The full name of Sikuquanshu is Qin Ding Sikuquanshu, which is a large-scale series compiled during the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. Under the auspices of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, it was compiled by more than 360 senior officials and scholars, including Ji Yun, and copied by more than 3,800 people. It took 13 years to compile. It is divided into four parts: Jing, Shi, Zi and Ji, hence the name "Four Ku". According to Wen Jin Ge Ji, * * contains 3,462 kinds of books, accounting for 79,338 volumes (3.5 times that of Yongle Dadian? ), more than 36 thousand volumes, about 800 million words? .
The first draft was completed in the 47th year of Qianlong (1782) and the 57th year of Qianlong (1792). ? [3]? Emperor Qianlong ordered seven copies of Sikuquanshu to be hidden all over the country. The first four volumes are kept in Wen Yuan Pavilion of the Forbidden City, Wenshui Pavilion of Shenyang, Liaoning, Wen Yuan Pavilion of Yuanmingyuan and Jinwen Pavilion of Chengde, Hebei, which is the so-called "North Fourth Pavilion". These three copied parts are kept in Wen Hui Pavilion in Yangzhou, Wenzong Pavilion in Zhenjiang and Wen Lan Pavilion in Hangzhou, which is the so-called "South Three Pavilions".
In the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong (1772) in November, Zhu Jun, a scholar from Anhui province, put forward the problem of compiling Yongle Grand Ceremony, which was recognized by Emperor Qianlong. Later, he ordered the compilation of lost books with books collected by provinces and engraved by officials of Wuyingtang, which was called Sikuquanshu. In this way, the compilation of Yongle Dadian led to the huge project of compiling Sikuquanshu, which became the direct reason for compiling Sikuquanshu.
In order to collect Sikuquanshu, Emperor Qianlong modeled the famous library "Tianyi Pavilion" and built seven pavilions in the north and south respectively. Forty-six years after Qianlong (178 1), the first Sikuquanshu was finally copied and bound. Then it took nearly three years to copy the second, third and fourth books and store them in Wen Yuan Pavilion, Wenshui Pavilion, Wen Yuan Pavilion and Jinwen Pavilion. This is the so-called "North Four Pavilion". ? [ 1]? From July of the forty-seventh year of Qianlong (1782) to the fifty-second year of Qianlong (1787), three more copies were copied and stored in the collections of Wenzong Pavilion, Wenhui Pavilion and Wen Lan Pavilion in the south of the Yangtze River. This is the so-called "Nansange". Each Sikuquanshu has 36,300 volumes and 6,752 letters. All the books in the seven museums have seals, such as the seal of Chu Zhu in the collection and the seal of Juan Zhu at the end.
In order to preserve these classic documents, the emperor "supervised by imperial envoys", collected more than 3,800 scholars from all over the country, concentrated in Beijing for ten years, and copied seven books in neat block letters, totaling eight volumes. It is rare for the world to see the hidden pavilion. Although it has been copied by thousands of people, the font style is dignified and standardized, and the pen is meticulous, like one person. Therefore, it has very rare research, collection and appreciation value, both in content and form. After several wars, more than half of them were destroyed, making this masterpiece in the history of world publishing a rare and priceless treasure in the world.
Sikuquanshu contains a large number of books in China, which are systematically sorted, copied and preserved. It is a great chip of China's traditional culture and has a far-reaching impact on later civilizations. But it is also the product of Qianlong's ambition. Its appearance directly caused the decline of folk culture at that time, persecuted many intellectuals and imprisoned people's thoughts. The unauthorized revision of the imperial court made the authenticity of countless classics very poor, and the ban on the destruction of bibliographies made China lose a large number of precious cultural classics. All this can be said to be a catastrophe in the cultural history of China.