Since April 18, four of the National Library of China (NLC)'s most treasured collections of books have been on display together for the first time: Manuscripts from Dunhuang (Dunhuang Yishu), Zhaocheng Tripitaka of the Jin Dynasty (Zhaocheng Jinzang), Complete Works of Chinese Classics (Siku Quanshu) and the Yongle Encyclopedia (Yongle Dadian).

This is the largest exhibition of its collection of "rare books of good edition" since 1949 and will run until the middle of June. "Rare books of good edition" are materials that have great cultural significance, as well as being both artistic and informative.

The government defines this category as comprising books from before 1795 (the 60th year of the Qing Emperor Qian Long's reign), but the NLC only includes those from before the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD).

Items on display include ancient books that the government bought for huge sums of money from the famous book collector Chen Qinghua in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as Chen's collection of overseas rare Chinese books that was transferred to the NLC in 2004.

Some 40 of the rare books donated or sold by famous individual collector Fu Zengxiang and libraries such as Haiyuan Library (Haiyuan Ge) and the Iron Qin Bronze Sword Tower (Tieqin Tongjian Lou) are also on show.

Other collections being displayed are: Book of Master Xun (Xun Zi), Shen Ce Jun Bei (inscription on a tablet by a famous Tang Dynasty calligrapher Liu Gongquan), Stone Inscriptions of Confucian Classics During the Five Dynasties and the Later Shu (Shu Shi Jing; Five Dynasties: 934-965, Later Shu: 907-960), Chinese Tripitaka (Zhonghua Dazangjing), Hongfan Comprehensive Mirror for Government Administration (Hongfan Zhengjian, compiled in 1186 during the Southern Song Dynasty), Avatamsaka Sutra (Hua Yan Jing, or Flower Garland Sutra), and the History as a Mirror (Zhizhi Tonjian).

As one of the four most important collections of the NLC, the story of Zhaocheng Jinzang's survival is fascinating. The book was compiled during the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) by a woman who was deeply engaged in Buddhism in what is now Shanxi Province. She spent 30 years copying and inscribing Buddhist literature, producing 6,980 volumes.

The collection was later found in 1933 in Guangsheng Temple in the then county of Zhaocheng, Shanxi, and became known to the world as Zhaocheng Jinzang (Zhaocheng Buddhism Encyclopedia). It was then much sought after by the warlords Yan Xishan, KMT leader Chiang Kai Shek, and the Japanese.

In 1942, the Japanese army surrounded Guangsheng Temple and threatened to take the collection by force, but the abbot Li Kong rushed to the local communist anti-Japanese government miles away for help and over 5,000 volumes of the collection were rescued.

In January 1949, Zhaocheng Jinzhang was transferred to the then Peking Library by official decree, and remained there till now.

(China.org.cn by Wind Gu, May 6, 2005)