Siku Quanshu (Complete Library in Four Sections)

Overview

The Siku Quanshu (四库全书), also known as the Complete Library in Four Sections, is the largest collection of books in Chinese history. Compiled during the Qing Dynasty under the reign of Emperor Qianlong (r. 1735-1796), this monumental work represents the apex of Chinese bibliographic tradition and imperial scholarship. The collection contains approximately 3,460 different works, spanning more than 79,000 volumes in over 36,000 volumes. Organized according to the traditional four-part classification system (四部分类法), it encompasses virtually all extant Chinese knowledge up to the 18th century, making it an invaluable resource for understanding traditional Chinese scholarship and culture.

History

Cultural Origins

Traditional Chinese academic development necessitated a comprehensive bibliographic undertaking that could "distinguish and organize scholarship, and examine its historical origins" (辨章学术，考镜源流). With Chinese scholarship evolving through various schools of thought—from Han Dynasty Confucianism (汉代经学) and Wei-Jin Xuanxue (魏晋玄学) to Sui-Tang Buddhism (隋唐佛学), Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism (宋明理学), and finally Qing Han Learning (清代汉学)—there was an urgent need for a systematic evaluation of these intellectual traditions. Traditional bibliography had long organized texts according to specific classification systems, and through cataloging and prefaces, reflected the development of scholarly history. Thus, compiling historical texts and evaluating traditional scholarship became a crucial task for the editors of the Siku Quanshu, leading to the creation of the Siku Quanshu Zongmu (四库全书总目), or General Catalog of the Complete Library in Four Sections.

Contemporary Intellectual Climate

Prior to the compilation of the Siku Quanshu, the Qing publishing industry had flourished, resulting in extensive book collections and comprehensive literary preservation work. Han Learning had become the dominant scholarly approach, requiring scholars to access numerous texts and complete original works for material citation and scholarly lineage verification. Meanwhile, Western knowledge (西学) had been entering China since the late Ming Dynasty, necessitating government evaluation and policy formulation regarding this new intellectual influence. These circumstances demanded a large-scale, comprehensive academic and cultural summary that could only be accomplished through imperial patronage. Emperor Qianlong, possessing both cultural sophistication and imperial ambition, recognized this opportunity to surpass his predecessors' scholarly achievements.

Imperial Initiative

By the mid-Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty had experienced over a century of diligent governance, presenting a "golden age" (盛世) that required cultural documentation. The convergence of scholarly needs, political and economic stability, Qianlong's personal interests, and academic consensus created the conditions for another major compilation project following those of the Kangxi and Yongzheng eras. Emperor Qianlong also intended to use this project to implement his policy of "forbidding through collection" (寓禁于征), whereby books would be collected from throughout the empire while certain politically sensitive texts would be identified and suppressed.

Key Information

Compilation Process

The compilation of the Siku Quanshu began in 1772 when Zhu Yun, the Educational Commissioner of Anhui Province, proposed salvaging texts from the Yongle Encyclopedia (永乐大典). This suggestion was approved by Emperor Qianlong, leading to the broader project of creating the Complete Library in Four Sections.

Book Collection

The initial phase involved book collection, which lasted from 1772 to 1778. To encourage participation, the Qing court established incentive systems: those who submitted 500 or more books received the Gujin Tushu Jicheng (古今图书集成); those who submitted 100 or more books received the Peiwen Yunfu (佩文韵府). Additionally, particularly valuable submissions would receive personal inscriptions from the emperor, and donors' names would be recorded in the catalog entries.

The collection effort was remarkably successful, gathering 12,237 different works. Jiangsu Province contributed 4,808 works, the highest among all provinces, followed by Zhejiang with 4,600 works. Notable private collectors such as Ma Yu,鲍士恭, Fan Maozhu, and Wang Qishu also made significant contributions.

Text Sources

The sources for the Siku Quanshu manuscripts fell into six categories: 1) Imperial palace collections (内府本), 2) Works commissioned during the Qing dynasty (赞撰本), 3) Books collected from provincial governments (各省采进本), 4) Private donations (私人进献本), 5) Commercially available editions (通行本), and 6) Texts salvaged from the Yongle Encyclopedia (永乐大典本). These texts were evaluated by the editorial board and classified as "to be copied" (应抄), "to be engraved" (应刻), or "to be retained in catalog only" (应存).

Manuscript Production

Initially, copyists were recommended by officials, but this system was found to be susceptible to corruption and was replaced with examination methods. Later, unsuccessful candidates from provincial examinations were selected based on the quality of their calligraphy. In total, 3,826 copyists were employed, with each required to produce 1,000 characters daily, amounting to 330,000 characters annually. Those who exceeded the quota were rewarded with official positions.

Quality Control

The final stage involved proofreading, for which the editorial board established a strict system of accountability. The "Regulations for Merit and Demerit" (功过处分条例) specified penalties for errors: if an error was in the original text, it was excused; if introduced during copying, the copyist was penalized; if an original error was identified and corrected, the proofreader was rewarded. Each volume listed the names of all proofreaders to establish clear responsibility.

Storage and Distribution

To house the seven completed copies, Emperor Qianlong commissioned seven pavilions modeled after the famous Tianyi Pavilion (天一阁). The first four copies, known as the "Northern Four Pavilions" (北四阁), were stored in the Forbidden City's Wenyuan Pavilion (文渊阁), the Mukden Palace's Wensu Pavilion (文溯阁), the Yuanmingyuan's Wenyuan Pavilion (文源阁), and the Chengde Mountain Resort's Wenjin Pavilion (文津阁). The remaining three copies, known as the "Southern Three Pavilions" (南三阁), were stored in Yangzhou's Wenzong Pavilion (文宗阁), Zhenjiang's Wenhui Pavilion (文汇阁), and Hangzhou's Wenlan Pavilion (文澜阁). Each copy contained 36,300 volumes in 6,752 cases, with imperial seals marking each volume.

Cultural Significance

The Siku Quanshu represents the most comprehensive collection of traditional Chinese knowledge, encompassing virtually all disciplines including literature, history, philosophy, science, technology, agriculture, and medicine. It has served as both a national treasure and the foundation for modern Chinese scholarship. The classification system itself, based on the four-part division of Classics, History, Masters, and Collections, became the standard organizational method for Chinese libraries and scholarship.

However, the compilation also had a darker side. Emperor Qianlong used the project as a means of censorship and control. According to statistics in the Siku Quanshu Zongmu, approximately 3,100 works (67,000 volumes) were banned and destroyed during this period. Books containing criticism of non-Han Chinese rule, particularly regarding the Khitan, Jurchen, Mongol, and Yuan dynasties, were systematically altered or destroyed. This "forbidding through collection" policy resulted in the largest-scale suppression of literature in Chinese history, with estimates suggesting over 700,000 volumes were destroyed.

As the American historian John King Fairbank noted in his seminal work The United States and China, the Siku Quanshu project represented "a literary inquisition" that aimed to "suppress all works criticizing foreign rule" and constituted "the largest-scale thought control in history."

Modern Status

Over the past two centuries, the original seven copies of the Siku Quanshu have suffered significant losses due to warfare and political turmoil. The Wenyuan Pavilion copy (文源阁) was destroyed when the British and French forces burned the Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace) in 1860. The Wenzong and Wenhui Pavilion copies (文宗阁, 文汇阁) were lost during the Taiping Rebellion. The Wenlan Pavilion copy (文澜阁) in Hangzhou was severely damaged when the building collapsed in 1861 during the Taiping occupation, with approximately three-quarters of the volumes scattered. These were later collected by the Ding brothers and supplemented through later copying efforts.

Today, only three and a half complete copies remain: 1) The Wenyuan Pavilion copy (文渊阁), originally housed in the Forbidden Palace and later moved to Taipei's Palace Museum; 2) The Wensu Pavilion copy (文溯阁), now stored in Gansu Provincial Library; 3) The Wenjin Pavilion copy (文津阁), preserved at the National Library of China in Beijing; and 4) The Wenlan Pavilion copy (文澜阁), held at Zhejiang Provincial Library.

In 1966, during heightened tensions with the Soviet Union, the Wensu Pavilion copy was secretly moved from Shenyang to the Gobi Desert in Lanzhou for safekeeping. Its final ownership remains a subject of dispute between Liaoning and Gansu provinces.

In recent decades, efforts have been made to make the Siku Quanshu more accessible. In 2014, a full-scale facsimile of the Wenjin Pavilion copy was completed and exhibited in Yangzhou. Various publishing houses have produced printed and electronic editions of the work, including the 1986 Taiwan Commercial Press edition and the 2003 Shanghai Classics Publishing edition. Additionally, several supplementary series have been published, including the Siku Quanshu Cunmu Congshu (四库全书存目丛书), Siku Jinshu Congkan (四库禁毁书丛刊), and Xiu Siu Quanshu (续修四库全书).

References

1. Guy, R. Kent. The Emperor's Four Treasuries: Scholars and the State in the Late Ch'ien-lung Era. Harvard University Press, 1987.

2. Tsien, Tsuen-hsuin. Written on Bamboo and Silk: The Beginnings of Chinese Books and Inscriptions. University of Chicago Press, 1962.

3. Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual. Harvard University Asia Center, 2012.

4. Elman, Benjamin A. A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China. University of California Press, 2000.

5. Brokaw, Cynthia J. and Gregory Blue, eds. Printing and Culture in Late Imperial China. University of California Press, 2004.