The Yongle Encyclopedia, the most renowned encyclopedia in Chinese history, went on show to the public Thursday in Beijing after nine months of painstaking restoration.

The Yongle Encyclopedia was compiled in 1408 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) at the order of the then Yongle Emperor. More than 3,000 scholars collected nearly 8,000 kinds of books available at that time into 11,095 volumes.

The encyclopedia, a treasure-house of ancient Chinese books, covers a wide range of subjects. The copy on show Thursday is the only one still existing in the world, with merely about 400 volumes left after frequent damages by foreign invaders in modern times.

Only 223 volumes are stored in China and the 221 volumes in the National Library are all somehow damaged. Most of the pages are hard to turn.

With the support from the ministries of Finance and Culture, ten craftsmen from the National Library spent nine months repairing the huge work.

"The reparation strictly follows the original style though many parts of the encyclopedia have lost their original look after being repaired many times in the past several hundred years," saidZhang Ping, director of the restoration group from the National Library. A special rosewood container has been made for the encyclopedia.

Zhao Qian, deputy research fellow with the National Library, said restorers were fortunate to find a kind of silk similar to the original cover material. "We are also lucky to find a batch of paper made in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) of similar quality to the original pages of the encyclopedia," said Zhao.

"The restoration restores the damaged treasure to life and it isalso of great significance to the protection of the encyclopedia in the long run," said Zhao.

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2003)