Chapter 12 Section 3 Classification and Cataloging of Books

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, more than 10 national school books were carried out.Secretary Lang Zhengmo was in charge of the proofreading work during the Wei Dynasty, and finally formed the national bibliography - "Zhongjing", which is now lost.In the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, sent famous scholar Xun Xu to preside over the work of sorting out books. He compiled the "New Book of Chinese Classics", which divided Chinese books at that time into four categories: A, B, C, and D, representing the classics, zi, and history respectively. ,set. The general preface of "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi" states:

Secretary Supervisor Xun Xu, because of the "Chinese Classic", changed the "Xin Book", which is divided into four parts, summarizing the group of books.The first is called Part A, which contains books on six arts and other books; the second is called Part B, which contains the families of ancient scholars, the families of modern scholars, military books, military strategists, and art data; In the Ding part, there are Shifu, Tuzan, and Jizhong Shu. The four parts of Dafan are 29,945 volumes. This is the earliest four-part classification of ancient Chinese books.It is very likely that Zheng Mo's "Zhong Jing" is divided in this way, but it has not survived and cannot be confirmed.It is worth mentioning that in the Western Han Dynasty Liu Xiang, Liu Xin and his son's "Seven Strategies", books are divided into six categories, and the history books are only placed in the Spring and Autumn sub-category of Liuyi Lue, while Xun Xu identified Part C as the history class and stand alone.This improvement was not invented by Xun Xu out of thin air, but reflected the current situation of book development at that time.During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, historiography has made great progress. The history books at that time include not only the history books of ancient chronology (such as "Spring and Autumn"), but also the history books of biographical style (such as "Historical Records", "Hanshu", etc.), and there are also records of emperors. Notes on daily life, as well as history books such as genealogy and local chronicles, so Xun Xu made the history category into a large category and made it independent.

Emperor Mu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty sent Li Chong to sort out the books. "Book of Jin·Li Chong Biography" stated: "At that time, the classics were chaotic, filling and deleting were troublesome, and they were divided into four parts based on categories, which was very coherent." Li Chong sorted out the books collected by Emperor Jin and Yuan in the early Eastern Jin Dynasty, and compiled It became the "Catalogue of the Four Parts of Emperor Jin and Yuan".This catalog is still based on the classification idea of ​​Xunxu's "New Book of Chinese Classics" in the Western Jin Dynasty, and divides the catalog into four parts: A, B, C, and D. The classics, history, sons, and collections are in order.Li Chong's classification method of classics, history, sons and collections has been used by later generations since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and has become the main classification method of ancient Chinese book catalogues.

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