| Over 280 pieces
of historical documents selected from
the 70,000 items collected through
Documents Collection Campaign are
now on display in an exhibition titled
Treasures of Literature at the Hong
Kong Central Library.
The exhibits cover writers' manuscripts,
literary celebrities' letters; paintings
and calligraphic works of great
Chinese calligraphers; old legal
contracts and agreements; imprints
of ancient calligraphic works and
out-of-print publications; old maps
and photos; matchboxes and newspaper
clippings.
Some of the highlights include
the Gu Wen Yuan Jian - a collection
of ancient Chinese proses between
the Spring and Autumn Period (722-481
BC) and Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279).
It was first ordered to print by
Qing Emperor Kang Xi (AD 1662-1722)
in 1685 and completed in 1705. The
Emperor has also written its foreword.
The full collection comprises 64
juans (chapters) in 30 volumes,
in which the five-colour printing
method was used to denote and produce
critiques, footnotes and remarks
of the proses.
Chunhua Ge Tie - a collection of
calligraphic works in Northern Song
Dynasty, Shunzhi (Qing Dynasty)
edition (AD 1646). It consists of
420 calligraphic works by 103 calligraphers
of various ancient Chinese dynasties.
The displayed version is a copy
from the Shunzhi reign (AD 1646)
of the Qing Dynasty.
There are also 50 other ink-imprints
of stone inscription from Han Dynasty
(206-220 BC) to the present period.
The selections are mainly from Northern
Wei Dynasty (386-534 BC), including
the world-famous inscriptions of
Tomb of Cuan Longyan and the Twenty
calligraphic pieces of Longmen from
the Southern and Northern Dynasties
(386-587 BC). The exhibits show
the importance of rubbing and ink-imprint
in Chinese calligraphy before the
invention of printing method.
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