The project is aimed at conducting a comprehensive investigation of ancient and rare Chinese texts which have been kept in other countries. Selected materials will be photocopied, with the copies taken to China for further study and publication. To date, several sets of compilations have been published, such as the “Copies of Selected Chinese Classics of the Song and Yuan Dynasties Kept at the Imperial Palace Library of Japan.”

​

Since 2015, the project team has completed the Catalogue of Chinese Books in the Song and Yuan Dynasties in the American Library (1 volume, published by Zhonghua Book Company in 2015) and the Catalogue of Chinese Ancient Books in the National Library of the United Kingdom (2 volumes, National Books Museum Press in 2020), "Fourteen Kinds of National Treasures and Rare Chinese Books Collected by Ashikaga School in Japan" (42 volumes, published by Peking University Press in 2021). In 2022, "Selected Periodicals of Rare Chinese Books Collected by the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, Japan", "Selected Periodicals of Rare Chinese Books Collected by Keio University, Japan", "Selected Periodicals of Rare Chinese Books Collected by Kyoto University, Japan" will be published.