A three-day seminar concerning the compilation on the history of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) opened in Beijing Monday morning with more than 40 noted scholars, researchers and experts across the Taiwan Straits attending.

The type of literature and the stylistic rules of the Qing dynastic history will be the focus of the seminar, which is the tenth of its kind since the compilation work started at the end of 2002.

To set the type of literature and the stylistic rules of the Qing dynastic history is "the most urgent task at present," said Prof. Dai Yi, director of the Qing dynastic history compilation commission and history professor of the People's University of China.

Dai Jinxin, an eminent history professor of Taiwan's Fujen Catholic University, said the compilation was vital for Chinese history.

Traditionally, every Chinese dynasty had its history compiled by the next dynasty, which makes China the only country in the world that has a series of continuous dynastic histories, ending with the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).

With the Qing dynastic history left untold, many experts since the founding of new China in 1949 have repeatedly urged the work be compiled.

Prof. Ji Xianlin, a prestigious Chinese scholar, raised the issue again in April 2001 with the central government. The central government and the State Council decided to start the project last August.

The compilation project is expected to last ten years and will cover a 30 million-word dynastic history and other documentary works.

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2003)