Collective history

New four-volume book tracing the evolution of China's libraries through the centuries proves to be monumental undertaking. Wang Kaihao reports.

After seven years' preparation, the first comprehensive history of the nation's libraries was published by the National Library of China earlier this month.

The 2-million-character-long A History of Chinese Libraries travels back more than 3,000 years to discover the origins of Chinese book collections and follows the development of libraries throughout the centuries right up until 2009.