The copy was circulated to the Qing Dynasty and was not taken seriously. It was not until the Yongzheng period that the "Dadian" was moved to the Hanlin Academy by Huang Shicheng, so that some bachelors and editors had the opportunity to borrow it. In the early years of Qianlong's reign, Quan Zuwang, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, passed the imperial examination and was assigned to study in the Shuchang Hall. He once had the opportunity to see this book and praised it highly. He also copied several unique domestic copies such as "Song and Yuan Illustrated Classics" and wrote A "Copying of Yongle Dadian" records the incident in detail. In the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong's reign (1773), the Qing government compiled the "Sikuquanshu". At this time, more than two thousand volumes of "Dadian" were missing, but more than 500 kinds of lost books were still compiled from it. The great value is evident. After Daoguang, the Qing Dynasty gradually declined, officials took advantage of the opportunity to steal, and the "Dadian" was gradually lost and damaged. But the biggest misfortune of "Yongle Dadian" still comes later. In the 10th year of Xianfeng (1860) and the Eight-Power Allied Forces in the 26th year of Guangxu (1900), the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing twice. The invaders burned and looted, and many precious cultural relics were lost. The "Yongle Dadian" was also catastrophically destroyed, and some parts of it were destroyed. It was burned down, some were robbed, and there was very little left, which is heartbreaking to say. The remaining approximately 400 zero copies are collected by 30 institutions in 8 countries and regions. Even so, the strange book "Yongle Dadian" is still favored by scholars today for its huge data and cultural relic value.
Looking for the lost Dadian
“The Dadian is like reading the Yongle biography, and it took a lot of effort to collect it. At the same time, the interpretation of Taoism is not comprehensive, and I have read the vicissitudes of life for a long time and cherished it.” This seven-seventh poem The quatrains were written by Emperor Qianlong. The poem praises Emperor Yongle's good intentions in compiling the Yongle Dadian, criticizes the collection of Buddhist and Taoist classics in the Yongle Dadian, and laments that the Dadian, which has gone through many vicissitudes of life, is no longer complete. In just four sentences, Emperor Qianlong's understanding of "Yongle Dadian" was revealed. The Qianlong Dynasty's excavation and utilization of "Yongle Dadian" can also be seen from these four sentences.
After the wars in the Ming Dynasty, copies of "Yongle Dadian" have been lost. Xu Qianxue, who discovered the grand ceremony in Huangshichen, said that the grand ceremony "was also lost when the tripod was reformed." However, when the Sikuquan Library was opened in the 37th year of Qianlong's reign (1772), the lack of "Yongle Dadian" was still taken seriously by Emperor Qianlong. At that time, in order to compile lost classics from the canon, an inventory was conducted and it was found that 2,422 volumes were missing from the canon. Emperor Qianlong sighed deeply and ordered a search for the lost "Dadian" throughout the country, especially "pay careful attention to physical visits" in the Shujiafang forest. Some people speculate that Xu Qianxue, Gao Shiqi, Wang Hongxu and others who first discovered the Dadian often used this book and may have brought some of it back to their hometown in Zhejiang. Emperor Qianlong issued a secret order to Gao Jin, the governor of Liangjiang, and Sanbao, the governor of Zhejiang, asking them to go to the homes of Xu and Gao and declare that the ceremony was an official property. Even if they took it home, they had no intention of collecting it. As long as they handed it over, they would not be held accountable. However, the descendants of Xu and Gao insisted that they had never seen the ceremony, and in the end they had to return without success. At this time something interesting happened. There was a time when Huang Shouling, the compiler of Sikuquan Library, took six volumes of the Canon home to read privately, but they were stolen. After the incident, Emperor Qianlong was very angry when he heard the news and strictly ordered the arrest and recovery ceremony. In the end, the thief was so frightened that he secretly placed the ceremony by the Yuhe Bridge at night, but was eventually recovered. Huang Shouling was also punished with a salary of 3 years.
Theft by officials of the Qing Dynasty
In the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong's reign (1773), Sikuquan Library established an "Office for Collating and Collating Parts of "Yongle Dadian"", and compiled and edited "Yongle Dadian" Among the ancient books in "Yongle Dadian", there are 385 kinds of books in four parts: Jing, Shi, Zi and Ji, and 4,946 volumes. Although the achievements achieved are great, there are also many ancient books that have not been compiled. Afterwards, the officials thought that "the essence has been exhausted and the dregs can be donated" and ended the project hastily. After Daoguang, "Yongle Dadian" was abandoned in the Hanlin Academy and no one cared about it. Some officials took the opportunity to commit widespread theft. According to the records of Miao Quansun in the late Qing Dynasty, when officials of the Hanlin Academy entered the Hanlin Academy in the morning, they carried a cotton robe with them and carried it on their shoulders like a baggage; when they left the Hanlin Academy in the afternoon, they put on the cotton robe and wrapped it in a bag. When the book "Yongle Dadian" came out, the guards were unaware of it. Scholars like Wen Tingshi also used this method to steal "Yongle Dadian", with the number reaching more than 100 volumes. After "Yongle Dadian" left the palace, some were purchased by foreigners at high prices, which further intensified its dispersion. When the Imperial Academy's Yamen was rebuilt in the first year of Guangxu, an inventory of "Yongle Dadian" was found, and only more than 5,000 volumes were left. An inventory was taken 20 years later, and only 800 volumes remained. A big book that was almost stolen.
The plunder of foreign invaders
In June 1900, the final disaster for the copy of "Yongle Dian" came - when the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked Beijing and clashed with the Boxers who besieged the British Embassy. The British embassy was adjacent to the Hanlin Academy and became a battlefield during the conflict. According to the Englishman Weir's "The Siege of the Gengzi Embassy", someone threw a torch into the Hanlin Academy during the conflict. The Hanlin Academy suddenly caught fire, and the endless collection of books lined up in rows suffered unprecedented catastrophe. The Jingyi Pavilion where the "Yongle Dadian" was stored was also burned down. "In the dragon-style pool and the well, there are letters written in a mess and abandoned by people. There are books with gorgeous silk surfaces, all hand-bound; there are also words written by good calligraphers, but they have been moved around at will." "Yongle Dadian" Most of them were burned in this catastrophe, and some of the remaining ones were fortified and some were used as mangers. Liu Keyi from the Translation Institute picked up dozens of volumes of "Yongle Dadian" from under the foreign manger. All copies of "Yongle Dadian" were destroyed.
The British benefited most from the burning of the Yongle Dadian.
An official in the embassy named Zhai Lis picked up some "Yongle Dadian" from the ruins of the Hanlin Academy, and volume 13345 of it was given to his father as a trophy. Will recorded that the Chinese literature researchers in the British Embassy saw such a precious book that they would never see in ordinary times, and they all wanted to pick it up, "find a way in the firelight, and run with it." Since then, "Yongle Dadian" has spread to the people and abroad, and has become an object that various book collection institutions are competing to collect.
Among the foreign countries that collect "Yongle Dadian", Japan has the largest collection. Japan's Oriental Bunko is known as one of the world's five largest Asian studies centers, and many of its collections originate from China. Dongyang Bunko was founded by receiving the book collection of Morrison, an Englishman. In Morrison Bunko, there are five volumes of "Yongle Dadian" that he obtained during the Gengzi Incident. Dongyang Bunko also entrusted bookstores in Beijing and other places to purchase "Yongle Dadian" on its behalf. In 1943, Matsuoka Yoyou of the Dalian Mantetsu Library, together with Dongyang Bunko, purchased 49 volumes of "Yongle Dadian" from the Liu Chengqian Jiaye Hall in Huzhou. These "Yongle Dadian" were kept in the Mantetsu Library until 1945 in Dalian. After being occupied by the Soviet Red Army, it was shipped to the Soviet Union as booty.
In addition, libraries in the United States, Germany, Vietnam, South Korea and other countries also have a small collection of "Yongle Dadian". Zero copies of "Yongle Dadian" are still being discovered abroad, especially in the United Kingdom. These copies have traveled across the oceans and appeared in foreign countries. Although they have gone through ups and downs, they have been fortunately preserved.