From Paris to Hangzhou: The $9m Quest to Return China’s Lost Encyclopedia

Over six centuries, the Yongle Encyclopedia has all but disappeared. Commissioned by the Ming emperor Zhu Di and compiled by more than 3,000 scholars, it once contained over 11,000 volumes on science, poetry, philosophy, medicine, and law. Today, less than 4% survives — fires and foreign invasions consumed the rest.

So when Weng Lianxi at Beijing’s Palace Museum received word in 2020 that two volumes would be auctioned in France, he was skeptical. Fakes were common, and with the pandemic grounding most international flights, he was unable to fly out to inspect them firsthand.

The researcher had only 39 JPEG images, a lifetime of handling ancient books, and a set of exacting criteria for the type of binding and paper used in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The photos checked every box, and the sellers were descendants of a French naval officer stationed in China in the late 1800s.

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