New resource – Complete Si Ku Series 全四庫系列

We now have access to Complete Si Ku Series (全四庫系列), which provides full-text access to about 14,000 titles from ancient (pre-Qin Dynasty) to pre-modern China (Qing Dynasty). This database consists of the following five widely known collectaneas works (叢書):

  1. Si ku quan shu (SKQS; 四庫全書): completed in 1792, this is the greatest collection of ancient books in China’s history encompassing 3,503 titles or 79,337 volumes of works on all subjects organised into the four broad categories.
  2. Xu xiu Si ku quan shu (續修四庫全書) is the sequel to SKQS. It contains works which had not been collected by SKQS and the works written since the completion of it in the late 18th century. This sequel database contains the digitised version of 5,443 book titles consisting of 1,800 volumes.
  3. Si ku wei shou shu (四庫未收書) is a collection of ancient books that were discovered after the completion of SKQS. The current digital version contains 167 titles.
  4. Quan Si ku cun mu (全四庫存目) is a collection of ancient books that were intentionally excluded from SKQS by its editors. The current digital version contains 4,561 titles.
  5. Si ku jin hui shu (四庫禁毀書) is a collection of books that were prohibited or destroyed in the process of compiling the original SKQS. The current reorganised digital version contains 620 titles.