Rare treasures of an ancient past

The National Library of China (NLC) has an enviable collection of some 270,000 rare records and 1,640,000 ancient records.

Among these, the oracle bones, the Zhaocheng Tripitaka (Zhaocheng Jinzang), the Yongle Encyclopedia (Yongle Dadian), the Complete Library of the Four Branches of Literature (Siku Quanshu) and the Dunhuang Materials, are probably the most valuable.

The oracle bone inscriptions were first discovered in Anyang, Henan province, at the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). They cover politics, the military, agriculture, astronomy, hunting and construction, offering precious insight into the slavery system in China in the late Shang Dynasty (c.16th-11th century BC).