During the three years from 1987 to 1989 the library circle in Main land China conducted a large-scale "survey of the National Docu mentary Resources" under the sponsorship and guidance of the Inter-Ministrial Library Information Coordination Committee with 514 large and medium-sized libraries and information agenices participating, 2,019 documents of various subject fields of research levels, and 6,354 responses from readers collected. The main objec tive of the said survey lies in obtaining an in-depth understanding ofthe actual condition and overall arrangement of documents resourcescurrently available in Mainland China so as to pave the way for thephase-in developmentin in the future and cope with the actualrequrements of the society. The paper explains the necessity for the integrated development ofdocumentary resources and introduces the origin, implementation,process, approaches and achievements of the said national survey ofdocumentary resources. In the conclusions the author expresses hisown opinions on the distribution and prospects of the national documentary resources on the basis of his personal participation in thesaid survey with detailed description and analysis.