Chinanews, Beijing, March 1 – China will conduct its first general investigation on ancient books, in order to gain an overall understanding of the situations of all the ancient books in the country, including their quantities, values, locations and preservation conditions.

 

The Ministry of Culture will be in charge of the general investigation. It is estimated that it will take 3 to 5 years to complete the work. All the ancient books in museums, libraries, temples and private collections will be covered.

 

Approximately, there should be tens of millions of ancient books in China.