(Source: CGTN)

Gone are the days when you had to make a trip to the local library to borrow and then return a book. A joint effort made by five libraries in China have uploaded a large bunch of ancient books onto the internet. Now by clicking a mouse, you can read as much as 24,000 time-honored books of various categories.  

The National Library of China, Shanghai Library, Tianjin Library, Zhejiang Library and Yunnan Library unveiled their latest batch of ancient books available on their websites.

Thursday's unveiling marks the second time that the libraries have done this. Their move offers readers greater access to treasured historical books - and further immortalizes these written relics by exposing them to a greater audience.

"The latest addition is more than 10 thousand ancient books. There are now altogether up to 24 thousand available on line, if you count last September's release. This total volume adds up to more than six times of what is in ‘Four Branches of Literature’," said Zhang Zhiqing, deputy curator of National Library of China.

Among the online books, about 17 thousand are from the National Digital Library of China, which accounts for 60 percent of the ancient books housed in the National Library.

Shanghai Library has provided on its website over 6,000 genealogy books.

Tianjin Library put roughly 1,000 block-printed books online that date back to the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Zhejiang Library selected 25 valuable books from its ancient collection for release on its website.

And finally Yunnan Library has uploaded 157 pieces of historical literature into its digital database.