In July l4O3, Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty asked Xie Jin, a scholar of the imperial Academy, to be in charge of the compiling of the book. When it was finished in December 14O4, it was initially entitled Winxian Dacheng (A Vat Collection of Documents). But the emperor was not satisfied with its brief content so he ordered it to be recompiled and sent the prince's tutor, Yao Guangxiao, to supervise the project. More than 2000 people were involved in the compilation. By the end of l408, the whole book was finished, prefaced by the emperor himself and renamed as Yongle Dadian, in which Chinese characters were listed in order of their rhymes, and all relevant historical and literary documents were listed under each character. Apart from the collection of books of the imperial Library, another seven to eight thousand books were bought from all parts of China for the compilation. The whole book, including contents and notes, were in 22937 volumes bound into ll095 booklets, covered 3.7 hundred million Chinese characters, and collected enormous materials from the Pre-Qin Period (before 22l B. C.) to the Ming Dynasty (l368-l644 A. D.). Many ancient works were collected in Yongle Dadian and were hence preserved. A transcript of the book was made during the reigns of Emperors Jiajing and Longqing of the Ming Dynasty. When the Ming Dynasty was overthrown, the imperial Library was destroyed, and the original Yongle Dadian was humed. The transcript was partially lost during the reign of Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty. When the aggressive troops of the Eight-power Allied Forces came to Beijing, much of the transcript was burnt, and almost all the rest was plundered. In l96O, a photo-offset copy in 730 volumes was published by Zhonghua Book Company. In l984, an enlarged edition was reprinted in 797 volumes.