Kaicheng Stone Classics

The Kaicheng Stone Classics (開成石經) are a group of twelve early Chinese classic works carved on the orders of the Tang dynasty Emperor Wenzong (Li Ang) in 837 as a reference document for scholars. The works include the "the Book of Changes"; "the Book of History"; "the Book of Songs"; "Account of the Rite of the Zhou Dynasty"; "the Book of Ceremony"; "the Book of Rites"; "Zuo Qiuming's Commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals"; "Gongyang's Commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals"; "Guliang's Commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals"; "the Analects of Confucius"; "the Canon of Filial Piety" and "the Erya". The classics, with more than 650,000 characters engraved double-sided on 114 stone tablets of stone, are presently preserved in the Stele Forest Museum in Xi'an, China. The works of Mencius totalling an additional 30,00 characters were added on a further 17 tablets in the Qing dynasty, making a total of thirteen classic works. Widely regarded as the world's heaviest books, the collection is important for preserving the text of key documents of Chinese culture.