Yongle Encyclopedia on display in SZ

A Selection of volumes from the Yongle Encyclopedia, the world’s largest ancient encyclopedia, of which only a small portion remains, are on display at the “A Magnum Opus Beyond Measure: Yongle’s Encyclopedic Enigma” exhibition at Nanshan Museum. Entry is free.

A volume of Yongle Encyclopedia displayed at Nanshan Museum. Cao Zhen

The encyclopedia records Chinese history, geography, literature, art, philosophy, religion and natural science, arranged by a special phonetic system using a sequence of individual Chinese characters.

The original 11,095-volume, handwritten encyclopedia was commissioned by the Ming Dynasty’s Yongle Emperor in 1403 and completed in 1407. For imperial use only, it was not produced for the general public. A copy was commissioned by the Qing Dynasty’s Jiajing Emperor in 1562 and completed in 1567. The original encyclopedia was then lost, and now the only existing copy is the Jiajing version.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, foreign invaders took large portions of the encyclopedia, and many volumes were destroyed in wars.

According to Gu Heng, deputy director of the National Library of China’s exhibition department, only about 400 volumes now survive in the world. Through repatriations by foreign institutions and donations by collectors, the National Library of China in Beijing now holds 224 volumes, 62 of which are temporarily in Taiwan. Some other volumes are scattered throughout Britain, Germany, Ireland, the United States, Japan and Vietnam.

Other finely printed ancient books. Photo courtesy of Nanshan Museum.

Some other finely-printed ancient books are also on display at the exhibition.

Dates: Until March 8, 2020

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m., closed Mondays

Venue: Nanshan Museum, Nanshan District (南山区南山博物馆)

Metro: Line 1 to Taoyuan Station (桃园站), Exit B