Chapter 26 Section 5 Circulation of Book Collection in Ming and Qing Dynasties

In Ming and Qing Dynasties, following the system since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, in addition to the collections of the inner government, many official collections were open to scholars.The collections of Guozijian and local prefectures and schools in the Ming Dynasty are available for students to read.This kind of official book is often printed with the words "the official book of a certain school, students are allowed to read it, and they are not allowed to take it out of the school gate".However, ordinary people are not allowed to borrow the books in Wenyuan Pavilion, and officials can only use the books in Wenyuan Pavilion when they are prepared to serve as consultants.In the Qing Dynasty, after the compilation of the "Siku Quanshu", approved by Qianlong, the copies of the "Siku Quanshu" and the Imperial Academy in the three southern pavilions, namely Zhenjiang Wenzong Pavilion, Yangzhou Wenhui Pavilion and Hangzhou Wenlan Pavilion, were once used by scholars. open.But the control is very strict, and only a few people can see the collection.As for the books granted by the imperial court to government schools and academies in various places, scholars had more contacts.

Bibliophiles in the Ming and Qing Dynasties paid more attention to collecting books than using them, which was not conducive to the circulation of books.For example, outsiders are not allowed to borrow books in the famous Tianyi Pavilion collection.Qi Chengxuan’s Danshengtang book collection stipulates that “children and grandchildren will take readers and review them in the hall. After reading them, they will put them on the shelf and not enter the private room. Relatives and friends borrow to read, and if there is a copy, they will respond, and if there is no copy, they will resign. The original cannot be taken out of the secret garden.” ("Dan Shengtang Shuyue").Of course, there are also a small number of bibliophiles who are willing to borrow. For example, Li Echong [Chong Chong] of Jiangyin and Yang Xunji of Wuxian County believe that "the best books in the world should be shared by scholars in the world."But there are not many such people among bibliophiles.In addition, it has become a customary rule for bibliophiles to borrow and copy each other, which is also a way of collecting books.

It is worth mentioning that Zhou Yongnian (AD 1730-1791) in Licheng, Shandong, was a Jinshi during the Qianlong period, and participated in the compilation of "Siku Quanshu".He once put forward the "Confucian Tibetan Theory", advocating that "the world's books should be divided into the world's schools, academies, famous mountains, and ancient temples", so that "poor people" who cannot afford to buy books can use them.It is also suggested that local governments and wealthy households should come forward to establish voluntary schools and free fields, accept book donations and provide them to poor scholars from all over the country to study for free.He also personally practiced, bought land by himself, established a "library garden", and moved more than 50,000 volumes of his collection of books into it, and his friend Guifu Qufu also donated the collection of books, which became a good story for a while.After Zhou Yongnian's death, the Library Garden was also disbanded.Zhou Yongnian's thoughts and career are worthy of praise in the history of Chinese book collection, and he is undoubtedly the pioneer of Chinese public libraries.