(Photo provided to Xinhua Daily)

The Jinling Encyclopedia project has made its Nanjing Historical Literature Database available to the public at http://njx.njcbs.cn/#/index.

Jinling is an ancient name for present-day Nanjing. Initiated in 2009, the project aims to make a comprehensive collection of historical documents from Nanjing, which, as the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties (222-589), has a profound cultural heritage. The city not only leads China in terms of collection volume but also ranks prominently among the world's ancient cities.

This initiative represents the largest publishing endeavor by the local government, comparable in significance to the Yongle Dadian, which was compiled during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) when Nanjing served as the capital in its early stages.

Nanjing began to develop its digital version in 2020, and the database now includes more than 140 books.