"Yongle Dadian" was edited and collected in Nanjing Wen Yuan Pavilion.
Up to now, more than 600 years have passed, and all the "Yongle Dadian" in the world are only about 800 volumes and 400 volumes.
This figure is less than 4% of the original book, so how did the remaining 96% get lost?
Because the Yongle Grand Ceremony was hidden in the forbidden area of the Deep Palace, it was rarely recorded in the history books of the Ming Dynasty, and the whereabouts of the Yongle Grand Ceremony became a mystery.
But in the sporadic introduction of historical records, we can probably sort out such a process. In the 19th year of Yongle, the Forbidden City in Beijing was completed, and Emperor Yongle moved the capital here.
At this time, the manuscript of Yongle Dadian was still hidden in Nanjing Wen Yuan Pavilion, which was destroyed by a palace fire in the middle of Ming Dynasty. The original was taken to Beijing by Emperor Yongle and hidden in Zhao Wenge in the palace.
When hongzhi emperor was in office, he consulted Yongle Grand Ceremony. In the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing, the palace caught fire, the three halls of the Forbidden City were burned down, and the Yongle ceremony was in danger.
According to historical records, Yongle Grand Ceremony is a treasure of Emperor Jiajing's "super love". Since he ascended the throne, he has always regarded it as an indispensable reference classic and often quoted it in the court.
This fire, Jiajing rushed to the Wenlou, grabbed the "Grand Ceremony" and gave orders three or four times a night, which shows the weight of the "Grand Ceremony" in his heart. At that time, Emperor Jiajing intended to "re-record a copy and store it elsewhere for safety".
In the autumn of the 11th year of Jiajing, copying began, which lasted for six years and was completed in the first year of Qin Long. In this way, Yongle Dadian has two parts: the main part and the auxiliary part. However, after the demise of the Ming Dynasty, the original "Grand Ceremony" mysteriously disappeared.
During the reign of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, in order to compile Sikuquanshu, the imperial court made great efforts to find Yongle Dadian, and finally found the trace, but at this time, more than 1 1,000 volumes had been lost.
After Daoguang, Yongle Grand Ceremony was regarded as useless, and some officials took the opportunity to steal it. Books stolen by Qing officials were sold to foreigners or antique dealers by later generations. In this way, the "Yongle Grand Ceremony" flowed to the people in large numbers.
In the 26th year of Guangxu, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, where he burned, killed and looted. Imperial academy has also become a battlefield, and the fire is raging. After this disaster, the Yongle Grand Ceremony was completely lost, with only a few hundred copies scattered around the world, and only more than 60 copies left in China.
In the modern war, in order to avoid the war, more than 60 volumes of Yongle Dadian were transferred many times.
Some of them were kept by the Library of Congress of the United States and shipped to Taiwan Province Province, China on 1965, and are now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, China. The part of Yongle Dadian that was not shipped to the United States was shipped back to Beijing after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.
After the founding of New China, some individuals with the remnants of the ceremony donated money in succession. Together with 52 volumes returned by the National Library of the Soviet Union and 3 volumes returned by the German Democratic Republic, the collection of Yongle Dadian in the National Library of China has reached 22 1 volume, which is the highest in the world.
Today, the original Yongle Grand Ceremony has not disappeared, but people still have the greatest hope that the original Yongle Grand Ceremony will not be burned in the fire, but will be hidden in a secret place, waiting for future generations to find it.