Every educated Chinese has heard of "Siku Quanshu," or the "Complete Library of Four Branches," and most likely knows that of all the books compiled throughout China's history, this literary and scholarly collection is the biggest in terms of its bulk and number of volumes.

Ji Xiaolan

However, before the Taiwanese Commercial Press photolithographed the "Wen Yuan Ge" edition - one of its three remaining completely preserved manuscript copies, in 1998 - there was hardly any chance for common scholars and researchers to access it.

Of the three untouched copies, the set kept in Wen Jin Ge, or the Wen Jin Pavilion, is the only one still resting on its original shelves. And it is an ambition of the Beijing-based Commercial Press to photolithograph it by the middle of next year.

According to Ren Jiyu, curator of the National Library of China where the "Wen Jin Ge" edition is kept, the copy of the manuscript Beijing will reprint is very much different in content with the work that was published in Taiwan.

"Scholars from both sides of the Straits are still in the process of comparing the two versions," Ren explained. "Up to now, the rate of discrepancy is about 50 per cent."

Launched under the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1736-95) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and organized by the energetic and literary emperor himself in an effort to save the classics, the feat of compiling "Siku Quanshu" took about 15 years to accomplish.

The collection embraces 3,503 kinds of books, taking in almost all of the significant works that had emerged in all dynasties previously.

Following a long observed convention in China, works included in the collection were divided into four categories: classics (jing), history (shi), philosophy (zi) and literary works (ji).

"Siku Quanshu," or the "Complete Library of Four Branches," is one of the biggest volumes in terms of its sheer number ever compiled in China.

By covering a wide range of knowledge and sorting out the works from various schools of thought throughout history, the collection is actually a giant data bank for the study of traditional Chinese culture.

After the monumental project was finished, Emperor Qianlong decreed to have it transcribed into seven copies and had seven depositories built for them. Those were the seven "pavilions" - four situated inside imperial palaces in North China to serve exclusively for the emperor and three in the culturally prosperous Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces in East China, for the eager-hearted and grateful intellectuals there.

Three of the seven pavilions were burnt to the ground during wars, including one by the British army during the First Opium War (1840 - 42) in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, and another by the allied forces of eight Western powers in Beijing's Yuanmingyuan in 1900.

Of the four remaining copies, the one in Wen Lan Ge was also seriously damaged.

According to historical archives, the "Wen Jin Ge" edition, which the Commercial Press will publish, was corrected by Emperor Qianlong personally, and Ji Yun, the prominent savant who presided over the project, was also involved in the proofreading.

As a result, the edition is believed by scholars to be the best of all the texts.

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