Chapter 11 Section 2 Collection of Books in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were a period of great political change in Chinese history.Frequent regime changes and social disorder have affected economic and cultural development to a certain extent.However, due to the development of communication between China and the West at that time, the frequent contacts of various ethnic groups, coupled with the prosperity of Buddhism, promoted the progress of culture.Correspondingly, the easy-to-write regular script gradually replaced official script, and paper became common as a writing material.All these have made the collection of books develop rapidly.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo marched into Luoyang, abolished the young emperor Liu Bian, and made Liu Xie the emperor Xian.In the first year of Chuping (190 A.D.), Dong Zhuo forced Emperor Xian to move his capital to Chang'an, and the royal collection of books had to be moved along with him.Due to the chaos of the current situation, many books collected by Piyong, Dongguan, Lantai, Shishi, Xuanming, and Hongdu were lost.Many scrolls written in silk were used by soldiers as car curtains and pockets.The rest of the books, bamboo slips and silks transported to Chang'an were only more than 70 vehicles.Only these books were lost and more than half were damaged on the way.Shortly after arriving in Chang'an, war broke out again, and the remaining royal collections were lost.

Cao Cao, the king of Wei, was very talented and attached great importance to the collection of books. He paid attention to collecting books during the battle.In the third year of Jian'an (198 A.D.), Cao Jun defeated Lu Bu, and all the officials collected the spoils. "Yuan Huan took hundreds of volumes of books" to present to Cao Cao, which was highly appreciated by Cao Cao.In the fifth year of Jian'an (200 A.D.), Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu, and took all Yuan Shao's books into his own possession.After Cao Cao unified the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, Yuan Huan, the royal historian, suggested that Cao Cao collect books from all over the world.He "thought that he could collect a large number of books, understand the teachings of the sages, and change the people's audio-visuals, so that the people at home will be more and more popular, and if the people far away are not convinced, they can come from literature and virtue" ("Three Kingdoms · Wei Shu · Yuan Huan Biography"). "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Dong Si's Wife" records that Cao Cao asked Cai Wenji about the collection of books in her family in the past, and planned to send 10 civil servants to help record and sort them out.Cai Wenji said that her father, Cai Yong, had more than 4,000 volumes of books, and she could recite more than 400 of them;It can be seen that Cao Cao attaches great importance to the collection of books.

In the second year of Xianxi (AD 265), Sima Yan established the Jin Dynasty, known as the Western Jin Dynasty in history.The Western Jin Dynasty directly inherited the book collection of r Wei, and paid attention to collecting books from all over the world.In the sixth year of Xianning (280 A.D.), when Jin defeated Wu, Wang Junjin Jianye (now Nanjing) first "received his books and sealed his treasury" and shipped them to Luoyang.In addition to collecting the original books of Wei, Shu, and Wu in the Western Jin Dynasty, many books were also donated from various places. Zhang Ding [shishi], the governor of Liangzhou, sent many classics and historical books to Luoyang.According to the "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi", the national collection of books in the Western Jin Dynasty is divided into four parts: Part A is the Ministry of Classics;

In the late Western Jin Dynasty, society was in turmoil, kings killed each other, and culture was destroyed.The loss of books was even worse than that at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.In 317 A.D., Sima Rui [rui Rui] established the Eastern Jin Dynasty, with Jiankang as its capital.Although he paid attention to collecting lost books, the effect was not great.At the beginning of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were only 3014 volumes in the collection, which was only 1/9 of the collection in the Western Jin Dynasty. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the state collected books, and private individuals could borrow them. This was very different from the strict control of reading in the Han Dynasty. "Book of Jin·Huangfu Mi [mi Mi] Biography" records that Huangfu Mi of the Western Jin Dynasty "didn't play with classics, forgot to sleep and eat, and people at that time called it 'book obscenity'".Some people said that he would damage his body in this way. He said, "If you hear the Tao in the morning, you will die in the evening!" He once submitted a letter to Emperor Wu of Jin, asking to borrow books.Emperor Wu sent him a cart of books. Although he was ill, he still read them tirelessly.

The library management institutions in the Wei and Jin Dynasties generally inherited the management system of the Eastern Han Dynasty.Cao Cao built the secretary, Chinese and foreign pavilions as the national library.An official secretary order (supervisor) in charge of books was established, with official positions such as Secretary Cheng, Secretary Lang, and School Book Lang.Those who held these positions include Zheng Mo, Wang Xiang, Xue Xia, Wang Su and others.Sun Quan of the state of Wu also worked hard to collect books and established a library management organization-Dongguan.The state of Shu also served as an important minister, but [xixi] was the secretary Lang, and the state of Wu appointed Huahe (hehe) as the order of Dongguan.

The Jin Dynasty inherited the Wei system, and the National Library had the Mi Pavilion, Lantai, and Chongwen Academy, and later built the Shiqu Pavilion.Sima Zhong, Emperor Hui of Jin Dynasty, resumed the Secretary Supervisor, with Secretary Cheng, Secretary Lang, Zuo Zuo Lang, Zuo Zuo Lang, etc. under his command.At that time, the books were divided into four parts: Jing, Zi, Shi, and Ji. Emperor Wu of Jin set up four secretaries to manage one each.Xun Xu [xu Xu] in the Western Jin Dynasty and Li Chong in the Eastern Jin Dynasty both served as secretaries and supervisors. The Southern Dynasties (420-589 AD) included Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen.Compared with the war-torn North, the Southern Dynasties were relatively stable and paid more attention to literature.On the one hand, a large number of people in the north moved southward, and books were moved southward accordingly;

Song Wudi Liu Yu paid attention to collecting books when he was the general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.In the second year of Yuanxi (AD 420), Liu Yu proclaimed himself emperor and took over all the collections of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.According to the catalog compiled by Wang Jian, the collection of books in the Song Dynasty was 15,704 volumes in the first year of Yuan Hui (473 A.D.).During the Southern Qi Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Wu of Qi Xiao Yu [Ze Shi] Yongming (483-493 A.D.), the number of books increased to 18,010 volumes.Not long after Emperor Wu of Liang ascended the throne, Xiao Yan issued an edict to collect books from the people, which led to a rapid increase in the national collection of books. There are as many as 23,106 volumes of books in the Palace of Wende in the palace alone.Xiao Yi (Yi Yi), the son of Emperor Wu of the Yuan Dynasty, loved books very much. He collected, copied, and bought books many times. As a result, the collection of books in Bifu reached more than 100,000 volumes, which was the largest collection of books in the Liang Dynasty.

Books in the Liang Dynasty were burned twice.In the second year of Zhongdatong (547 A.D.), Emperor Wu of Liang caught fire when he was condolences to the troops of Hou Jing, the surrendered general of the Eastern Wei Dynasty.In the second year after that, Hou Jing raised his troops to capture Jiankang and forced Emperor Wu of Liang to death.Liang Yi, the son of Emperor Wudi of Liang, put down the Hou Jing Rebellion, and proclaimed himself emperor in Jiangling (now Jiangling, Hubei) as Emperor Liang Yuan.Emperor Yuan collected more than 70,000 volumes of books in Luo Wende Hall and various places in Jiankang, and moved them to Jiangling.He also purchased and copied the missing books from private book collectors, so that the books of the Liang Dynasty could be restored.At the end of November in the third year of Chengsheng (January 555 A.D.), the army of the Northern Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty captured Jiangling.Emperor Liang Yuan surrendered and was killed.Before surrendering, he felt that "if you read thousands of volumes, you still have today", and in depression, he ordered his attendant Gao Shanbao to burn the 140,000 volumes of ancient and modern books collected by the Liang Dynasty.This is another huge loss in the history of Chinese book collection!

The Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties in the Southern Dynasties all had secret collections of books.Due to the large number of books in the Liang Dynasty, Buddhist scriptures were collected in Hualin Garden; scriptures and historical miscellaneous books were stored in Secret Pavilion; others were stored in Wende Hall.Liang Chao has noticed the problem of duplicate books, and they have hidden the duplicate books elsewhere. The library management organization in the Southern Dynasties was basically managed by the secretary province, with a secretary supervisor, and under it were officials such as secretary Cheng, secretary Lang, and Zhuo Lang.During this period, the patriarchal system was extremely prevalent, and the children of the gentry often admired high-ranking officials and cleared their posts, so most of these official positions in the Secretary's Ministry were held by them.For example, Xie Lingyun (385-433 A.D.), Wang Jian (452-489 A.D.), and Ren Fang (460-508 A.D.) were officials in charge of books in the Song, Qi, and Liang dynasties respectively.

In the north, before the unification of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it was the period of the sixteen kingdoms.Due to successive years of wars, book collection was not on the agenda at all.Although individual rulers wanted to collect books, due to the chaotic current situation, little effect was achieved.Tuoba Tao, Emperor Taiwu of the Wei Dynasty, unified the north in the fifth year of Taiyan (AD 439).After the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Western Wei Dynasty, Northern Qi Dynasty, and Northern Zhou Dynasty appeared successively in the north. Together with the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were five dynasties in total, which are called the Northern Dynasties.Because the Northern Wei Dynasty paid attention to absorbing Han culture, Emperor Daowu, Emperor Xianwen and Emperor Xiaowen successively launched three times to visit books and solicit books.In particular, Emperor Wei Xiaowen moved his capital to Luoyang, implemented reforms, and promoted Sinicization.In the nineteenth year of Taihe (495 A.D.), it was ordered to "ask for the world's suicide notes, and the secretary does not have them. Those who use them when they are beneficial will be compensated preferentially" ("Wei Shu·Xiaowen Emperor Ji").In order to accurately find out the shortage of books in the Northern Wei Dynasty, he sent people to compile a "Catalogue of Wei Que Books", requesting books by title, and borrowing books from the Qi Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty for people to copy, so that the books of the Bifu were gradually enriched.At the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Er Zhurong rebelled, and a large number of national books were lost.After that, the country split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei, and then the Eastern and Western Wei were replaced by Northern Qi and Northern Zhou. The collection of books in the Northern Qi Dynasty was no more than 10,000 volumes, and that of the Northern Zhou Dynasty was only 5,000 volumes. During the more than 300 years of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the country was divided and turbulent, wars were incessant, and dynasties changed frequently.When the political situation is stable, the country will collect books; when there is war, the books will suffer losses.Therefore, during this period, the national collection of books formed a situation of gathering and losing. Due to the emergence of paper, books are easy to copy and preserve, so private collections of books are more recorded than those in the Han Dynasty.Wang Bi (226-249 A.D.), a philosopher during the Three Kingdoms period, collected as many as ten thousand volumes of books, and wrote "Notes on Laozi" and "Notes on Zhouyi". He was the pioneer of metaphysics in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.Wang Can (177-217 A.D.), one of the Seven Sons of Jian'an, was a famous bibliophile and had received thousands of volumes of books from Cai Yong.The most famous bibliophile in the Shu Kingdom is Xiang Lang. He "dedicated himself to classics and worked tirelessly. He was over 80 years old, and he still corrected books by himself, published errors, and accumulated volumes. He was the most at that time. He opened the door to receive guests and lure the backward." " Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms Shu Shu Biography of Xiang Lang".The most famous bibliophile in the Western Jin Dynasty was Zhang Hua (232-300 A.D.). "Book of Jin Zhang Hua Biography" said that he "collected books for thirty times" when he moved.He also said that he "loves books, and when he died, his family had no money left, only literature and history overflowed in a few boxes".In Zhang Hua's collection, there are many "mysteries in the world and rare in the world", so that when the secretary supervises the selection of national collections, he has to rely on some editions of Zhang Hua's collection for correction.In addition, "Book of Jin Fan Ping Biography" records that Fan Wei of the Western Jin Dynasty has more than 7,000 volumes of books, and more than a hundred readers from far and near often come to his home to read. Fan Wei is very hospitable and prepares meals for them.Due to the political turmoil in the Southern Dynasties, the national collections suffered a lot, but the private collections were less affected, so that some bibliophiles with tens of thousands of volumes appeared.For example, Zhang Zuan, the son-in-law of Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan, collected tens of thousands of volumes, and was probably the largest bibliophile at that time.Lu Cheng also had a large collection of books. "Southern History·Zhang Shui Biography" records that "Cheng has more than ten thousand volumes of books". Zhang Shou and his son Lu Shaoxuan were friendly and often went to Lu's house to read his books. "Southern History The Biography of Lu Cheng" said that people at the time joked that Lu Cheng was a "bookcase".There are many lost books in his family, which are rare.Another well-known bibliophile is Cui Weizu of the Southern Qi Dynasty. It is recorded in "Southern History Cui Weizu Biography" that he was "eager to learn, and gathered thousands of volumes of books. The young and good-for-nothing neighbors came to borrow them under the guise of dozens of days, and took them personally. It is not a resignation. In addition, Wang Sengru, Zhang Mian, Shen Yue, and Ren Fang were also bibliophiles who had a large collection of books at that time. The private collection of books in the Northern Dynasties was smaller than that in the Southern Dynasties, and the scope was also limited.Yan Zhitui, Xin Shu, Sima Ziduan, Li Mi, etc. all have a large collection of books.Xin Shu not only hired people to copy books that he did not have, but also sent people to Huainan to collect excellent books from the Southern Dynasty, so his book collection exceeded ten thousand volumes. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, despite the social turmoil and years of wars, many classics were preserved and circulated for two reasons: first, paper was produced, and copying of books became popular, so that lonely books had to be duplicated.History books record the touching deeds of many scholars who committed themselves to copying books.Yuan Jun of the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties lost his parents in his early years. His family was poor and had no books, but he was diligent and eager to learn. He often borrowed books from others to copy by hand. "Southern History·Shen Linshi Biography" records that Shen Linshi, a native of the Southern Qi Dynasty, had a poor family and made a living by weaving bamboo curtains. He often borrowed books to recite, weaving curtains, and reciting books.Afterwards, he lived in seclusion, lectured on scriptures and read books.In the meantime, his collection of books was burned. Although he was over 80 years old, he still copied books, and he remained committed to it.Many ancient classics in our country have been preserved under the efforts of many studious people.Second, many book collectors cherish viewing books very much, pay attention to collection, and love books like life, so they keep the classics intact. "Southern History·Qiu Juyuan Biography" records that Yu He's poor house leaked, and he was afraid that the rain would wet the books, so he opened the quilt and covered the books.