Recently, 98-year-old version catalog scholar Shen Xieyuan "went out of the circle". Through the second season of the popular humanistic documentary "But There Are Books", more and more people have come to know this grandfather who works and studies in the library every day, and exclaims that he is a contemporary "sweeping monk".
Video source: Purple Mountain Video
It should be known that Shen Xieyuan is a veteran figure in the field of domestic version bibliography, and is known as the "ancient book living dictionary" in the industry.
"I've been doing two things in Nantu for decades, one is cataloging, and the other is going outside to buy books." Shen Lao introduced that in 1955, he entered the Nanjing Library and engaged in the collation and research of ancient books. Through his procurement and collation, thousands of ancient books and rare books were sent to the Nanjing Library. Among them is a volume of the Northern Song Dynasty's "Greenhouse Bathing Monks' Sutra", which is listed in the "Treasures of the Ten Town Halls of the Southern Map".
At the end of the 1970s, the compilation project of the Bibliography of Ancient Chinese Books was launched.
This is the most massive project in China in the past hundred years, which has gathered library experts and scholars in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and other places.
Shen Lao participated in it and served as the editor-in-chief of the sub-department. In order to work, he traveled for ten years in Beijing and Shanghai, living a life of home.
In the era of no Internet, Shen Lao and 40 other researchers read hundreds of thousands of ancient book cards intensively, relying on their own knowledge to screen "human flesh".
In that environment, Shen Xieyuan's optimism and humor left a deep impression on everyone.
In 1995, the Bibliography of Ancient Chinese Books was finally completed after eighteen years. In terms of quantity and content, this bibliography surpasses the official and private bibliographies of previous dynasties, and is considered to be the most authoritative joint catalog of ancient books and rare books in China. Shen Lao was also awarded the "Special Contribution Award" by the Ministry of Culture.
Although it has been more than 30 years since he retired from the Nanjing Library. However, Shen Xieyuan retreated without stopping. I still insist on getting up at six o'clock every morning, taking the bus at seven o'clock, and arriving at the library at eight o'clock, rain or shine.
Today, while providing advice and assistance for the development of nantu ancient book business, Shen Lao continues to sort out the inscription collection of Qing Dynasty bibliophile Huang Pilie.
Huang Pilie, a native of Suzhou, was a famous bibliophile and collator in the Qing Dynasty, and was known as "the first person to collect books in five hundred years". In his life, he loved to write trekking, and most of the ancient books he commented on were of great value, and even made "Huang Bao" a proper noun.
Adhering to the principle of "seeking truth from facts in doing scholarship", Elder Shen not only re-proofread the Huang Bao collection of his predecessors and corrected many errors in the old editions, but also tried every means to search for those "Huang Bao" scattered everywhere and had not yet been discovered.
A lifetime
Immerse yourself in the collation and research of ancient books
Shen Lao wished for himself
Be able to live every day well
Leave something useful for future generations
(Guangming Daily all-media reporter Liu Hasho correspondent Wang Feng)
Source: Guangming Daily all-media reporter Liu Hasho correspondent Wang Feng
Image credit: Screenshot of "But There Are Books" Season 2 Episode 1 "Our Library"
Editor-in-charge: Zhang Yongqun
Editors: Xing Yanyan Wu Yaqi