In the southeast corner of the old Rong Garden (now people's park), there is a small courtyard of more than 100 square meters, with a barren staircase and a long iron gate. In the middle of the courtyard, there is a traditional building with flying eaves and arches, that is, the library building of Li's Yangu Hall, the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion.
Built in 1886, the Li's Yangutang Scripture Pavilion is the only remaining Qing Dynasty library in Tianjin
According to the "Records of the Renovation of the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion", the pavilion was built in the twelfth year of the Qing Dynasty (1886), covering an area of 150.51 square meters, with a construction area of 191.65 square meters and a total height of 14.2 meters. The pavilion has three floors, the second floor is a place for books, and it is surrounded by an outer gallery, where you can enjoy the scenery of the garden. In his diary on March 11, 1916, the former Qing dynasty widow Edo er Rongqing wrote about the visit to Li Garden: "Peach blossoms are full of peach blossoms, willows are green, starting in the west garden pavilion, followed by the east library for a long time", the book building mentioned in the text, that is, the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion. Rongqing also wrote a poem as a memory: "Full of peach blossoms and guests leaning on the building, green pines are like curtain willow silk." This year's Spring Festival Gala spring is always there, and the second time to find fangs until autumn. ”
Famous bibliophile Li Shiming
Li Shi was originally a family of poetry, and the ancestor Li Jingqi once wrote the "Yangu Zhai Poetry Collection", from which the name "Yangu Tang" of the Li clan hall was derived. When it reached the seventh Li Chuncheng and his four sons, Li Shiming and Li Shijun were the most famous. Li Shiming zixiang was the eldest son of Li Chuncheng. In the second year of Guangxu (1876), the aid example was the hubu alternate Langzhong, yunnan division walking. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, he prepared for the constitution in Tianjin and created the Constitutional Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, as the president. He is the author of "The Case of Confucianism in the National Dynasty" and "The Biography of Famous Doctors in Past Dynasties". Li Shiyi (李士鉁字嗣香) was the second son of Li Chuncheng. He was a member of the same family as his brother Shiming, and in the third year of Guangxu (1877), he was a Scholar of hanlin Academy, taught editing, transferred to Hanlin Academy, and was transferred to Hanlin Academy to study for a bachelor's degree, lichong Wenyuan Geli, Wu Yingdian Titong, And Guoshiguan Repair, etc. He is the author of "Notes on Zhou Yi", "Commentaries on the Diamond Sutra", and "Records of Samadhi". The Li dynasty had a collection of books, but it was not until Li Shiming and Li Tujun entered their heyday that the Yangutang collection became one of the great bibliophiles. The Li family has strong financial resources and does not hesitate to buy books at high prices, so the Beijing-Tianjin Shujia flocks to it. Lun Ming's "Chronicle Poems of The Book Collection Since Xinhai" said: "Li Shizhen (when it was a 鉁), a coastal resident, searched for books Wu Yue and transported to Beijing and Tianjin. Shuangjiang Erma Chuanwen Yuan, if Lu Yan praises the good people. "It is said that at that time, the Li clan of Yangutang collected the old places scattered by the Siming Lu Clan Baojing Building, the Nanling Xu Clan Jixue Building, and the Liaocheng Yang Clan Haiyuan Building. Li Shi also paid attention to the writings of the townspeople, and one day Li Zixiang found a variety of works by the townspeople in the broken paper pile in the city. Gao Lingwensuo, who was compiling the county chronicle, came to review it, and saw that they were all banknotes, and there were small prints of Rao Shengsheng, of which the "Collection of Poems of the Qingli Resident" and the "Collection of Essays on the Desire to Rise up in the Bamboo Building" were the most expensive. Gao Lingwen believes: "This is the most heartfelt thing since the interview." For the Li collection of books in Yangutang, Gao Lingwen gave an evaluation in the "Zhiyu Essays": "The Tianjin Book Collection House, which has no knowledge in the past, has both and may not be the ratio of Cao Cang, and the collection of Li Rongyuan is thin and refined, and its writings have more than 100 kinds of Song and Yuan editions, more than 200 kinds of Ming manuscripts, and the wealth of the collection is the crown of the Northern Province."
In addition to the collection, Li also published some books, such as the Interpretation of the Diamond Sutra, the Interpretation of the Lengyan Sutra, the Interpretation of the Vimalaya Sutra, etc., as well as other Buddhist and Confucian works, which are commonly found in old bookstores. The author has seen two volumes of "Correction Of The Interpretation of Sitting Flowers and Fruits", which are printed by the Commercial Press. "Yangutang Li Clan Genealogy" is a letter of four volumes in white paper and thread, including three volumes of genealogy and one volume of Yanguzhai poetry collection. "The Seventy Birthday Of Mr. Li Xiang" is a letter and four volumes, printed by Tianjin Huaxin Printing Bureau.
Much of Lee's collection is stored in the Scripture Cabinet. In 1926, with the death of Li Shiming and Li Shiyi one after another, the Yan clan divided their families and property, and the collection of books was also stored everywhere and gradually dispersed, the largest of which was sold to the Beiping Library for 60,000 yuan by Li Shichen's son Li Dianchen (the son-in-law of the famous Guangxu minister Yun Yuding in the late Qing Dynasty) for 60,000 yuan, including many rare books. According to Wang Chongmin's "Compendium of Chinese Good Books", there are 91 kinds. Among them, the sixteen volumes of the Song carved "Zhou Yi Play" are the most famous, and Wang Chongmin gave a full affirmation to the value of the information of the book: "The only book is the Tongzhitang engraving, and the Tongzhitang ben translates the Yuan Dade Ben, and the Dade Ben immediately comes out from here." Yu zhi school Tongzhitang has several pages, and sees that there are many errors in it, and it is beneficial to know the goodness of this book. Although Gao Lingwen said that there are "more than 100 kinds of Song and Yuan editions", from the collection of the "Compendium of Chinese Good Books", it is mainly based on the Ming Dynasty banknote engravings, and there is no shortage of valuable documents, such as the four volumes of "Mao Shi Guyin Kao" compiled by Ming Chendi, and the Ming Wanli inscription, which is the earliest initial engraving of the book. Another example is the eight volumes of the Ming Wanli Shen Qinan's "Yanzi Spring and Autumn", which has been praised by later scholars. The Yangutang collection also contains the Ming Jiajing engraving "Chu Shi Han Zhuo" and the Ming Wanli Zhong-engraved series "Secret Book Collection Letter". There are also banknotes of Wu Yifeng, a famous bibliophile of the Qing Dynasty, such as the six volumes of "(Zhizheng) Kunshan County Chronicle" written by Yang Zhen in the Yuan Dynasty; one volume of "(Chunyou) Yufeng Zhi" and one volume of "Continuation Zhi" written by Ling Wanqing and Bian Bao in the Song Dynasty; one volume of "Huqiu Mountain Zhi" and three volumes of "General Collection" written by Wang Bin of the Ming Dynasty, which are also very precious.
Some of the books in The Yangutang collection are also in the "National Library" of Taiwan, such as the first year of Song Kaiqing (1259), Tang Han and other Fuzhou publications "Mr. Xishan Zhenwen Zhonggong Reading Secretary", Ming Chenghua Ninth Year (1473) Jiangxi Fansi Cover song periodicals, the early Ming edition Of Liu Xiang", the twenty-volume "Zhuzi Language Category" of Liu Xiang's "Saying Garden" and so on.
It is also worth mentioning that in 1930, Li Dianchen also donated 350 boxes of books, inscriptions and other boxes to the Muzhai Library of Nankai University, but unfortunately most of them were destroyed by Japanese artillery fire in 1937. It was donated to Nankai University, and later compiled a mimeographed edition of the "Bibliography of the Li Clan Old Collection of Tianjin Yangutang", which is divided into five categories of sub-collections of classics and histories. Among them, there are 546 species of jingbu, 964 species of shibu, 847 species of sub-divisions, 1882 species of jibu, and 487 species of congbu. In addition, there are 14 kinds of uncompleted fragments and 88 kinds of inscriptions in the appendix, for a total of 4828 kinds. This part of the collection of books from the Ming Dynasty to the Republic of China, mainly Qing carvings, there is no lack of Ming ben. In addition, the Tianjin Library also has a copy of the "Yangutang Bibliography". There are 216 kinds of recorded books, including 32 kinds of Song Ben, 36 kinds of Yuan Ben, and 92 kinds of Ming Ben.
Yangutang Li Clan Zangmu Xuan Four Books said
Since the late Qing Dynasty, there have been many bibliophiles in Tianjin, but the bibliophiles of Tianjin books, and those who have a certain influence in the country, with Yangutang as the most, and their book collection activities also occupy an important position in the modern Tianzang culture.
(Qu Zhenming)
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Excerpted from: "Hexi Origin Under the Tile House"
Publisher: Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences Press