Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.s2.t4.23

v1.c6.s2.t4.23

into two volumes, *Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* seems more precise and convincing by clearly showing the origin of quotations, by which, people view it as a mirror of classic historical books. As a result of treasuring many medical literature before the Tang Dynasty with clear annotation of origin of quotations, the book provides so much convenience for scholars in later generations to trace the source, and thus be able to outline a clear and accurate picture of development of medical science from Han to Tang Dynasty, and it can be viewed as one of the three valuable collections for us to explore the medical, social and literature history of the Tang Dynasty. In 1069, a re-proofreading and re-printing job was carried out by Cheng Yandao but unfortunately it was not done perfectly. So Lu Xinyuan in Qing Dynasty wrote the book *The Correction and Complementation to Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* and in Japan, there is the photo-offset copy of Song Dynasty edition by Seikado Bunko Library. As of now, the checking and annotating version of *Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* by Gao Wenzhu is the most popular one.