Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – The "Regulations on the Protection and Utilization of Ancient Books in Sichuan Province" officially came into effect on the 1st, marking China's first local regulation specifically addressing the protection and utilization of ancient books. According to the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress, multiple departments in Sichuan Province have made specific work arrangements for the protection and utilization of ancient books based on the regulations, explicitly defining the important status and protection requirements for ancient books of ethnic minorities in the province for the first time at the legal level.
In September 2025, the 21st meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th Sichuan Provincial People's Congress reviewed and approved the regulations, clarifying that the objects of ancient book protection are documents and classics produced before 1911, as well as documents and classics with classical binding forms produced between 1912 and 1949 that possess historical, artistic, and academic value.
It is reported that a survey in Sichuan Province discovered approximately 230,000 titles (1.87 million volumes) of ancient Chinese books and approximately 500,000 volumes of ethnic minority ancient books, ranking among the top in the country. Based on the content of the regulations, the Sichuan Provincial Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission formulated the "Special Implementation Plan for the Protection and Utilization of Ancient Books of Ethnic Minorities in Sichuan Province."
"We will introduce technologies such as non-destructive testing and AI image recognition, as well as new restoration materials, and promote the construction of a digital resource database and management service platform for ethnic minority ancient books," said Cai Qin, a second-level inspector of the Sichuan Provincial Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission. He added that the next step will be to organize experts to translate, annotate, collate, and popularize important ethnic minority ancient books into Chinese, publish popular reading materials for the general public, and actively develop a series of cultural and creative products to fully bring these ancient books to life. Furthermore, they will collaborate with universities to strengthen the research and interpretation of ethnic minority ancient books and the development of related disciplines, and jointly build practice bases for ethnic minority ancient books with collecting institutions to ensure the inheritance of talent.
The regulations stipulate the establishment of an ancient book collection system, including ancient book printing blocks. "This means that printing blocks are officially included in the scope of legal protection," said Zhou Xuesong, director of the Dege County Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
The Dege Printing House, located in the county, preserves more than 320,000 ancient printing blocks and illustrations, encompassing various important Tibetan classics from the 11th century onwards, covering various aspects of traditional culture such as Buddhist classics, astronomy and calendrical calculations, poetry and phonetics.
"In 2024, the woodblock printing archives of the Dege Printing House were included in the Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register, and we are now preparing to apply for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register. The regulations encourage applications, which gives us even more confidence," said Zhou Xuesong.
According to reports, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Sichuan provincial finance invested over 60 million yuan to complete nearly 200 projects for the survey, restoration, and revitalization of ancient books, and carried out emergency restoration of over 40,000 volumes (pieces) of precious ancient books.
