Rare ancient Chinese books exhibited in Beijing  

北大斥资亿元回购中国典籍 含四库全书进呈本

昨日，北京大学图书馆启动馆藏“大仓文库”善本展，展出两万余册从日本回购的中方典籍。今天下午4点展览将结束，此后，北大图书馆只接受预约查阅报名，暂无下次大规模公开展览的安排。 [查看全文]

A rare collection of more than 26,000 ancient Chinese books dating back as early as the tenth century were on display in Peking University's library in Beijing on Saturday and Sunday.

Valuable works produced in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties were among the exhibited pieces, said a library spokesman.

The exhibits, including works on Chinese philosophy, history, classics and literature, were bought from Japan's Okura Museum of Art in 2013 for 1.8 billion yen (about $17.6 million), said the spokesman.

The university and the government provided the funds for the purchase.

In the early 20th century, a cash-strapped Chinese book collector sold part of his collection to Okura Kihachiro, a Japanese entrepreneur and founder of the Japanese museum. Since then, the entrepreneur's company has worked to increase the museum's collection of ancient Chinese books.

The collection bought back will be preserved in Peking University's library.