Chapter 3 Section 2 National Book Collection Institutions - The Creation of Collections

Due to the lack of literature, it is difficult to determine when the collection institutions and management personnel in ancient China were set up.According to the existing historical materials, it can at least be inferred that there is no strict distinction between early books and archives, which are collectively called Tuji and managed by historians.Therefore, the earliest collection of books in China is the official collection. In the Spring and Autumn Period of the Zhou Dynasty in my country, there was already a rudimentary form of a library - a storage room, and a person in charge of special management - the history of the storage room.The famous thinker Laozi (571 BC - around 480 BC) is the history of the Eastern Zhou royal family's collection room. "Historical Records" says: "Laozi was born in Qurenli, Li Township, Chuku County (now Luyi County, Henan Province). His surname is Li and his name is Dan. He is also the history of Zhou Shou's collection room." It is mainly the history books of various countries, and there are "one hundred and twenty national treasure books".Confucius compiled "Spring and Autumn" to collect materials, and there is a saying of "watching the Zhou Dynasty from the west, and discussing old news in historical records".It can be seen from this that the Jian Ce documents preserved in the Zhou Dynasty's collections during the Spring and Autumn Period are available for people to consult.Not only that, in order to understand the "rituals" of people's behavioral norms at that time, Confucius specially asked Laozi for advice.There is a record in the history books that "Confucius was suitable for the Zhou Dynasty and asked Laozi about the rites".Lao Tzu is the "History of the Keeping Room" who not only possesses a large amount of historical materials, but also has rich knowledge.This story happened when Confucius was 34 years old, that is, the 24th year of Lu Zhaogong (518 BC).From the perspective of library function, this is probably the earliest recorded library reference work in the world.There are few direct records about book collection in ancient documents, but we can also confirm this issue from some other historical materials. "Zuo Zhuan Lu Zhaogong Two Years" (540 BC) records: "In the spring, the Marquis of Jin envoy Han Xuanzi came to hire him, and he came to see him for politics, which is also a courtesy. Read the book from Da Shishi, see "Yi Xiang" " and Lu's "Spring and Autumn", said: "The rites of Zhou are all in Lu. I know the virtue of Zhou Gong today, and the reason why Zhou is king." According to this record, the books of the Zhou family in the official collection of the State of Lu are rich. of. "Zuo Zhuan Lu Zhaogong Fifteen Years" (527 BC) records such an incident: Zhou Jing Wang Jigui asked a man named Ji Tan why his surname was Ji?Ji couldn't answer the question, King Jing told him that because in the past his great-great-grandfather "Sijinzhidianji" (that is, in charge of the books of Jin State), "so it was called Jishi".It can be seen that during the Spring and Autumn Period, all countries have established special institutions for the management of books and archives, and set up special management personnel.

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