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.