China's ancient books have been through human and natural disasters with countless numbers having been destroyed and lost. There are no certain statistics concerning just how many still survive in the world today. Moreover, with there being much space for dispute over how antique works should be carefully determined and compared, it is even more difficult to put numbers on them.
中國古籍歷經天災人禍，毀損、流失的不計其數，究竟還有多少存世並無確切統計；加上何者為善本還須仔細鑑定、詳加比較，存有相當爭議空間，更增加了統計的困難。