Collected Works of School of Philology - General Catalogue

Author: Cheng Qianfan / et al.
Editor-in-Chief: Yan Zhaodian / et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-12-02
Features:
Fragment: Generally, intellectuals engaged in academic research rely on private libraries. For instance, Zhao Mingcheng's Jinshi Lu (Records of Bronzes and Inscriptions) in over ten volumes was compiled based on the ancient bronzes and stone inscriptions he collected. Li Qingzhao's Postscript to the Jinshi Lu discusses their collection and writing: "Jinshi Lu in over ten volumes is a work by Zhao Hou Defu. I began to join the Zhao family in Jianzhong, the year of Xisi (1101), when Zhao Hou was twenty-one and studying at the Imperial Academy. Later, he served as a magistrate in two prefectures and spent his meager salary on book collecting. Every time he acquired a book, he would jointly collate, organize, and annotate it. When he obtained calligraphy, paintings, bronzes, and stone inscriptions, he would leisurely unfold and admire them, pointing out flaws, often burning one candle throughout the night. Thus, his collection maintained exquisite paper, perfect calligraphy and paintings, surpassing all other collectors." After the Jin invaders conquered Qingzhou, his of book collections and ancient artifacts were reduced to ashes, but "there were still twenty thousand volumes of books and two thousand volumes of stone inscriptions." ② Sun Qingzeng wrote, "My only passion is books; my home holds tens of thousands of volumes, though I am often impoverished, I cannot bear to part with them. Yet the way of the sages and worthy men cannot be examined without these. For years, I have carried my own notes and records, and now, nearly a century of obsession has turned me into an old bookworm. Some fellow collectors wish to summarize my collection, and, though I dare not measure up to their expectations, I have compiled eight points. Whether these are right or wrong, I hope those who understand will forgive my ignorance.① In Chinese history, scholars have continuously engaged in the of documents, whether through collation, annotation, cataloging, collating lost texts, or compiling editions—all of which rely on public and private collections. For example, on the first day of the seventh month of the first year of the Yongle reign (1401), the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di once said to Xie Jin, a court scholar, and others: "The scattered records of all things in the world from ancient times to the present are contained in books, which are vast and difficult to access. I wish to collect all these materials from various books, categorize them, and organize them by rhyme. This will make it convenient to examine them, as if taking something from a bag." After reviewing the Yunfu (Rhyme Treasury) and Huixi (Miscellaneous Notes) books, he found that while the works were well-organized, they lacked breadth and were too brief. "You must follow my wishes: compile a single book containing all books since the beginning of writing, including the classics, histories, philosophy, literature, and all schools of thought, as well as records on astronomy, geography, yin and yang, medicine, divination, Buddhism, Taoism, and craftsmanship. Do not shrink from the vastness of the task." ②