Guoyunlou is a famous private library in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. It was established by Gu Wenbin (1811-89) in the Qing Dynasty and has a history of more than 150 years. This private library preserves rich ancient documents for later generations.

 

Ancient books in Han Chinese represent 90 percent of the ancient books in China, with the remainder coming from ethnic minority groups. There are around 500,000 editions of ancient Han Chinese books with more than 50 million volumes in total.

In 2007, the recorded figures indicated that there were more than 37.1 million volumes of preserved ancient books nationwide housed in more than 800 institutions.

But after the “Ancient Chinese Book Protection Plan” initiative was launched in 2012, the National Library of China conducted a general survey and registration process for ancient books of national significance and discovered many works that were not well known.

Based on the current results of local surveys, there are more than 2,000 institutions that house ancient books and the total number of collected ancient books has surpassed 50 million volumes. With progress in the survey and registration process, the number of institutions and collected books will change.

It’s estimated that the survey and registration process will basically be completed by the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan. At that time, there will be relatively accurate data about preserved ancient books in China.

Public libraries have two key duties in terms of preserving ancient books: The first relates to protecting and restoring original manuscripts, while the second involves duplicating and recreating the knowledge contained within the books, and spreading their content digitally.

China has rich ancient document resources that contributed to the preservation of ancient Chinese cultural heritage. Both the government and private collectors are carriers of Chinese cultural heritage. Around 90 percent of the ancient books at the National Library of China come from private collectors. Private libraries play a significant role in preserving Chinese culture, as the government cannot securely keep all of these collections. Many books from national libraries in history have been lost. Private libraries should be developed as well. Only by achieving mutual interaction and joint development between public and private libraries, can Chinese culture safely be preserved.

 

Zhang Zhiqing is deputy curator of National Library of China.