KUNMING, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Yunnan Province has launched a preservation project to catalog and update their records of ancient books across the province.

Professionals involved in the preservation of ancient texts, along with 51 university students, worked together during the 40-day investigation to sort and catalog the books.

The project, primarily registering authors, book editions, as well as the locations of the books, was jointly organized by the Ancient Books Preservation and Conservation Association of China and the Yunnan Ancient Books Preservation Center.

Yunnan is home to more than one million ancient books. Since 2008, Yunnan has registered and cataloged about 70 percent of its ancient books found in local libraries, museums, and temples.

The volunteers were trained on how to register and catalog the books before beginning the project.

"I hope to learn how to properly preserve ancient books. They are part of our history and culture," said Hu Hanting, a volunteer from Yunnan University.