Chapter 7 Section 2 Solicitation and Contribution of Books in the Han Dynasty

In the early Han Dynasty, although the Qin Dynasty had been overthrown, the book-burning order was not abolished. It was not until Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty Liu Yingshi (reigned from 194 BC to 188 BC) that the ban on private collection of books stipulated by Qin Shihuang was officially abolished, making lectures , Book writing and book collection began to rise among the people again.In view of the small collection of books in the country, the Western Han Dynasty began to collect a large number of books. "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi" said that "a large collection of books and a wide range of book offerings" called on the people to donate the books in their family collections to the government. According to the "Hanzhi · Music Book", during the time of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, there was a man named Dou Gong who had been a musician in Wei State during the Warring States period. Have an understanding of ancient music theory.After the "Government of Wen and Jing" in the Western Han Dynasty, the people were able to recuperate, the national power was enhanced, and all aspects of politics, economy, and military reached their peak.In the first year of Jianyuan (140 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu put forward the idea of ​​deposing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone in order to strengthen ideological rule.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted this suggestion and established Confucianism as the guiding ideology.Although the books of the philosophers were burned in the Qin Dynasty, they continued to spread among the people, and the works of the philosophers were also scattered all over the place.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to unify ideology and culture, and he had to understand the state of books and documents across the country, collate and organize them, and prohibit the circulation of some books.For this reason, in the fifth year of Emperor Wu Yuanshuo (124 BC), he ordered the prime minister, Gongsun Hongguang, to open the road of offering books and gather the books of the world.This measure was first responded by Liu De, the king of Hejian, who donated his collection of "Yue Ji", "Li", "Ancient Ritual" and "Mao Shi Gu Xun Zhuan".Due to the extensive collection of government books, the national collection of books has increased greatly, and books are "accumulated like hills and mountains".In the next hundred years, due to the imperfect collection system, the national collection of books was lost again.In the third year of Heping (26 BC), Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty ordered Chen Nong, a protocol official, to go to various places to collect books. This was the second time that the Western Han Dynasty ordered the collection of books.At the same time, Emperor Cheng ordered the collection of books to be sorted out, and the final version was revised, which made a great contribution to the development of culture.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang usurped power, and the turmoil continued. The fire in Chang'an reduced the collection of books in the palace to ashes.At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to gain the support of Confucian scholars, Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu, carried out the book collection work of "visiting Confucianism first, collecting que (que que) texts, and patching up leaks". According to "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Rulin Biography", Many people who fled with books in the past, now "meet the capital in the cloud" and donate books to the government.During the reign of Emperor Ming, according to "Lunheng Yiwenpian", he once "asked for death and loss, and bought and raised with gold".Emperors Zhang and He continued Ming Emperor Liuzhuang's policies and were very concerned about the collection of books.