Historically, since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, some people have compiled Taoist scriptures and Taoist bibliographies. Later, Meng, Tao Hongjing and others compiled a list of Taoist scriptures. There were many people doing this work in Sui and Tang Dynasties. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty believed in Taoism, and sent people to collect Taoist scriptures, compiled the first Taoist collection in history, and sent people to copy and circulate it. During the An Shi Rebellion, the Taoist scriptures collected by the imperial court were destroyed by the war. The Song Dynasty contributed a lot to the revision of Daozang. Song Taizong ordered Xu Xuan and others to correct the Taoist scriptures. Later, in the early years of Dazhong Xiangfu, Song Zhenzong asked Wang Qinruo to be responsible for collating Taoist scriptures. Soon, Zhang Junfang was asked to revise the "Da Song Tian Gong Bao Dian". Zhang also selected and recorded important Taoist scriptures and compiled them into "The Four Wonders". Song Huizong once ordered the Taoist scriptures to be collated again, and soon printed with block printing, which was the first time in history.

During the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Sun Shidao spent several years searching for Taoist scriptures, supplemented the existing incomplete Collection of Zheng He Wanshou, and published The Treasure of Great Jin Xuandou. In A.D. 1244, Taoist Song, with the support of Mongolian royal family, collected Taoist scriptures and compiled and published Du Xuan Treasure. It is said that there are 7800 volumes. Daojing was burned twice in the Yuan Dynasty, and the world was in chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, so the classic version of Daojing could not be completely preserved.

Zhang Yuchu, the 43rd Zhengtianshi in Ming Dynasty, and others were ordered by the imperial court to be responsible for editing. After Zhang Yuchu's death, his younger brother Zhang Yuqing, the 44th generation Shi Tian, remained in power. It was not until the tenth year of Ming Yingzong's orthodoxy (1445) that the printing and publication of the orthodox collection was finally completed. In the thirty-fifth year of Ming Shenzong Wanli (A.D. 1607), Zhang Guoxiang, the 50th founder of Zhengtian, was ordered to compile Collected Taoist Scriptures. Together, these two Confucian classics have about 1500 kinds and 5485 volumes, which are divided into 5 12 letters, and each letter is numbered in the order of "thousand words", that is, today's orthodox Taoist collection.

The contents of Taoist books are very complex and voluminous, including a large number of filial piety classics, single crystals, symbols, commandments, biographies of immortals, Guan Gong Shan Zhi and so on. , and hundreds of works of Confucianism and a hundred schools of thought contend, as well as many works about ancient science and technology in China, such as medical works and astronomical calendar works.

There are three main types of important Taoist books after the Ming Dynasty: Continuing Taoist Collection, Taoist Collection and Taoist Collection. "Taoist Collection" was compiled by Qing Min Yide, which contains many works of Qing people. Taoist Collection was compiled by Taoist Peng Dingqiu and collected nearly 300 Taoist books. The Collection of the Essence of Taoist Collection was compiled by the Song Dynasty, some of which were works in the Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China.

Orthodox Taoist anthology: one of the important Taoist anthologies in China, compiled in the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning of Ming Chengzu's accession to the throne (1403), Zhang Yuchu, the 43rd generation Shi Tian, was ordered to re-compile the Taoist scriptures. In the eighth year of Yongle (14 10), Zhang Yuchu died, and Zhang Yuqing, the 44th generation of Shi Tian, was ordered to continue compiling Taoist scriptures. Ming Yingzong orthodox nine years (1444) published, appointed Taoist Shao Yizheng to supervise the school, but the school did not prepare. Ten years of orthodoxy (1445) was revised and printed, and it was named collected works of orthodoxy, with 5305 volumes and 480 letters, which were divided into three caves, four auxiliary works and twelve categories. In the thirty-fifth year of Wanli (A.D. 1607), the 50th Zhang Guoxiang was ordered to supplement Collected Taoist Scriptures, and the number of letters was still "money", from "Du" to "Ying", with 32 letters, 180 volume. Together with the orthodox Taoist scriptures, there are * * * 5,485 volumes and 5 12 letters, that is, the existing Ming orthodox Taoist scriptures, which are the only official Taoist scriptures in China. During the period of 1923- 1926, Shanghai Commercial Press borrowed the Ming version of Orthodox Taoist Collected in Beijing Baiyun Temple and photocopied it in the name of Hanfen Museum, reducing it to six volumes, 1476 kinds, 1 120 volumes. At present, there are photocopies of Collected Taoist Scriptures published by Cultural Relics Publishing House, Shanghai Bookstore and Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House (1987), as well as photocopies of Taiwan Province Literature and Art Publishing House and Taiwan Province Xinwenfeng Publishing Company. The existing Taoist Collection was edited by the 43rd Shi Tian Zhang Yuchu and his younger brother Zhang Yuqing. In the ninth year of English Orthodoxy, Shao Yizheng, a real person in Miao Tong, was ordered to make corrections and supplements, and was published in the tenth year of Orthodoxy, with a total volume of 5,305. Later generations called his book "orthodox Taoist scriptures" according to the year of publication. In the thirty-fifth year of Ming Shenzong Wanli, Shi Tian Zhang Guoxiang, 50 years old, was ordered to edit the book "Continued Collection of Taoist Scriptures". "Continued Collection of Taoist Scriptures" contains 5485 volumes of Taoist Scriptures 1476 kinds, and is divided into 5 12 letters, each of which is numbered according to the order of thousands of works, with a total of 12589 volumes. All kinds of classics in Daozang are arranged according to the classification method of "three points and four auxiliary points".