Calendar of Events | What's New   Current Exhibits   Rare Books and Secret Archives: Treasures from the Collections of the National Palace Museum Permanent Exhibit Gallery: 103 (Permanent Exhibit, rotate the display objects every three months) Visit website   The National Palace Museum is home to a rich collection of approximately 200,000 volumes of rare books and nearly 400,000 pieces of historical documents from the Qing archives. Large in number, these materials are of great cultural and historical value. The core of the National Palace Museum's collection of rare books was inherited from the Qing court, including those originating from the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, as well as monographic imprints by the Qing court. Among the most well known collectanea, one can count the Tienlulinlang Library of the of Zhaoren Palace, Wanweibiecang Library of the Yangxin Palace, the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries of the Wenyuan Pavilion, the Condensed Library of the Four Treasuries of the Chizao Hall, and block-printed editions of the Wuying Palace. Other notable collections are Yang Shoujing's Guanhaitang Library, mainly rare books he acquired while he was stationed in Japan; rare Song and Yuan editions, novels, block prints, local gazetteers, maps, and anthologies entrusted to the Museum from Peking Library; as well as books donated to or placed under the custody of the Museum. The archival documents of the Qing court, on the other hand, may be divided into the following four categories according to location of storage: Palace Memorials, archives of the Grand Council, archives of the Grand Secretariat and of the Historiography Institute archives (including the Historiography Institute of the Qing dynasty and the Qing Historiography Institute of the early Republican era). Occupying the largest portion of which are the Palace Memorials with imperial rescripts in vermilion ink and the Grand Council copies of Palace Memorials and their attachments. These documents were carefully preserved in the Qing court owing to their confidentiality, and access to which by the world outside was thus impossible. Carefully managed and finely preserved by Qing rulers, they have existed to this day, ready to give the audiences an opportunity to probe into what they were meant to be. The rare books are appealing to the audiences because of the superb craftsmanship, exquisite decorations and fine layout designs. The confidential nature of the archival documents of the Qing court would also trigger the visitors' curiosity. The exhibition "Rare Books and Secret Archives" offers the public a chance to examine these rare books and acquire a better understanding of how the Chinese book has evolved over the centuries, and to have a clearer idea of the Qing archival system and its relevance to government administration and even court history.   Back to Menu   Copyright © National Palace Museum. 221 Chih-shan Rd., Sec. 2; Shih-lin, Taipei, 11143, TAIWAN +886-2-2881-2021 service01@npm.gov.tw