IP: Our man in Hong Kong

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 02:34:03 -0800 (PST)
> From: Dan Gillmor <dgillmor () sjmercury com>
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
> Subject: FYI
>
> Dave, I've been teaching part-time at Hong Kong University during the past
> month and have found some interesting tech-related stuff. For example:
>
> http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg112199.htm
>
> WHEN you ask people here to describe Pacific Convergence Corp., a
> showpiece in Richard Li's growing business empire, the adjectives run the
> gamut from ``crazy'' to ``audacious'' to ``brilliant.''
>
>   Maybe the project -- offering high-speed Internet access via satellite
> to tens of millions of Asian households -- is all of those. It wouldn't be
> the first time.
>
> and
>
> http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg110299.htm
>
> IN 1772, the Chinese Emperor Qianlong decided it was time to bring all
> written human knowledge under one roof. He asked -- in the way that
> emperors ``ask'' -- his subjects to submit all their books for the
> collection he wanted to create.
>
> An army of scholars, copyists, clerks and others went to work. They
> cataloged tens of thousands of books and re-crafted them into 3,460 works
> under four classifications: Jing (Classics), Shi (history), Zi
> (Philosophy) and Ji (Literature).
>
> The pages of what is known as Siku Quanshu -- Complete Library in Four
> Branches of Literature -- use standardized grids and characters, and
> everything is catalogued through summaries, author biographies and the
> like. To call it the biggest work ever is almost to trivialize it. With
> 4.7 million pages and 800 million Chinese characters, Siku Quanshu is
> awesomely grand, a Great Wall of scholarship.
>
> Now, thanks to digital technology, Siku Quanshu is more widely available.
> Digital Heritage Publishing Ltd. (www.skqs.com), a Hong Kong-based
> company, has turned the enormous collection into an equally enormous
> database, adding the kinds of tools that will enhance scholarship:
> searching, annotation, hyperlinking and much more.
>
> --
>
> Hope all's well there - and Happy Thanksgiving to you.
>
> Dan