On May 18, the platform for digital return and research of Chinese overseas ancient books "Han Dian Chong Guang" kicked off in Beijing. This platform is the joint effort of Sichuan University, Alibaba Group and the University of California Berkeley. The first batch of books and documents that has returned is the ancient books of 200,000 pages stored in Berkeley, including more than 40 precious versions of Song and Yuan Dynasties, the transcripts and manuscripts of famous scholars from Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China: Qian Qianyi, Weng Fanggang, Wang Tao, as well as the transcripts of famous libraries of Jiaye Hall and Miyun House. The incomplete copy of the Complete Library in the Four Branches of Literature of Qing Dynasty is also included.
Shao Hong, vice chairman of the National Committee of CPPCC and executive vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Jiusan Society, pointed out that the digital return plan for overseas ancient books is a significant cultural event and cultural infrastructure project in China. The experts team employs advanced AI technology to build an open and universal sharing platform for ancient books so as to lay the foundation for the protection, research and popularization of ancient books into the era of big data network, and effectively promote the professional research and public study of ancient books. This plan will be a milestone in the history of the protection and research of the Chinese ancient books.
President Li Yanrong pointed out that in the past 125 years, SCU has accumulated profound cultural deposits, especially rich resources and distinctive research features in the collation of ancient books. The university has preserved nearly 300,000 precious ancient books, including the Yongle Canon, many of which are rare books at home and abroad. It has also gathered a group of academic masters, including Mr. Xu Zhongshu, a pioneer of modern literature collation in China, Mr. Miao Yue, a master historian, and Mr. Xiang Chu, a leader of Dunhuang studies. Meanwhile, it also led the collation and publication of large-scale literature and excellent works of Ru Zang, the Complete Works of Song and Ba-shu Quan shu, which have important influence at home and abroad. The works also include the national major cultural project Chinese Compendium of Taoist Works (ZhongHua Xu Dao Zang), which is the first Taoist document integration in China from the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty to the founding of new China. SCU has made great contribution to the protection, collation and inheriting of the Chinese culture.
Zhang Jianfeng, President ofAlibaba DAMO Academy for Discovery, Adventure, Momentum and Outlook,pointed outthatwith the help of AI technology of ancient books, the platform "Han Dian Chong Guang" digitized all the returned rare ancient books from UC Berkeley, with an accuracy rate of 97.5%. The general public can browse and search through ancient books on the platform.
Integrating digital interactive training and full-text content retrieval of ancient books, and Chinese character dictionary of ancient books, the platformaims to meet the different needs of experts, lovers and ordinary readers of ancient books and ancient book research. Next, Alibaba will continue to invest human and material resources to cooperate with influential libraries in the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea to expand the number of returned ancient books. At the same time, It will continue to develop the world's leading digital technology of ancient books to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the ancient book recognition system.
At the opening ceremony, Meng Qinghai, vice chairman and Secretary of the Secretariat of the China Association for Science and Technology, and Zhang Zhiqing, deputy director of the National Library of China and deputy director of the National Center for the Protection of Ancient Books, delivered speeches respectively. Experts and scholars conducted a symposium after the opening ceremony.
