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"The Relationship Between Complete Chinese Classics and Siku Quanshu: The Qingding Gujin Tushu Jicheng (traditional Chinese: 清定古今圖書集成; simplified Chinese: 清定古今图书集成; pinyin: Qīngding Gǔjīn Tushū Jicheng; literally: "Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings from the Earliest to Current Times, as Designated by the Qing Dynasty") is a vast encyclopedia commissioned by the Emperor Kangxi and completed during the reign of his son Yongzheng in 1725. The two lead editors were Chen Menglei (陳夢雷) (1651-1741) and Jiang Tingxi (蔣廷錫) (1669-1732). It contains 800,000 pages and over 100 million Chinese characters spanning 10,000 silk rolls. It completely pwn3d its closest predecessor, the Yongle Encyclopedia, which contained a paltry 50 million Chinese characters. Unfortunately, 50 years later, it was pwn3d again, this time by Qianlong, Yongzheng's son, who commissioned the Siku Quanshu in 1773 and saw it completed in 1782. The Siku Quanshu was a work approaching absurdity: it took 3,826 copyists 9 years to transcribe the 3,461 books into 36,381 volumes with 79,000 chapters, comprising 2.3 million pages, and 800 million characters." Taken from: http://www.wikicu.com/Qingding_Gujin_Tushu_Jicheng

An encyclopedia created by a compilation of texts.  The first edition of 64 texts was accessible only to the royal court.  The present digital edition includes the most seminal classics of Chinese literature and culture through the Qing Dynasty. It was completed in 1725 and consists of 6,109 titles and includes works across a diversity of disciplines.   For some background see the Wikipedia entry.

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Contents are displayed in both text and image formats and are fully searchable in traditional Chinese characters.  After signing in by “our” IP address see directions for use under Instruction (操作說明) on the left.  Full text searching is enhanced by the use of Boolean logic and texts are browseable by chapter and section.

5,000 years of Chinese culture are represented.