China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Wang Kaihao
he says.
“It was an even greater struggle to counter the Japanese as they swept through the area.”
Secret meetings and confidential mailing systems were planned to safely transport the scriptures. Local militias also concealed their whereabouts.
NLC researcher Li Jining says woodblocks for the 7,000 chapters were carved from 1149 to 1181 in today’s Yuncheng, Shanxi.
The surviving version was printed in Beijing in the late 13th century on Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) emperor Kublai Khan’s orders.
“It’s a miracle of the world’s printing history,” he says.
“The encyclopedic collection includes not only Buddhist sutras, but also extends to philosophy, literature, astronomy, medicine and many other fields.”
The Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka is the only surviving printed edition since the original woodblocks were destroyed during the Yuan Dynasty.
The sutras were sent to universities after the war.
They arrived at the NLC in 1949, the year of New China’s founding. The institution spent 17 years restoring the ancient pages.
Today, 4,813 chapters remain in the library. Over 4,300 of those were rescued by the Eight Route Army.
Others were donated by private collectors. Some chapters were scattered around the country before the war and even showed up in Beijing’s antique markets during that period.
“Some landlords contributed greatly to this heritage’s protection,” Li Wanli says.
The expedition visited the former residence of Zhang Ruiji (1872-1928) in Hongdong county. Zhang used his influence to persuade two schools of monks with divergent ideas to agree to move all the texts together to a safe place.
“His brother also led locals to boycott outsiders who wanted to buy them,” Li Wanli explains.
Zhang’s family collected 152 chapters of the Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka. His son donated them to the NLC in 1952.
Li Jining says the Shanxi trip also helped researchers resolve unanswered questions about the origins of the Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka.
They found stone steles that filled voids in the story of how the woodblocks were produced via 3,000 pilgrims’ work under the leadership of a woman named Cui Fazhen and how the woodblocks were donated to the imperial court.
The NLC gave replicas of 100 chapters to the Guangsheng Temple and a local library in April.