A modern reproduction of the Siku Quanshu or the Complete Library of the Four Treasures, as well as the collection from the Qing Dynasty's imperial library was recently donated to the Palace Museum this week from the Wenyuan Ge or the Pavilion of Literary Profundity.
The Siku Quanshu has 3,400 titles in located in 35,381 volumes. According to research, at least 361 scholars have sorted out the collection and it took them nine years - from 1773 to 1782 - to finish the entire collection.
The collection is sorted out into four divisions - classics (Jing), history (Shi), philosophy (Zi) and literary collections (Ji) - to cover all sectors of knowledge.
At least seven handwritten copies were done, but only four remain in existence today. The four copies are currently located at the National Library of China, Gansu Library, Taipei Palace Museum and the Zhejiang Library.
The Wenyuan Ge reproduction was done thanks to the collaboration between the Commercial Press and Yangzhou Bindings.
