Lao Tzu as a "librarian".

In the 30s of the 20th century, archaeologists found a curled human skeleton in the cellar where the oracle bones were stored in Yinxu, buried in the pile of tortoise shells, and only the upper part of the head and torso were exposed. Because this oracle bone cellar is believed to be the "treasury of the Yin people's canonical books", experts speculate that he may have been the person who managed the tortoise shells, or the earliest "librarian" ever discovered. It's just a pity that he didn't leave his name.

At present, the earliest "librarian" or "librarian" whose name can be examined should be the author of the Tao Te Ching and the originator of Chinese philosophy - Lao Tzu.

Sima Qian said in the "Historical Records" that Lao Tzu "has the surname Li, the name and ear, the character Dan, and the history of the Zhou Shou Tibetan Room". The storage room is the place where the classics of the Zhou Dynasty are collected, collecting the literature of the world, collecting the books of the world, and the sweat cattle are full, and there are all kinds of "Three Tombs", "Five Classics", "Eight Suo" and "Nine Hills". Those historical materials and classics have been handed down from ancient times, including records, documents and objects related to major historical events such as politics, economy, military, astronomy, geography, humanities, laws and regulations, sacrifices, religion, education, diplomacy, and the royal family, which are equivalent to the current national library and archives.

At that time, "history" was an official position related to the recording of historical materials and the management of books and classics. Wang Guowei said that "history" is "the person who holds the book", "the historian" is "the official who holds the book", and "the books of the ancients are all the masters of history". "Zhou Li" said: "Shi Zhangguan wrote to praise the rule." That is to say, the duty of the historian is to be in charge of the government, the scriptures, documents and the drafting of documents, and to assist the monarch in governing the country. History is divided into big history, small history, internal history, external history, imperial history and female history. The Great History, also known as the Taishi, is the chief of the many histories, and the Little History is the deputy of the Great History, assisting the work of the Great History. Other histories also have different responsibilities. Although they differed in their areas of responsibility, they had one thing in common: the use of books or written laws to help monarchs govern the country. Lao Tzu served as the "Keeper Room History", that is, the official in charge of national cultural relics, historical materials, and classics, which is equivalent to the current administrator or director of the National Library and Archives.

As the administrator of the Zhou royal family, Lao Tzu's daily workload is very large. The oracle bones, bamboo slips, wooden slips, silk books, and linen books had to be sorted and numbered in chronological order, and arranged in a certain order; some of the books had to be straightened out again and decorated with new leather or hemp ropes because the strings were broken, the plates and pieces fell off, and the page numbers were messed up. But Lao Tzu did it with great interest. Some bamboo slips, wooden slips on the words, due to wear and tear and unclear, difficult to identify, but also need to be engraved or written in time, Lao Tzu according to the context, the necessary research, the lost words one by one. In this way, Lao Tzu has done a lot of research work, and his knowledge has become richer and richer. Because he did a good job, he was slowly promoted from an ordinary librarian to the "director of the National Library" - the history of the collection room. He also became a well-known scholar at that time, well-known, and his reputation spread throughout the country, and even Confucius came to ask him.

According to records, Confucius visited Lao Tzu many times in history, one of which was related to the collection of books.

"Zhuangzi Tiandao" tells a story: Confucius Xi collected books in the Zhou room. Zi Lu Mou said: "From the history of the Zhou Dynasty's expedition to Tibet, there are old and deaf people, so as not to return home, and if the master wants to collect books, he will try to go to the cause." Confucius said, "Good." "I went to see Lao Dan, but Lao Dan was not allowed......

This story says that Confucius hoped that the royal library of the Zhou Dynasty could collect his own works, and Lao Tzu, because the work of guarding the history of the library was not limited to the library of the capital, he did not simply collect classics, but also did the history of the collection, that is, he went to the suburbs and counties outside the city to collect style, collect folk poems and documents, and bring them back to be organized into a volume to supplement the national archives. Because he once held an official position such as collecting Tibetan history and was responsible for collecting and reviewing bibliographies, Lao Tzu was very familiar with this aspect of matters and related clerks. So Confucius went to see Lao Tzu, hoping that Lao Tzu could recommend him on his behalf. Why did Confucius let the Zhou royal family collect his own books? Because in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou royal family had already begun to decline, and the world was divided and the etiquette collapsed. Confucius was deeply concerned about this situation, and hoped that the Zhou royal family would adopt his advice and govern the world in accordance with the Confucian way. In order to promote his concept of governing the country to the Zhou royal family, he hoped that the Zhou royal family would collect his own books and look at his own books.

Unexpectedly, after listening to Confucius's meaning, Lao Tzu disagreed, because not all kinds of books can be put in the National Library for collection, and they must be needed by the Zhou royal family. Therefore, Confucius's desire to store books in the Zhou room was not negotiated. However, this also reflects from one side that Lao Tzu is a very conscientious person and does not relax his requirements just because he knows Confucius.

Lao Tzu, as the keeper of the history of the Tibetan room, was both a librarian and a meeting recorder, and worked hard for the books and classics of the Zhou royal family. However, all his efforts and achievements were unexpectedly wasted in an accident - these precious texts mysteriously disappeared.

This shocking case turned out to be committed by the prince of the Zhou Dynasty. It turned out that the theft of the books and classics was caused by the struggle for the throne: during the period when Lao Tzu was the keeper of the history of the Tibetan room, there was civil strife in the Zhou royal family over the issue of succession to the throne. In 520 BC, after the death of King Jing of Zhou, the two princes, Ji Chao and Ji Kuo, both established themselves as kings, and the two factions of the royal party fought each other for 5 years. In the fourth year of King Jing of Zhou (516 BC), the prince failed in the struggle and planned to defect to the state of Chu. In order to show that he was the orthodox successor of the Zhou royal family, Wang Zichao left with the classic archives of the Zhou royal family. Because the archives of the royal family are the context of the Zhou royal family. This also shows that the prince is confident that he can still regain the throne. But history didn't give him a chance. Later, King Jing of Zhou sent people into Chu and assassinated the prince's dynasty. The Zuo Biography records this momentous event, but does not mention the whereabouts of the Zhou royal classics.

The Zhou classics carried by the prince's entourage should be quite precious, and they should include documents and cultural relics from previous dynasties (referring to the Shang Dynasty, Xia Dynasty and earlier eras), as well as the edicts of the kings of the Zhou Dynasty, and perhaps the documents and archives of the princes and states. Unfortunately, after the prince Chao Benchu was killed, these priceless treasures were forever out of people's sight and disappeared. This has become an eternal mystery in Chinese history, and it has not been solved to this day.

Some people say that he followed the royal classics to the state of Chu, some people say that he rode a green ox to the state of Qin, and some people say that he returned to his hometown after being dismissed. Anyway, in the end, Lao Tzu's whereabouts have become a mystery that everyone can't guess for thousands of years, just like those royal classics. However, it was precisely because of his work experience in managing the royal texts that Lao Tzu was able to complete his Tao Te Ching, which had a profound impact on traditional Chinese philosophy, science, politics, religion, etc. To this day, there are still some libraries that revere Lao Tzu as a patriarch and set his image in a prominent position as a sign of respect and inheritance.