the newly established Beijing Normal Library (the predecessor of the current National Library) and became the treasure of the National Library. At the beginning of each volume, there is "Wenjin GeBao", and on the last page there is "Summer Resort" and "Treasure of the Taishang Emperor" Zhu Wenfangxi. Shibu's "Eight Flags Tongzhi" was written in the early years of Jiaqing and was later added, so there is only one side of the "Treasure of Jiaqing Royal Collection". The whole book is slightly different from the popular printed version of the "Catalogue of the Complete Books of the Four Libraries", and the cover is copied late, and there are revisions and changes.
WenyuanGe edition
Inside the Old Summer Palace. In the garden, the north and west of "Mizuki Mingser" is Wenyuan Pavilion, with six trees on the upper and lower sides, and the west of the pavilion is "Willow Wave Singing Warbler". The plaques of Wenyuan Pavilion and the ancient Guanlan plaques in the pavilion are both imperial books of the Qianlong Emperor. In front of Wenyuan Pavilion is Linglong Peak, on which there is a stone stele in the pavilion east of the Qianlong Imperial System "Wenyuan Pavilion Poems", and the Imperial System "Wenyuan Pavilion Record" is published on it. Wenyuan Ge's "Four Libraries complete book" was copied into Tibet in the forty-eighth year of Qianlong (1783). In the Xianfeng Decade (1860), the British and French allies invaded and burned the Yuanmingyuan on a large scale, and Wenyuan Geben's "Four Libraries complete book" was reduced to ashes. Today, the ruins of Wenyuan Pavilion are no longer available. The stone stele inscribed "Wenyuan Geji" still exists in the world.
Wen Shu Ge Edition
Inside the Imperial Palace in Shenyang, Liaoning. In the forty-seventh year of Qianlong (1782), the second "Four Libraries complete book" was copied and sent to the Tibetan cabinet. During the Republic of China period, Wen Shuge's "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" was displaced and was in danger several times. In 1914, it was transported to Beijing and stored in the Bohol Hall. In 1925, Fengtian educators proposed to open a library and petitioned the Nationalist government authorities in Beijing to reclaim the book. In 1931, the "918" Incident broke out, the northeast fell, and the Wenshu Ge ben "Four Libraries Complete Book" also fell into the hands of the Japanese. The Japanese side once sealed it in the name of the so-called "National Library". In 1945, Japan was defeated and surrendered, and the "Four Libraries" of the Wenshu Pavilion returned to the hands of the people. During the Cultural Revolution, due to the need for war readiness, the central authorities ordered that the Wen shu ge ben "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" be transferred from Shenyang and transported to Gansu for storage.
Wenyuan Pavilion Edition
Wenyuan Pavilion is located behind the main hall of worship in the Forbidden City (the main hall is the rear hall of the Wenhua Hall), which was completed in the forty-first year of Qianlong (1776). In December of the forty-sixth year of Qianlong (1782), the first "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" was completed and entered the Tibetan Cabinet. During the Republic of China period, it was taken over by the Palace Museum. In the spring of 1933, the Japanese invaded Rehe, and the situation in the Beiping area was very critical. The Palace Museum moved Wen Yuange's Siku Quanshu to Shanghai in boxes, along with other cultural relics from other dynasties. The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in full swing, and it traveled thousands of miles to reach Shuzhong. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, it was returned to Nanjing. When the Kuomintang government retreated from the mainland, it was transported to Taiwan and is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
The Wenjinge Siku Quanshu, which is now in the National Library, is the fourth of the seven Siku Quanshu, written in the forty-ninth year of Qianlong (1784), and originally existed in the Chengde Summer Resort. After Wenjinge's "Four Libraries of Complete Books" was entered into the National Library of Tibet, it has always received special attention from people, and together with the Dunhuang Testament, the Zhao Cheng Golden Collection and the Yongle Classic, it has been called the Four Rare Books of the National Library.
Wenjinge's Siku Quanshu has a total of 36,304 volumes, which are divided into 6,144 letters and are displayed on 128 shelves. It is the most complete of the seven "Four Libraries complete books", and it is still the original shelf, the original Han, the original book, and the Qianlong Royal Pen "Inscribed With the Eight Rhymes of the Old Five Dynasties" engraved on the side panel of the 32nd and 33rd shelves of the sub-section. The central plate, ribbon, and copper ring of the letter are one according to the year. When you open the book, you can see the "Wenjin Gebao" ZhuYin, the "Ji Yun Fukan" yellow note, the snow-white civilized paper, and the upright Pavilion style script, which is breathtaking.
Wenjinge's Siku Quanshu has unique historical documentary value:
First, judging from the time of the completion of the seven "Four Libraries of The Whole Book", Wenjin Pavilion is the last of the four northern cabinets, and it has been three years since the first Wenyuan Pavilion "Four Libraries Complete Book" was written, and the errors and omissions that have been discovered should be corrected.
Second, the Wenjin Ge Ben is a manuscript of the archives that clearly records that Qianlong was once a pro-school and was personally proofread by Ji Yun, and almost every volume has a check record, and its editing quality is better than that of other books, including the Wenyuan Ge Ben.
Third, as far as the only three and a half copies of the Siku Quanshu remain, the Wenjin Ge Ben is the most completely preserved, and the other three Ge Ben are respectively copied according to the Wen jin Ge Ben. After being checked by scholars, there are many differences between the Wenjin Ge Ben Siku Quanshu and the Wenjin Ge Ben in terms of volumes, texts, Yongle Canon, prefaces, appendices, and synopsis. Some of the documents preserved in Wenjinge's "Four Libraries complete book" are already isolated in The Sea.
Social evaluation
There are certain reasons for the success of the compilation of the Four Libraries. First, a stable social environment. During the revision of the book, when the Qing Dynasty was in full swing, there was nothing going on in the world, and there was no interference from war. Siku Guanchen sat in front of the book case, sitting for 10 years, without worries. Second, the importance of the supreme ruler. From the preparation of the Siku Quanshu to the completion of the Book, Qianlong always participated in its work and was carefully planned by him. From collecting books and selecting the base books, to copying books and school books, Qianlong asked questions one by one and personally arranged them. Third, strong sources of funding. The Siku Quanshu was voluminous, and the required funds were difficult to count, and the Qing court took all of them. Fourth, a strict organizational system. The highest positions of the Siku Quanshu Library are president and vice president, mostly by the king of the county, the university scholar, and the six shangshu and the waiter, responsible for all the affairs of the Prime Minister's Museum, under which there is a repair office, a book office and a supervision office. The Revision Office is responsible for the collation of all books, and also concurrently serves as the branch office of the Book Office; The Book Office is responsible for the writing and collation of the entire book; The Supervision and Manufacturing Office is responsible for engraving, printing, binding and arranging books in Wuying Temple. There are a total of 360 ministers in the Siku Pavilion, and those who have been dismissed for reasons, removed from their names by death, and invoked as their appointees are not counted here. Fifth, recruit talents out of the box. Siku Quanshu Library can be called a treasure house of talents, concentrating a large number of outstanding talents, many of whom are recruited out of the ordinary, such as Shao Jinhan, Yu Ji, Zhou Yongnian, Dai Zhen, Yang Changlin and others, before entering the museum, not only was it not Hanlin, but Dai Zhen, Yang Changlin, etc. were not even jinshi, just people. The gathering of talents has created more favorable conditions for the compilation of the "Four Libraries and Complete Books".
Positive reviews
Although the "Four Libraries" in the process of compilation, there are mistakes such as deletion and correction of content, but in some aspects also play a certain role. Secondly, in the methods of collating ancient books, especially in the compilation, proofreading, bibliography, and engraving series of books, etc., they have left many useful enlightenments for future generations: in terms of compilation, the Siku Guanchen compiled 385 kinds of books from the Yongle Canon and included them in the Siku Quanshu, providing a good example for future generations to compile the work; In terms of collation, it has set a good example for future generations of collation work; In terms of bibliography, the method of compiling the General Catalogue of the Four Libraries has had a profound impact on future generations; In terms of the collection of engraved books, the Qing people took the "Four Libraries complete book" as an example and set off a boom in the compilation and engraving of the series. In recent years, the "Four Libraries Bibliography Series" and the "Continuation of the Four Libraries Complete Book" have also been published.
Guoxue master Ji Xianlin: Jiahui Xuelin, the merit is in Qianqiu. The largest surviving series of official repair books in China is the largest cultural project in China and even in the world compiled by the edict of the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. The book is divided into four parts: classics, history, sub-books and collections, with 3503 kinds of books, 79309 volumes, 6793 kinds of books in existence, 93551 volumes, and more than 36000 volumes, about 1 billion words. That's 44 times the number of encyclopedias edited by Diderot of France at the same time. Many of the important Chinese classics before the Qianlong Dynasty were included in them. Because the compilers were all famous scholars of the time, they represented the highest level of scholarship at that time. Although Qianlong's original intention in compiling this book was to "enclose and prohibit the signs", it objectively sorted out and preserved a large number of important classics, created Chinese bibliography, established the dominant position of sinology in social culture, and has unparalleled documentary value, historical value, cultural relics value and edition value.
Philosopher Zhang Dainian: A collection of books passed down from generation to generation, a national treasure of China.
Luo Jiaxiang, Central China Normal University: The "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" is an unprecedented masterpiece in the history of Chinese culture, and has always been praised by the academic circles as the pyramid of oriental culture.
Fairbank: Through this huge project, the Qing court actually conducted a literary inventory (literary "Inquisition"), one of the purposes of which was to ban all works that criticized foreign rulers. When compilers search for rare and complete texts to be included in this large library, they will be able to identify all heretical works that should be banned or destroyed. They collect rare books at good prices and even go door-to-door to search. The banned books are works on military or border affairs, commentaries on anti-Yidi theories, and works that glorify the Ming Dynasty. ...... As L. C. This, as Goodrich argues, is the largest rule of thought.
Historian Gong Shuduo: The compilation of the "Four Libraries" during the Qianlong period made indelible contributions to the continuation of Chinese civilization and preserved many precious books and materials for future generations.
Author: Xiao Si (Finishing)