One of the volumes of the "Yung Lo Ta Tien" saved from sacking of the Hanlin Yuan

Photographer: Giles Family

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One of the volumes of the "Yung Lo Ta Tien" saved from sacking of the Hanlin Yuan

This image is published under a CC-BY licence. For further information please go to http://creativecommons.org.au/learn/licences/

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dc.contributor.author	Photographer: Giles Family
dc.date.accessioned	2006-06-06T01:06:04Z
dc.date.accessioned	2011-01-04T05:08:46Z
dc.date.available	2006-06-06T01:06:04Z
dc.date.available	2011-01-04T05:08:46Z
dc.date.available	6/06/2006
dc.date.created	8/11/2002
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1885/43489
dc.description	".... the Hanlin Academy, immediately to the north of the British Legation. The Hanlin was a unique place of learning - the Chinese equivalent of Oxford and Cambridge, Harvard and Yale, Heidelberg and the Sorbonne all rolled into one. Its exquisitely painted pavilions housed one of the most ancient libraries of the world ..." Diana Preston (1999), p. 108."The following day [23rd June] the Chinese ... tried to burn the foreigners out again. However, no one had anticipated that they would set fire to the Hanlin Academy, immediately to the north of the British Legation .... the main library, containing the choicest volumes [was left] still standing. In particular it housed the only surviving copy of the fabulous Yung Lo Ta Tien encyclopedia completed in 1408 by 2000 Ming scholars and comprising about 12,000 volumes bound in yellow silk. However, the fire flared up again between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. that afternoon .... 'Evidently kerosene had been put on the trees to spread the flames ...' This time the library itself caught alight. There seemed no prospect of saving it and the contents were unceremoniously tumbled into the yard. Some were even flung into the lotus ponds to prevent them catching fire en masse ..." Diana Preston (1999), pp. 108-109.Photograph occurs in the album next to photographs of the Signing of the Protocol at Peking, 7 September 1901.
dc.format	Original images scanned at 72 dpi (or in individual cases slightly higher) and in .jpg format
dc.format.extent	76604 bytes
dc.format.mimetype	image/jpeg
dc.language.iso	en_AU
dc.publisher	Canberra, ACT : The Australian National University
dc.relation.ispartof	Giles Family Albums
dc.rights.uri	This image is published under a CC-BY licence. For further information please go to http://creativecommons.org.au/learn/licences/
dc.source	Menzies Very Large Rare Book 2233396
dc.subject.other	China--History--Boxer Rebellion, 1899-1901
dc.subject.other	Han lin yuan
dc.subject.other	Encyclopedias and dictionaries, Chinese--Early works to 1800
dc.title	One of the volumes of the "Yung Lo Ta Tien" saved from sacking of the Hanlin Yuan
dc.type	Image
dc.rights.holder	The Australian National University.
local.type.status	Submitted version
local.citation	2233396 Album 2 Page 35 Photograph 3-4
dcterms.accessRights	Open Access
dc.rights.license	This image is published under a CC-BY licence.
Collections	Giles Family Albums

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