(15 Jun 2020) “As Zhejiang University in Hangzhou planned for evacuation, Chen Xunci, Head Librarian of Zhejiang Library, asked the university to take the valuable collection from the Wenlan Ge with them. The school chancellor agreed, even though it added another 230 boxes to their cargo.
Chen promised to get funding for the library’s transportation, but couldn’t persuade the education ministry to give him any, even as a loan. He borrowed from family and friends, and before the war ended, had sold his own property to ensure the Siku Quanshu’s safety.
Thus began the library’s journey.”
Read the story on how Siku Quanshu (四庫全書), then the largest encyclopedia in the world when completed in 1407, was secured during world war two from TIME here.
