Historically, there have been different comments on Ganlong's Sikuquanshu. Some people think that the revision of this book is helpful to the preservation and dissemination of China's traditional culture. It has also been pointed out that Qianlong imprisoned his thoughts in the name of writing books. This question helps us to look at the influence of Gan Long and SikuQuanshu on China culture from different angles, and let us try to look at the problem from the standpoint of different characters. But at least the real impact on China should be treated fairly. It's a fact that "a million horses have lost their lives", a literary inquisition is a fact, and ignorance in captivity is also a fact.
Sikuquanshu has preserved many ancient books that are close to being lost in China, and corrected the mistakes and omissions in them. But during the revision of books, some books were destroyed and banned at the same time. Ganlong devoted himself to compiling Sikuquanshu, but Daxing Wenzi Prison harmed scholars and caused incalculable losses to the later development of science, technology and culture in China.
Negative evaluation
In fact, Sikuquanshu can't be regarded as the collation of ancient books in a strict sense. It can even be said that this is a superficial arrangement of ancient books, in fact, the purpose is to tamper with ancient books, delete disadvantages and save benefits. Therefore, this is not a cultural arrangement, but a whitewashed burning of books to bury Confucianism, and it is even worse than that. A large number of precious historical materials have been tampered with or destroyed, which has to be called a cultural catastrophe in the history of China.
Its collection is actually worthless objectively, and the so-called' finishing work' is just collecting the dregs after tampering.
Lu Xun, a scholar, said when criticizing the literati in Ming and Qing Dynasties: "If nothing else is said now, it is enough to be thrilling to look at the works of China people in Yongzheng Qianlong and Qianlong Dynasties. Not to mention thorough destruction, smoking and gouging out, the most insidious thing is to delete the contents of ancient books. The compilation of Sikuquanshu in Qianlong period was praised by many people as a prosperous time, but they not only messed up the format of ancient books, but also revised the articles of the ancients. It is not only hidden in the palace, but also endowed with a strong style of writing, so that scholars all over the world can read it, and they will never feel that there are some people with great backbone among China's authors ... Some textual research scholars in the Qing Dynasty once said, "Ming people are fond of engraving ancient books, but ancient books are dead" because they made mistakes. I thought that after this, the Qing people compiled the Sikuquanshu, and the ancient books died out because they messed up the old style and deleted the original text; Today's people (Republic of China) died of ordering ancient books, and they died of disorderly ordering, and the Buddha's head was covered with dung: this is the three evils of ancient books except fire, water and soldiers. " -(Talking after Lu Xun's illness)
"Qing people compiled Sikuquanshu, and ancient books died!" -Wu Han
Positive Evaluation of Sikuquanshu
Although the compilation of Sikuquanshu has some mistakes, such as abridging and digging up the contents, it has also played a certain role in some aspects. Secondly, the methods of ancient books arrangement, especially in compiling, collating, bibliography, compiling and engraving series, have left many beneficial inspirations for future generations: in compiling, there are 385 kinds of lost books compiled by officials of Siku Library from Yongle Dadian and included in Siku Quanshu for future generations to collect. In collating, it sets a good example for later generations. In the aspect of bibliography, the compiling method of Sikuquanshu Catalogue has had a far-reaching influence on later generations. In the aspect of compiling and engraving series, taking Sikuquanshu as an example, the Qing Dynasty set off an upsurge of compiling and engraving series. In recent years, the catalogue series of Sikuquanshu and the sequel of Sikuquanshu have also been published.
Ji Xianlin, a master of Chinese studies, carried forward the past and opened up the future.
Zhang Dainian, a famous scholar, is the national treasure of China.
Sikuquanshu is an unprecedented masterpiece in the cultural history of China, and is praised as the pyramid of oriental culture by academic circles. —— Researcher Luo Jiaxiang
Sikuquanshu contains almost all the major classics in the history of China before Qing Qianlong. —— Liberation Army Daily