Why is Siku Quanshu the largest literary series in China?

Because Sikuquanshu has the largest number of compilers and copywriters in the history of our country, and it took 13 years. It is the largest cultural project in ancient China and a masterpiece of China traditional culture.

As we all know, Sikuquanshu was initiated and directed by Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty. As the monarch who ruled the whole dynasty at that time, his great-grandfather Shunzhi successfully entered the Central Plains, and then through the efforts of his grandfather Kangxi and his father Yongzheng, the Qing Dynasty enjoyed unprecedented political, economic and cultural prosperity in the hands of Qianlong. Gan Long was deeply loved by his grandfather Kangxi since he was a child. He once entered the palace to accompany Kangxi for a period of time. Kangxi's literary talent is rare in history. Gan Long worships his grandfather very much and follows his example everywhere. He wanted to do something comparable to his grandfather, so he thought of editing Sikuquanshu.

Of course, this is not his only purpose. His other purpose is to promote the burning of culture. This is not uncommon in Chinese history. Qin Shihuang burned books to bury Confucianism, Han Wudi respected Confucianism and ousted hundreds of scholars, the imperial examination induced cultural autocracy in Tang and Song Dynasties, stereotyped writing of scholars in Ming Dynasty and large-scale literary inquisition in Qing Dynasty, all of which are typical examples, reflecting the rulers' control over folk thoughts. Emperor Qianlong proposed compiling Sikuquanshu, so that books collected from all over the country could be censored, and those books that he thought were not conducive to the rule and rebelled against the rule of the Manchu Dynasty could be arbitrarily deleted and burned.

However, we can't think that Sikuquanshu is dross or a bad book, which needs to be treated dialectically. As the representative work of China traditional culture, Sikuquanshu has 3,462 kinds of books, including 79,338 volumes, more than 36,000 volumes and about 800 million words, which makes Yongle Dadian feel ashamed. In Sikuquanshu, almost all disciplines in China such as literature, history, philosophy, science, engineering, agriculture and medicine can find its source, and almost all emerging disciplines about China can find its survival and development process from here.