It's a pity that this ancient rare book, which embodies the painstaking efforts of countless people, can't be found now. What is left is a copy of it, which is kept in the National Library. And even this manuscript is less than 3% of the whole book, which is really heartbreaking. Let's get to know past lives of this book.
Judy, the third emperor of Ming Dynasty who initiated the compilation of Yongle Dadian, decided to compile a rare book to record all the glorious moments of China for hundreds of years in order to show his benevolence and righteousness to the whole world.
Of course, it was impossible for him to accomplish such a difficult task himself, so the task of compiling books fell on two people, one was a famous bachelor of imperial academy at that time, and the other was a monk named Yao.
From the third year of Yongle, that is, 1405, to the seventh year of Yongle, that is, 1409, I compiled a book and spent four spring and autumn periods. Can you imagine? This book has a total of 370 million words. Even typing on a computer today is not an easy task, but it was written word by word by the editor at that time.
What happened next? During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the Yongle Grand Ceremony in Beijing Imperial Palace was almost burned down. In order to ensure the safety of this book, Emperor Jiajing decided to order another one, no matter how big the project was, to ensure the absolute safety of this book.
In this way, there should be two versions of Yongle Dadian, namely the original and the copy. Why are so few copies so far? Where did the original go? Besides, the copy was originally kept in the Forbidden City in Beijing. At the end of Qing Dynasty, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded the Forbidden City, burned and looted, and took away the copy of this book.
Foreigners don't know the true value of this book. You grab a few rolls, he grabs a few rolls, and finally less than 3% is left in the palace. Why can we find the lonely Yongle Dadian in museums or private collectors around the world today? Those soldiers took it away. It was not until modern times that some foreign researchers gradually discovered the value of this book, so they tried their best to collect the remnants.
So now the question is, the copy was robbed. Where is the original? There are three possibilities. First, in the second year of Jiaqing, there was a fire in the palace, which may be destroyed by fire. Second, Li Zicheng left Beijing and was destroyed by war. Third, buried in the tomb of Emperor Jiajing. This third statement is the most popular now.
Since the Ming Taizu Mausoleum has never been stolen since ancient times, the Yongle Grand Ceremony in the Mausoleum can only be a guess. We look forward to one day in the future, opening the mausoleum of Emperor Chengzu of Ming Dynasty, especially the yongling mausoleum of Emperor Jiajing, and finding this wonderful book. Once discovered, it will shock the world, and countless cultural scholars will flock to China for research. But now is not the best time to open the underground palace. Perhaps a gust of wind blows, and the book that has been preserved for hundreds of years instantly turns into powder and floats in the air. The person who ordered the door of the underground palace to be opened will be a sinner through the ages.