Organizer/Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province Yangcheng Evening News
Text, video/ Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Sun Lei Chen Xiaonan
Photo/Provided by respondent (unless attributed)
In the government work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang on behalf of the State Council this year, the content of "strengthening the protection and utilization of cultural relics and ancient books" was put forward for the first time, which attracted widespread attention. Previously, the protection of ancient books was also included in the deployment of the key work of cultural tourism construction in Guangdong Province in 2022, which was just introduced, and was increasingly valued by the whole society.
Lingnan culture is an important part of Chinese culture and has also left us with rich ancient book resources. Strengthening the utilization and research of ancient book resources is of great significance to the construction of Lingnan Cultural Center.
Over the years, Guangdong's ancient book collation and protection work has been at the forefront of the country: according to the 2018 census statistics, Guangdong province has a collection of about 1.4 million ancient books; as of 2021, a total of 342 ancient books in Guangdong Province have been selected into the National Precious Ancient Books Directory.
Ancient books collected by the provincial library (Photo by Zhou Wei, reporter of Yangcheng Evening News)
Whether it is local literature, celebrity collections, customs archives, overseas Chinese documents, etc., the collection of ancient books in various libraries in Guangdong Province, du Dingyou, Gu Jiegang, Du Guoyu and countless unknown cultural people have gone through hardships and carefully collected and protected them to form today's scale. These ancient books and documents, which have experienced the artillery fire of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the smoke of gunfire on the eve of the founding of New China, embody the painstaking efforts and perseverance of generations of cultural people.
Among these ancient books, there are fine works engraved in Guangdong since the Ming and Qing dynasties, rare books treasured by Guangdong bibliophiles, and the hands of Chen Baisha, Wu Rongguang, Zeng Zhao, Chen Li, and other guangdong sages of the past; their books, engraved books, and collections all mark the development and change of Guangdong's history and culture, maintain the root of Lingnan culture, and are the cornerstone of Guangdong's construction of a culturally strong province.
Ancient books collected by the Provincial Pavilion (Photo by Deng Qiong)
【Context Case】
"Du Fengzhi's Diary": the cultural vitality of four million words
In the late Qing Dynasty, an official named Du Fengzhi, who spent more than ten years in Renzhi County and Zhizhou in Guangdong, left behind the most detailed and largest diary of local officials in the late Qing Dynasty, with nearly four million words.
Using the Internet search engine to enter "Du Fengzhi's diary", more than 130,000 relevant results jumped out, and the popularity of research and recitation can be seen. However, the now-famous "Diary of Du Fengzhi" was once "refrigerated" in the history department of Sun Yat-sen University, and few researchers have asked for it for decades, and only scholars such as Zhou Liankuan and Xian Yuqing have had sporadic research.
In 2007, the Guangdong Provincial Zhongshan Library and the Sun Yat-sen University Library included it in the "Qing Dynasty Manuscript Banknotes" under the name of "Diary of the Eunuch Yue of Wangkai Xingguan". In September 2021, the "Diary of Du Fengzhi", chaired by Qiu Jie, a professor of the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University, was printed and published by the Guangdong People's Publishing House, a set of 10 volumes.
"Du Fengzhi's Diary" points to the schoolbook
The process of point schooling is very long, and Mr. Qiu Jie has spent more than ten years. At first, he typed word by word on the keyboard, and then the publisher worried that the old man's body would not be able to eat, so he found a typist who recognized cursive and was willing to enter it.
For the editing and publication of "Du Fengzhi's Diary", the business team of the Ancient Books and Literature Branch of the Guangdong People's Publishing House "quarreled for more than a year": it was difficult to confirm the names of people, place names, and official names, and it was difficult to recognize words.
Mr. Qiu Jie said that this is also the reason why everyone knows that Du Fengzhi's diary is extremely valuable, but it has not been sorted out for a long time. Although the photocopy of the previous edition assumed the function of maintaining the original appearance of the document, the schoolbook is now to provide an easy-to-read version to readers with a certain amount of historical knowledge, and further promote the research and use of the diary.
Mr. Qiu Jie (Photo courtesy of Guangdong People's Publishing House)
Bai Feng, deputy editor-in-chief of the Guangdong People's Publishing House, told reporters that the work of publishing ancient books is extremely complicated, and it is not a matter of a few years or a few people who can achieve it overnight, and a set of books often requires the efforts of several generations.
Qiu Jie introduced that "Du Fengzhi's Diary" reflects the collision and fusion of Chinese and Western cultures in Guangdong in the late 19th century, and there are a large number of details in the diary describing the material and cultural life of Lingnan people, such as annual growth, prices, festivals and sacrifices, etc., which provide valuable materials for the study of local history in Guangzhou and even Guangdong.
Taking the flower market as an example, many studies have traced the origin of the flower market in Guangzhou to the Ming Dynasty or before, because in the Ming Dynasty, There were four major cities in Guangdong - Huashi (near WuxianMen in Guangzhou), Xiangshi (Liaobuwei, Dongguan), Yaoshi (Luofu by Chongxuan), and Zhushi (Hepu County, now part of Guangxi).
However, through the analysis of Du Fengzhi's diary, Mr. Qiu Jie deduced that the real large-scale flower market in Guangzhou should originate from the Republic of China: "Du Fengzhi's record can be described as a big detail, if there is a flower market in Guangzhou in the late Qing Dynasty, the diary should be recorded, including Du Fengzhi's visits as a local official, the arrangement of personnel and the maintenance of order, etc., but there is no relevant government affairs record in the diary." ”
Part of the business team of the Ancient Books and Literature Branch of Guangdong People's Publishing House
In addition, most of Du Fengzhi's diary is related to the officialdom, which meticulously and comprehensively describes all aspects of the officialdom in Guangdong and even the whole country in the late Qing Dynasty. On the basis of the "Diary of Du Fengzhi", Mr. Qiu Jie wrote the academic monograph "Mirror Image of the OfficialDom of the Late Qing Dynasty - A Study of du Fengzhi's Diary". On the basis of the existing research on the history of the political system and the legal system of the Qing Dynasty, the book fills in many key facts and details that have not been paid sufficient attention by previous generations.
From the lack of people to the collation of the school, and then to the publication of relevant academic monographs, "Du Fengzhi's Diary" has become an operational model for the complete chain of collation, publication and research of ancient books. As Mr. Qiu Jie said, this nearly four million-word diary will have a broader space for cultural excavation and lasting cultural vitality in the future.
【Context Status】
Collection to finishing Compilation to popularization
In 1941, when Mr. Du Dingyou presided over the work of the Guangdong Provincial Library, he put forward the policy of taking the preservation of Guangdong literature as the first, and established the Guangdong Literature Room, making the provincial library in Guangdong one of the pioneers of modern and contemporary local literature work in the mainland.
Today, the Guangdong Provincial Zhongshan Library (hereinafter referred to as the "Provincial Library") has a total of more than 40,000 kinds of ancient books and 470,000 volumes, and their protection of local ancient books and documents in Guangdong has also been strong for a long time and has achieved remarkable results.
The reporter went to the quiet and solemn special collection room of the provincial library, and in the quaint bookcase, the ancient books and local documents in the collection were arranged in different categories, including Guangdong local history, genealogy, Guangdong historical materials, Cantonese writings, Sun Yat-sen literature, newspapers, periodicals, and public opinion maps.
Special Collections Department of Guangdong Provincial Zhongshan Library
According to Ni Junming, a research librarian at the Provincial Library, guangdong cultural circles have long insisted on the collation of Lingnan classics, such as the earlier "Guangdong Local Literature Series" and "Lingnan Series".
In recent years, with the enhancement of the country's economic strength and the great importance attached to traditional culture, all parts of the province have increased the collation of traditional classics and launched a series of ancient books, such as "Guangdong Dynasty Fangzhi Integration", "Modern Overseas Chinese Newspapers and Periodicals", "Overseas Guangdong Rare Literature Series", "Lingnan Traditional Chinese Medicine Library", "Qing Dynasty Manuscript Banknotes", etc.; comprehensive such as "Guangzhou Classic", "Zhongshan Literature", "Dongguan Historical Literature Series", "Shaoguan Historical Literature Series" and so on.
"Qing Dynasty Manuscript Banknotes"
In 1991, the publication project of "Lingnan Library" was launched, which set a precedent for local libraries and laid a solid foundation for lingnan cultural research. Its selected topics cover the humanities and natural sciences of Lingnan, and mainly publishes works on Lingnan studies in academia at home and abroad, as well as famous works (including translated works) and ancient books and documents related to lingnan history and culture.
On the morning of December 11, 2021, the 30th Anniversary Academic Symposium of Lingnan Bunko, sponsored by Guangdong People's Publishing House, was held in Guangzhou
The Guangzhou Canon, which contains 4,064 ancient books from Guangzhou, is another peak for local literature editing and collation. Since the beginning of the compilation in 2005, ten years of grinding a sword, the Guangzhou Canon was compiled and photocopied and published in 2015.
As a large-scale series of historical documents, the canon contains rare documents from the area under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Prefecture in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, as well as Hong Kong and Macao. The industry believes that the number of documents, the scale of the department and the degree of sophistication of the "Guangzhou Canon" are the most comprehensive and systematic compilation and collation of the historical and cultural resources of Guangfu so far.
"Guangzhou Dadian Foshan Documenta Exhibition" site map
It is worth mentioning that the Lingnan Library and the Guangzhou Classic have successively launched popular book series, of which the Lingnan Cultural Knowledge Book Series, a popular series of Lingnan Library, has published 228 kinds.
Famous artists help the public to collect overseas treasures
Among the ancient books and documents collected by the public libraries in Guangdong, the collection of famous artists who have been acquired and donated occupies a very important position, and the Guangzhou Library has established a special collection system for celebrities.
Stepping into the Humanities Hall of Guangzhou Library, the Gate of Qili, Manchurian Windows, antique furniture The rich humanistic atmosphere of Lingnan is in full swing, and a large number of books donated by famous artists are preserved here, including Ou Chu, Wang Guichen, Liu Yisheng, Liu Sifen family, Jiang Boqin, Cai Hongsheng, Zhu Lei, etc. These celebrity collections have unique cultural and academic value and are invaluable collections of documents.
When the famous historian Professor Zhu Lei came to Guangzhou from Wuhan to attend an academic seminar, he visited the Guangzhou Library, and he was deeply impressed by the sophisticated book preservation environment here. From 2017 to 2019, Zhu Lei donated 5,604 kinds of books to the Guangzhou Library in batches, which are mainly historical documents and historical works, of which the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the History of the Sui and Tang Dynasties and Dunhuang Studies are the most abundantly studied, and the foreign language works of Buddhist books, Tang history and Dunhuang Studies are also quite rare.
Professor Zhu Lei's Collection area of the Humanities Museum of Guangzhou Library (Photo by Sun Lei)
It is a tradition for cultural masters in Guangdong to donate books. In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, a large number of folk collectors emerged in Lingnan, who often built their own library buildings with rich collections of books, and their cultural value was extremely high. Due to the special political, economic, scientific and cultural status of Lingnan in modern times, Guangdong has become a new center for the southward migration of the mainland's book collection.
Liang Dingfen, a famous poet and bibliophile in the late Qing Dynasty, personally promoted the transformation of private library buildings into "public". During his lifetime, he opened the first private "public" library with his own collection of books in his former residence on Jufan Street in Guangzhou, and after Liang Dingfen's death in 1919, his son donated more than 20,000 volumes of the book in his collection to the Guangdong Library (now the Guangdong Provincial Zhongshan Library). The donated books are now well preserved, and the mark left on each volume is a seal - "Panyu Liang's Kui Shuang Pavilion Donation Guangdong Library".
The Famous Lingnan scholar Xu Xinfu only liked to teach and collect books in his lifetime, and his "Nanzhou Library" has a rich collection of books, reaching more than 6 million volumes at its peak, including works by famous Artists of Guangdong in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, various precious documents and handwritten several rare Song and Yuan editions, and a large number of Ming engravings. A considerable part of Xu Xinfu's collection was later acquired by the provincial library.
Young readers learn to bind ancient books at the Guangdong Provincial Zhongshan Library
Li Zhaochun, the former director of the provincial library, once found that many Lingnan folk documents and archives flowed to Europe, such as Chaozhou Song Album, Nanyin, Cantonese Praise, Saltwater Song, etc., which are collected in many libraries in Europe. To this end, he specially sent colleagues to the Bavarian National Library in Germany, the Archives of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other places to inquire, and its considerable collection of Lingnan literature is amazing.
As a result, the provincial library actively cooperated with the country's overseas ancient books return project, collected a large number of rare ancient book archives from Germany, Canada, Japan, Portugal and other places, sorted out and edited the "Overseas Guangdong Rare Books Literature Series" and "Archives of the Consulate General of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Guangzhou", etc., which were photocopied and published by the Guangdong People's Publishing House, helping the Lingnan literature that had been displaced to "go home" again.
Guangdong Customs Archives: A Microcosm of China's History of Foreign Economic Exchanges in Modern Times
As a "thousand-year-old commercial capital", as early as the pre-Qin period, Guangzhou Port has been engaged in foreign trade, stretching until the Qing Dynasty set up the "Thirteen Elements", Guangzhou has become an undisputed foreign trade center. The Department of Customs and Taxation of Guangdong Customs has established a public office since 1860, and customs archives closely related to foreign trade have naturally become a major feature of Ancient Literature in Guangdong.
The Guangdong Provincial Archives has preserved 13,813 volumes of archives and 5 volumes of Wuzhou Customs archives of 10 customs offices from 1860 to 1949, including Guangdong Customs, Chao Customs (Shantou), Qiong Customs (Haikou), North Customs (Hepu), Jiulong Customs, Gongbei Customs, Sanshui Customs, Jiangmen Customs, Leizhou Customs and Qujiang Customs. Together with some of the customs archives held by the Second Historical Archives of China, they formed a complete customs archive of modern China.
In terms of types, these archives can be divided into laws and regulations, circular notices, receipts and issuances, periodic statements or special reports, and comprehensive statistical compilations compiled by the General Department of Customs and Taxation, etc. The number is huge, and the content includes the number of China's foreign goods transactions, the details and changes of Sino-foreign economic exchanges, etc.
According to Bai Feng, many scholars have always known that these archives are of high value, and in a sense, these archives have connected the history of China's foreign trade exchanges, which is actually a history of China's modern and contemporary foreign economic exchanges. However, most of these archives are in English, and it is very difficult to sort them out, and Guangdong continues to promote the collation.
A volume of "Guangdong Customs Manuscripts" exhibited at the "Wind is Hanging on the Sails - 40 Years of Guangzhou Library" (Photo by Sun Lei)
The compilation of Guangdong customs archives began very early, and can be traced back to Ma Shi's "Chronicle of the East India Company's Trade with China" and Liang Jiabin's "Guangdong Thirteen Elements Examination" and other treatises.
In the 1980s, the Guangdong Provincial Archives organized experts and scholars from Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Chinese (now Guangdong University of Foreign Studies) and other institutions to translate the Guangdong Customs Intelligence Archives "Anecdotes of Various Events in Guangzhou", forming a translation of more than 2 million words, which was renamed "Modern Guangdong Customs Archives and Guangdong Customs Intelligence Volume: Important News of Guangzhou in the Republic of China" when it was published in April 2018.
This is the only compilation document compiled by the original Guangdong customs archive system in China, which is a tracking record of the social situation, situation changes and major events in Guangdong in the West, and is invaluable to the study of the history of Guangdong from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China.
【Context Preview】
Digitization of ancient books is both feasible and necessary
Ancient books that have been preserved for hundreds or even thousands of years are very fragile, difficult to use for protection, and vulnerable to reuse. The digitization of ancient books offers practical solutions to this challenge.
In order to allow more members of the public to share the resources of ancient books and make full use of the value of ancient books, Guangdong has been promoting the digitization of ancient books for many years, and has successively photocopied and published a series of books such as "Guangdong Dynasty FangZhi Integration", "Guangzhou Canon", "Qing Dynasty Manuscript Banknotes" and so on.
While photocopying and publishing, we have also accelerated the digitization of ancient books. The Guangdong Provincial Zhongshan Library's Special Collection Literature Full-text Database has compiled about 3 million auctions of literature, of which 1.5 million auctions are open for readers to access for free.
"Guangdong Tongzhi" Huang Zuo (Ming) compiled
Digitization of ancient books is imperative. After comprehensive digitization, the rare books and rare books that were previously hidden in the basement can be "re-seen", and the richer and more comprehensive text information also helps to maximize the excavation and utilization of the historical information of ancient books, and the massive research materials also provide the possibility for new academic discoveries.
More importantly, online registration, online reading, and digital "stand-ins" can not only effectively protect the original ancient books, but also promote the use and dissemination of ancient book content.
Ni Junming suggested that the digitization of ancient books should give priority to the digitization of basic ancient book images to reduce the current contradiction between the protection and utilization of ancient books. At the same time, all parties need to work together to formulate unified standards and build a unified digital release platform, so that the digital results can be easily used and the digitization of ancient books can truly benefit the public.
【Expert Comments】
Working together to transform historical resources into cultural advantages
Liu Honghui (Chief Research Librarian, Guangdong Provincial Zhongshan Library)
In recent years, Guangdong has attached great importance to the collation and protection of ancient books, especially the emergence of large-scale series or collections such as the Guangzhou Canon, the Qing Dynasty Manuscript Banknotes, the Quan cantonese poems and the Lingnan Library, which have laid a good foundation for making full use of Guangzhou's cultural and ancient book resources.
At present, the scope and scale of ancient book collation in Guangdong are still being further expanded, and all kinds of donated and collected ancient books have been gradually sorted out, made into special bibliographies and made public, and the family background is clear, which is also conducive to scholars to carry out relevant research.
Ancient manuscripts collected by the Provincial Library (Photo by Deng Qiong)
At present, the largest scale of collation of cultural ancient books in the province is the "Guangzhou Dadian", which fully reflects a characteristic of the work of ancient books in Guangdong: full cooperation. More than 60% of its base books come from the Guangdong Provincial Zhongshan Library, and the rest come from the Library of Sun Yat-sen University, the Guangzhou Library and other companies, which is relatively rare in the country.
For those who are engaged in literary and historical research, the possession of exclusive information almost means that preliminary research results have been established. For librarians, however, books are their own, but knowledge should be worldwide. Scholarship is the public instrument of the world, so it is a very good thing to let Lingnan literature pass on for a long time. Therefore, in addition to protection, we must also let the ancient texts "live in the present".
In recent years, Guangdong has held a series of exhibitions related to ancient books, many of which have toured Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macao and even Los Angeles.
In 2019, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland, the Provincial Zhongshan Library and the Public Library of the Macao Cultural Affairs Bureau jointly held the "Linghai Collection of Treasures - Guangdong and Macao Precious Ancient Books Special Exhibition", which not only displayed rare books and ancient books in lingnan, revealed their historical and documentary and artistic value, but also introduced relevant knowledge such as ancient book editions, which helped to enhance the concept of ancient book protection in the whole society and promote cultural exchanges and cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
In July 2019, the "Linghai Lanzhen - Guangdong Provincial Zhongshan Library Collection of Precious Ancient Books Special Exhibition and Guangdong Provincial Ancient Book Protection Achievements Exhibition" was held (Deng Qiong photo)
Through the efforts of several generations of scholars, the collation and research of ancient books and books in Guangdong has achieved remarkable results, and it can even be said that it is at the forefront of the country.
However, in the collation, collation and publication of ancient books, we still need to further deepen, for example, there are still fewer works collated and published by important scholars in Lingnan, ming and qing dynasties, and there is a slight lack of compilation and research on scattered ancient books, and Guangdong currently does not have a leading professional ancient book publishing institution, and the cultivation of ancient book collation talents also needs to be strengthened.
In addition, the collation and publication of thematic literature serving the construction of contemporary culture in Guangdong is also a top priority. Under the new situation, how to give full play to the advantages of Lingnan cultural and ancient book resources and better serve the construction of Guangdong's culturally strong province is worthy of our deep consideration. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
For details, see the A12 edition of Yangcheng Evening News on March 9, 2022
Chief Planner / Wang Yiyang Du Chuangui Lin Haili
Director of the Editorial Board / Zeng Yingru Sun Aiqun Sun Xuan Hu Quan
Coordinator of this issue / Chen Qiaosheng Deng Qiong
Editor-in-charge | Deng Qiong
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Edit | Sun Lei