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Archives of the Grand Secretariat

The archives of the Grand Secretariat currently housed at the Institute were originally kept at the Grand Secretariat Storehouse in the Ch’ing imperial palace. In 1929, the Institute purchased them from Li Sheng-to, a book collector, thanks to the efforts of Fu Ssu-nien, the Institute’s first director. The exhibition in this area is divided into three topics: “ The Manchu State” “Official Documents,” and “ Government Examinations.” The exhibition includes not only imperial decrees, edicts, memorials, tribute documents and other documents from the office of the Grand Secretariat and offices of book compilation, but also examination questions, examination papers, rosters of successful examination candidates, and even large and small placards of the palace examination. The archives are highly valuable for the light they shed on institutional, political and economic practices in the Ch’ing dynasty.