Free admission to exhibition of 300 state-level ancient books

On June 13, “The Special Exhibition of Rare State-level Ancient Books” was launched in the National Library’s new building and was open to visitors on June 14 free of charge.

It is the largest exhibition of ancient books in history; many ancient  books are exhibited for the first time.

At the exhibition, 300 rare ancient books from 97 ancient book-collecting institutions are on display, the highest number of exhibits since the founding of New China. This is the largest show of ancient books in history, according to an official from the National Library (The National Ancient Books Protection Center).

The books on display were selected from 4,478 ancient books in the second “List of Rare State-level Ancient Books”. For the purpose of conservation, the books are kept away from the public by the collecting institutions. Ancient books at the exhibition include 20 scripts from Dunhuang and Turfan, 50 block-printed documents from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, 80 manuscripts written by famous calligraphists and ancient books in 12 ethnic languages.

Of these, the 1,600 year-old Dunhuang scripts dating back to 399 AD are the oldest among the exhibits. A first edition copy of “The Dream of Red Mansions”, from Hu Shih’s collection is also on display.

The exhibition will be open till July 3.

The exhibits

Su Shi’s controversial remedies

The “Collection of Shengsanzi Remedies” of Su Shi, block-printed during the Jiajing Reign of the Ming Dynasty, recorded the then wide-spread “lethal remedies.” Having been stripped of his official title, Su Shi moved to Huangzhou where an epidemic prevailed. Su Shi received the “Collection of Shengsanzi Remedies” from a person of rare ability and prepared the medicine in a wok outside his house. Many patients were treated, their diseases cured and lives saved. Sometime later, Su Shi publicized these remedies but they were used indiscriminately by people and led to deaths. Therefore the remedies have become a controversial issue in the history of the Chinese traditional medicine.

Translated by LOTO