1772, in the thirty-seventh year of Qing Qianlong, Emperor Qianlong opened the Sikuquanshu by imperial edict, and appointed more than 60 famous scholars such as Ji Yun and others to start compiling Sikuquanshu. From 1772 in the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong to 1778 in the forty-third year of Qianlong, it lasted seven years, with * * * books 12237 kinds; Then the official of Siku Library revised the collections in Neifu and all over the country, and put forward specific suggestions on copying and preservation. Among them, the books that should be copied and engraved are considered as qualified works and included in the Sikuquanshu, while the books that should be preserved cannot be included in the Sikuquanshu, but can only be kept in the Sikuquanshu Catalogue. Sikuquanshu is divided into four subsets: classics and history, with 3,457 kinds of books, of which 79,070 volumes are bound into more than 36,000 volumes and 6,752 seals. Sikuquanshu is the most popular series in the history of China, and its compilation and reproduction lasted more than 65,438+00 years. A total of seven books were copied. The first book was kept in the Hanlin Academy, the first book was kept in Wenyuan Pavilion, and the remaining six books were kept in Shenyang Wenshui Pavilion, Yuanmingyuan Wenyuan Pavilion and Rehe Jinwen Pavilion, which are the North Fourth Pavilion. Zhenjiang Jinshan Wenzong Pavilion, Yangzhou Daguantang Wen Hui Pavilion and Hangzhou West Lake Wen Lan Pavilion are South Umbrella Pavilions.

Emperor Qianlong was 63 years old when he opened the library by imperial edict, and he was not sure whether this huge project could be completed in his lifetime. In his own words, "I have been in the palace for more than 30 years, and I am looking forward to being 30 years old. It's a little late to do things. " So Emperor Qianlong had the idea of compiling a set of books with fewer volumes according to the style of the whole book. On the first day of May of the same year, Emperor Qianlong issued a letter, saying that the book was voluminous and difficult to retrieve, and ordered it to "take its essence and write a summary, which is like a whole book." Subsequently, the book revision office was established. In the forty-third year of Qianlong, the first edition of Summary of Imperial Four Treasures of the Study was written and kept in the Daizao Hall of Hou Yuyuan in Kunning Palace. Two years later, I wrote a second book and stored it in Taste Bookstore in Changchun Garden.

In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), the British and French allied forces captured Beijing, burned the Yuanmingyuan, and the collection of Wei's bookstore was burned. The Summary of the Four Ku Encyclopedias, which is hidden in Daizao Temple, has become an orphan in the world. After the Gengzi Incident, Eight-Nation Alliance went to Beijing, and the capital was plundered again. There has been no news about the preservation or abolition of Siku Quanshu.

During the period of 1924, the Beiyang government organized a Committee to clean rooms and deal with the aftermath, which was responsible for receiving and counting cultural relics books of the Qing Dynasty. During the inventory process, the Collection of Four Ku Encyclopedias and other calligraphy and painting sundries were found in the Forbidden City. Fortunately, this book is not only intact, but also as good as new. It is a great blessing in the cultural history of China that this unique book in the world has been preserved in the era of frequent wars. After the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Kuomintang government transported the royal collection of Four Kus of Shu Hui Yao to the southwest along with the cultural relics of the Forbidden City, and on the eve of national liberation, it also transported the collection to Taiwan Province Province. 1985, Taiwan Province World Bookstore photocopied this book, and published 16 volumes of hardcover, with 500 volumes * * Because the purpose of the imperial collection of Si Quan Shu is not for the public like that of Si Quan Shu, but only for the emperor to watch, the imperial collection of Si Quan Shu cannot be compared with that of Si Quan Shu.