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Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province is extremely rich in ancient literature resources. To preserve these ancient publications, the local government has recently released a list of ancient books for protection. All of them have great historic and cultural value.
A total of 409 ancient books of great historic and cultural value have been included in the list. They include classic Chinese texts, historical documents, literary works by renowned writers, and Buddhist sutras.
These books were composed or printed in different times. Some even have a history of more than a thousand years.
Expert said, "These 409 ancient books were selected from the oldest books existing in Shaanxi Province. Although they are all very old, some have been preserved intact. They are undoubtedly very important."
"The Great Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom" is also in the list. The Buddhist script was written by hand in the Tang Dynasty. This precious sutra was translated from Sanskrit by Xuan Zang, a Buddhist pilgrim who endured a 17-year trip from China to India 1350 years ago.
Qiao Weixin, Expert, Xi’An Museum, said, "Xuan Zang brought a lot of Sankrit scriptures from India, which were kept in the Wild Goose Pogoda in Xi’an. Later, he translated them into Chinese. And the Chinese versions became very popular at that time."
Experts also made some interesting discoveries while they were doing clean-up work. They found a petal-shaped object among a poem collection of renowned poet Li Bai.
Expert said, "We believe that it’s a bookmark. We also found some dry leaves. Just as we use beautifully designed bookmarks today, people in ancient China had their own bookmarks, too."
The Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture will later establish a digital base for these ancient books.
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Editor:Yang Jie |Source: CCTV.com
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