A handmade facsimile edition of the Manchu Tripitaka, which includes examples of the highest quality plate painting and mounting from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), will be published at the end of this August, sources from the Palace Museum in charge of the project, said in Beijing Wednesday.

Twenty sets of the Manchu Tripitaka facsimile edition will be published for the first printing.

The Manchu Tripitaka, completed in 55th year (1790) of Emperor Qianlong's reign, is an irreplaceable cultural treasure after the Complete Library in Four Divisions (Si Ku Quan Shu) of the Qing Dynasty. It was translated from the original texts of the Tripitaka into Chinese and into Tibetan in the Kangyur Sutra, and is a comprehensive summary of Buddhist classics of the time.

The Tripitaka is contained in 108 cases and includes 699 different Buddhist classics numbering 2,466 volumes in all. During the Qing Dynasty 12 sets were printed, only one of which now exists. Part of the set is in the Palace Museum in Beijing and part in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

The Palace Museum, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, reorganized the ancient sutra plates which have not been sorted for more than 200 years, and added supplements to the missing ones.

The reprinted editions are entirely handmade, involving the copying of the original carving, printing and mounting styles. Experts believe that the new sets will be of great historical significance and will help maintain the Manchu language and carry forward the Buddhist culture.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2001)