The precious revised edition of Sui Dynasty Record with a history of over 900 years

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- A pocket book from 900 years ago holds the records of 80 Chinese zither music scores and the test paper of final imperial examination in the Qing Dynasty. Would you like to have a look at these precious articles? The Chongqing Library is holding the 70th anniversary exhibition of special collections and conservation efforts, by which more than one hundred precious ancient books will be displayed.

The Sichuan candidate Li Diaoyuan's examination papers in Qing Dynasty are as follows, by which we can see the graceful handwriting as if it had been printed by a machine.

"Treasure of the library" unveiled; one page is worth a golden leaf!

In this exhibition, the treasure of Chongqing library will debut. It's the Southern Dynasty block-printed edition of Sui Dynasty Record with a history of more than 900 years.

When the candidates in ancient times took the imperial examination in Beijing, the long distance made it inconvenient to carry the heavy books. There appeared this kind of scaled-down edition to make it easier for students to carry and read any time. According to Wang Zhikun, the director of the Ancient Books Protection Committee Of Experts, this kind of small format books are called Jinxiangben. Jinxiang means the small box to store kerchief and sundries. It is like the pocket book nowadays.

What is the value of this ancient book? It is reported that the ancient books were donated by Mr. Li Wenheng, the late famous book collector of Chongqing. Mr. Li acquired the treasure from Shanghai cultural relic traders. They calculated the price by page at that time. Because there are 395 pages in the 14 volumes, Mr. Li spent 395 pieces of gold leaf to buy them.

The graceful handwriting looks as if printed by machine; ancient test papers are astonishing

In addition to the pocket book in ancient times, the examination papers by Sichuan candidate Li Diaoyuan in the Qing Dynasty also left visitors amazed.

Although spanning over 200 years, the examination paper also present graceful handwriting to audiences. As if been printed by machine, the neatly written words are cheerful and pleasing to the eye.

The Chongqing Library was completed in 1947 and has gone through four periods: the National Roosevelt Library, the Southwest Library, the Chongqing Municipality Library and the Chongqing Library. At present, there are more than 3,700 categories of rare books, more than 55,000 books in total, including 424 kinds of rare ancient books. (Translated by Shi Yali, Fathom Language Limited)