On December 22, the bronze statue of Miao Quansun, the pioneer of China's library industry and the first director of the National Library of China, was unveiled at the National Library of China.
2019 coincided with the 110th anniversary of the establishment of the National Library of China and the 100th anniversary of Miao Quansun's death, and the Jiangyin Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government donated a bronze bust of Miao Quansun to the National Library (National Center for the Protection of Ancient Books) to commemorate his great contribution to the innovative development of the National Library and the Library industry in China.
More than 40 people attended the meeting, including Rao Quan, director of the National Library of China and director of the National Center for the Protection of Ancient Books; Zhang Zhiqing, deputy director of the National Library and deputy director of the National Center for the Protection of Ancient Books; Ji Jun and Cheng Zheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Jiangyin Municipal CPC Committee; Zhang Shaofeng, vice mayor; and experts and scholars from Peking University, Tsinghua University, the National Library, and the Nanjing Library, as well as descendants of Miao Tsuen's descendants. The meeting was presided over by Zhang Zhiqing, deputy director of the National Library of China.
Rao Quan said in his speech that this year is the 110th anniversary of the establishment of the National Library, and General Secretary Xi Jinping specially replied to the eight old experts of the Library, making a high evaluation of the historical contribution of the National Library, clearly positioning the importance of the library in social life, and putting forward earnest hopes for the further development of the library industry in the new era. In the face of the general secretary's entrustment, we look back on the past and profoundly realize that the National Library and the Chinese library industry have been enduring for a long time, and have always undertaken the historical mission of preserving the essence of the country and inheriting civilization, showing a grand atmosphere of open circulation and serving the society, which is inseparable from the thinking and practice of miao Tsuensun and other pioneers. At such an important time node, we accepted the bronze statue of Miao Quansun donated by the Jiangyin Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government on behalf of the people of our hometown, and placed him in the national library area to show that it was not easy to create the 110-year national map plan and the hardships of development and growth, which is not only a remembrance of the sages, but also a spur to inspire us.
Cheng Zheng said in his speech that Jiangyin has always vigorously carried forward the spirit of Miao Quansun and attached great importance to the development of the library, this year is the 100th anniversary of Miao Quansun's death, we specially produced a bronze statue of Miao Quansun and donated it to the National Library to commemorate his outstanding contributions to the construction and development of China's modern library industry and national library. As the hometown people of Miao Quansun, we will inherit and carry forward the fine tradition of advocating science and culture of our predecessors, have the courage to take on the heavy responsibility of the development of library undertakings, do a solid job in all aspects of public cultural services, actively innovate public reading service methods, vigorously expand public reading service functions, better meet the multi-level and diversified reading needs of the people, and promote the development of library undertakings to a higher level!
A number of experts and scholars from all over the country who have in-depth research on Miao Tsuen's life and scholarship express their admiration and remembrance of Miao Tsuen's lifelong learning from their respective perspectives. In his concluding speech, Zhang Shaofeng, vice mayor of Jiangyin City, focused on the historical and cultural origins of the famous city of Jiangyin, as well as important measures in recent years to excavate the culture of the sages and carry forward the spiritual heritage of Miao Quansun.
Miao Quansun, zi Xiaoshan, the old man of the art style, was born in 1844 in Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province. He has both learning and writing, and plays a pivotal role in the history of modern Chinese culture and education. Miao Quansun is recognized as the founding father of China's library industry, not only the founder and first director of the two major libraries of Guotu and Nantu, but also made historic contributions to the construction of public library collections and bibliographic research.
The bronze statue of Miao Tsuen-sun will be placed in the National Library for a long time in the future for the staff of the national map and the vast number of readers to visit and remember. (Guangming Daily all-media reporter Du Yu)
Bronze statue of Miao Tsuen Sun
