In the Ming Dynasty, there was a national treasure. Perhaps it is not as famous as the jade seal, but its historical and cultural value is definitely above the jade seal. Regrettably, due to various reasons, the national treasure has disappeared and its whereabouts are still unknown. If it can reappear in the world one day, it will be the blessing of the whole Chinese nation. National treasure is the Yongle ceremony.
Yongle Dadian is the most famous large-scale ancient book in China and the largest encyclopedia in the world so far. A.D. 1403, that is, the second year when Judy, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, proclaimed himself emperor, ordered people to compile this extraordinary work in order to sort out and preserve the history and culture of past dynasties. At first, the book was called Documentary Masterpiece, with a total of 22,937 volumes and about 370 million words.
Yao and Yao, who are in charge of compiling this epic, are both Ming's favorite ministers and knowledgeable people. Jie Jin, one of the three great talents in Ming Dynasty, was born in a scholarly family. At the age of seven, he was able to write poems with old idioms. 10 years old, recite thousands of words in a few days, and never forget it for life; 12 years old, read four books and five classics as far as I can. He is a rare child prodigy in the world.
Yao Xiaoguang, a famous Taoist saying, is the main contributor to Judy's accession to the throne. His ministers are proficient in Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and military science and are known as "prime ministers in black". Originally a late bloomer, he was solely responsible for compiling Gift, but Ming felt that this book was too orthodox to objectively include other advanced ideas and cultures, so he invited Yao, a confidant, to join. After six years, more than 20,000 ministers and scholars participated in it, and finally the compilation work was completed in 1408.
According to historical records, Yongle Dadian preserved all kinds of precious materials about China's history, geography, literature, art, philosophy and religion before14th century, and its scale and value far exceeded all ancient books and masterpieces of all ages, and it is definitely a treasure of world cultural heritage. The encyclopaedia Britannica, which we are familiar with, is more than 300 years later than Yongle Dadian, and other contemporary books in the west have fallen down dozens of streets.
There are seven or eight thousand kinds of ancient and modern books in Yongle Dadian, but there are only three thousand kinds of Sikuquanshu compiled by Ji Xiaolan, a great genius in Qing Dynasty, which is less than half of Yongle Dadian. Someone once commented: "Yongle Grand Ceremony, as a world-famous encyclopedia, shows the brilliant achievements of ancient Chinese culture and is a grand ceremony."
In order to prevent the Yongle Dadian from being lost, in addition to the original, Emperor Jiajing ordered a copy, the so-called imitation. At first, the originals and copies were hidden in Daming Palace and were strictly protected. However, more than 600 years later, there are less than 800 volumes left in this epic ceremony, which is not even a fraction compared with the original 22,937 volumes. Many people have questions. For what reason and when was it destroyed?
A copy of Yongle Dadian was kept in imperial academy during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty. However, during the Qianlong period, when I was preparing to compile Siku Quanshu, I found that more than 2,400 volumes were missing. In the first year of Guangxu, Yongle Dadian has been lost for more than half, and there are less than 5,000 copies. Twenty years later, when the inventory was taken again, there were only over 800 copies left. You can leave it in imperial academy in the Qing Dynasty. What does this mean?
As for the original "Yongle Dadian", there has been almost no record since the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and the ending has become confusing. Pessimists believe that the original has long been destroyed by war and will never be seen again; Optimists believe that it should be brought into the tomb by the Ming emperor Judy, and when the tomb is excavated, it will reappear in front of the world.
At present, the only remaining hundreds of copies of Yongle Dadian are not all in China, but are collected in eight countries and regions such as Japan, Britain and the United States.