Libraries in China
Encyclopedia
Early in the history of China
, scholars had extensive private libraries, and all of the imperial dynasties
constructed libraries
and archive
s to house literary treasures and official records. The first modern libraries, however, did not appear in China until the late nineteenth century; even then, library service grew slowly and sporadically. In 1949 there were only fifty-five public libraries at the county level and above, most concentrated in major coastal commercial centers.
Following the founding of the People's Republic, government and education leaders strove to develop library services and make them available throughout the country. The National Book Coordination Act of 1957 authorized the establishment of two national library centers, one in Beijing
(National Library of China
) and the other in Shanghai
(Shanghai Library
), and nine regional library networks. Even so, libraries still were scarce, and those facilities that were available were cramped and offered only rudimentary services. Seeing the lack of libraries as a major impediment to modernization
efforts, government leaders in the early 1980s took special interest in the development of library services. The special concentration of funds and talent began to produce significant results. By 1986 China had over 200,000 libraries, including a national library and various public, educational, scientific, and military libraries. More than forty Chinese institutions of higher learning
also had established library science
or information science
departments. There were more than 2,300 public libraries at the county level and above, containing nearly 256 million volumes, and below the county level some 53,000 cultural centers included a small library or reading room.
At the end of 2004, China had 2,710 public libraries with a collection of over 400 million copies. Of the university
or college
libraries, the collections of Peking University
and Zhejiang University
libraries lead the nation. The national library network also includes scientific research institution libraries, trade union libraries, plus libraries and reading rooms attached to government institutions, army units, primary and secondary schools, townships, enterprises and local communities.
, housed a rich collection of books, periodicals, newspapers, maps, prints, photographs, manuscripts, microforms, tape recordings, and inscriptions on bronze, stone, bones, and tortoiseshells.
The National Library of China, with a collection of 25 million volumes, is the largest library in Asia
, having the largest collection of Chinese books in the world. In the library's collection are over 30,000 oracle bone
s and tortoise shells carved with ancient Chinese characters, 1.6 million volumes of traditional thread-bound books, over 1,000 volumes of documents from Dunhuang Grottoes, 12 million volumes of foreign-language books and magazines, and dozens of electronic databases.
The library started to accept the submissions of official national publications in 1916, becoming the main national database; and began to accept submissions of domestic electronic publications in 1987. It is also the country's ISSN (International Standard Serial Number
) Center and Network Information Center. At present, the National Library of China has formed a digital library
alliance with some 90 other libraries around the country, making joint efforts in promoting the development and application of China's digital public information service. The second phase of the National Library - China Digital Library, whose foundation was laid at the end of 2004, is planned to be completed and commissioned in October 2007. The expanded library will be able to meet book storage demand for the next 30 years. The Digital Library will make it the world's biggest Chinese literature
collection center and digital resources base, as well as the most advanced network service base in China.
The Beijing University Library took over the collections of the Yanjing University Library in 1950 and by the mid-1980s - with more than 3 million volumes, one-fourth of them in foreign language
s - was one of the best university libraries in the country.
History of China
Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...
, scholars had extensive private libraries, and all of the imperial dynasties
Dynasties in Chinese history
The following is a chronology of the dynasties in Chinese history.Chinese history is not as neat as is often described and it was rare for one dynasty to change peacefully into the next. Dynasties were often established before the overthrow of an existing regime, or continued for a time after they...
constructed libraries
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
and archive
Archive
An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
s to house literary treasures and official records. The first modern libraries, however, did not appear in China until the late nineteenth century; even then, library service grew slowly and sporadically. In 1949 there were only fifty-five public libraries at the county level and above, most concentrated in major coastal commercial centers.
Following the founding of the People's Republic, government and education leaders strove to develop library services and make them available throughout the country. The National Book Coordination Act of 1957 authorized the establishment of two national library centers, one in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
(National Library of China
National Library of China
The National Library of China or NLC in Beijing is the largest library in Asia, and one of the largest in the world with a collection of over 23 million volumes...
) and the other in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
(Shanghai Library
Shanghai Library
Shanghai Library is the second largest library in China after the National Library of China in Beijing. It is located in Shanghai, China. At 24 stories and 348 feet tall, it is the tallest library in the world...
), and nine regional library networks. Even so, libraries still were scarce, and those facilities that were available were cramped and offered only rudimentary services. Seeing the lack of libraries as a major impediment to modernization
Modernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
efforts, government leaders in the early 1980s took special interest in the development of library services. The special concentration of funds and talent began to produce significant results. By 1986 China had over 200,000 libraries, including a national library and various public, educational, scientific, and military libraries. More than forty Chinese institutions of higher learning
Higher Learning
Higher Learning is a 1995 American drama film, starring an ensemble cast. It also featured Tyra Banks' first performance in a theatrical film...
also had established library science
Library science
Library science is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information resources; and the...
or information science
Information science
-Introduction:Information science is an interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information...
departments. There were more than 2,300 public libraries at the county level and above, containing nearly 256 million volumes, and below the county level some 53,000 cultural centers included a small library or reading room.
At the end of 2004, China had 2,710 public libraries with a collection of over 400 million copies. Of the university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
or college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
libraries, the collections of Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
and Zhejiang University
Zhejiang University
Zhejiang University , sometimes referred to as Zheda, is a national university in China. Founded in 1897, Zhejiang University is one of China's oldest institutions of higher education...
libraries lead the nation. The national library network also includes scientific research institution libraries, trade union libraries, plus libraries and reading rooms attached to government institutions, army units, primary and secondary schools, townships, enterprises and local communities.
National Library
The country's main library, the National Library of ChinaNational Library of China
The National Library of China or NLC in Beijing is the largest library in Asia, and one of the largest in the world with a collection of over 23 million volumes...
, housed a rich collection of books, periodicals, newspapers, maps, prints, photographs, manuscripts, microforms, tape recordings, and inscriptions on bronze, stone, bones, and tortoiseshells.
The National Library of China, with a collection of 25 million volumes, is the largest library in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, having the largest collection of Chinese books in the world. In the library's collection are over 30,000 oracle bone
Oracle bone
Oracle bones are pieces of bone normally from ox scapula or turtle plastron which were used for divination chiefly during the late Shang Dynasty. The bones were first inscribed with divination in oracle bone script by using a bronze pin, and then heated until crack lines appeared in which the...
s and tortoise shells carved with ancient Chinese characters, 1.6 million volumes of traditional thread-bound books, over 1,000 volumes of documents from Dunhuang Grottoes, 12 million volumes of foreign-language books and magazines, and dozens of electronic databases.
The library started to accept the submissions of official national publications in 1916, becoming the main national database; and began to accept submissions of domestic electronic publications in 1987. It is also the country's ISSN (International Standard Serial Number
International Standard Serial Number
An International Standard Serial Number is a unique eight-digit number used to identify a print or electronic periodical publication. Periodicals published in both print and electronic form may have two ISSNs, a print ISSN and an electronic ISSN...
) Center and Network Information Center. At present, the National Library of China has formed a digital library
Digital library
A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats and accessible by computers. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks...
alliance with some 90 other libraries around the country, making joint efforts in promoting the development and application of China's digital public information service. The second phase of the National Library - China Digital Library, whose foundation was laid at the end of 2004, is planned to be completed and commissioned in October 2007. The expanded library will be able to meet book storage demand for the next 30 years. The Digital Library will make it the world's biggest Chinese literature
Chinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
collection center and digital resources base, as well as the most advanced network service base in China.
Other Libraries
The Shanghai Municipal Library, one of the largest public libraries in the country, contained over 7 million volumes, nearly 1 million of which were in foreign languages. The Shanghai Library, well known at home and abroad, is China's largest provincial-level library. Of its collection, the over 1.7 million volumes of ancient documents are the most valuable and representative, including 25,000 titles of rare ancient books in 178,000 volumes, many being the only copies extant in the world. The oldest document dates back nearly 1,500 years.The Beijing University Library took over the collections of the Yanjing University Library in 1950 and by the mid-1980s - with more than 3 million volumes, one-fourth of them in foreign language
Foreign language
A foreign language is a language indigenous to another country. It is also a language not spoken in the native country of the person referred to, i.e. an English speaker living in Japan can say that Japanese is a foreign language to him or her...
s - was one of the best university libraries in the country.
Major provincial libraries
- Anhui Library 安徽省图书馆
- Capital Library (:zh:首都图书馆) in Beijing
- Chongqing Library 重庆图书馆
- Fujian Library 福建省图书馆
- Gansu Library 甘肃省图书馆
- Guangdong Library 广东省图书馆
- Guangxi Autonomous Region Library 广西自治区图书馆
- Guizhou Library 贵州省图书馆
- Hainan Library 海南省图书馆
- Hebei Library 河北省图书馆
- Heilongjiang Library 黑龙江省图书馆
- Henan Library 河南图书馆
- Hubei Library 湖北省图书馆
- Hunan Library 湖南图书馆
- Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Library 内蒙古自治区图书馆
- Jiangxi Library 江西图书馆
- Jilin Library 吉林省图书馆
- Liaoning Library 辽宁省图书馆
- Nanjing LibraryNanjing LibraryNanjing Library is the third largest library in China with over 7 million items. It houses important scientific, cultural and arts literature relating to Jiangsu province and other national historical records such as ancient Chinese and foreign publications...
南京图书馆 - Ningxia Autonomous Region Library 宁夏图书馆
- Qinghai Library 青海图书馆
- Shaanxi Library 陕西省图书馆
- Shandong Library 山东省图书馆
- Shanghai LibraryShanghai LibraryShanghai Library is the second largest library in China after the National Library of China in Beijing. It is located in Shanghai, China. At 24 stories and 348 feet tall, it is the tallest library in the world...
上海图书馆 - Shanxi Library 山西省图书馆
- Sichuan Library 四川图书馆
- Tianjin Library 天津图书馆
- Tibet Autonomous Region Library 西藏自治区图书馆
- Xinjiang Autonomous Region Library 新疆自治区图书馆
- Yunnan Library 云南省图书馆
- ZhejiangZhejiangZhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
Library 浙江图书馆
See also
- Hong Kong Central LibraryHong Kong Central LibraryHong Kong Central Library is the main library of Hong Kong. It is located at the intersection of Moreton Terrace and Causeway Road in Causeway Bay....
- Chinese Library ClassificationChinese Library ClassificationThe Chinese Library Classification , also known as Classification for Chinese Libraries , is effectively the national library classification scheme in China. It is used in almost all primary and secondary schools, universities, academic institutions, as well as public libraries...
(CLC) - Archives in the People's Republic of China
- Zhejiang University LibrariesZhejiang University Libraries SystemZhejiang University Libraries System or simply Zhejiang University Library or Zheda Library, is the libraries system of Zhejiang University, and one of the largest university libraries in China.-Introduction:...
- Boone Library SchoolMary Elizabeth WoodMary Elizabeth Wood was an American librarian and missionary, best known for her work in promoting Western librarianship practices and programs in China...
- Culture of the People's Republic of ChinaCulture of the People's Republic of ChinaThe culture of the People's Republic of China is a rich and varied blend of traditional Chinese culture with communist and other international modern and post-modern influences. During the Cultural Revolution, an enormous number of cultural treasures of inestimable value were seriously damaged or...
- Education in the People's Republic of ChinaEducation in the People's Republic of ChinaEducation in the People's Republic of China is a state-run system of public education run by the Ministry of Education. All citizens must attend school for at least nine years. The government provides primary education for six years, starting at age six or seven, followed by six years of secondary...
External links
- Chinese Library Network - SinoLib.com
- National Science and Technology Library of China — offers abundant science and technology related archive and information. Since 2002, the site upgraded to provide new services, such as Union Public Catalog, Periodical Catalog, and Experts Consult.
- Tsinghua University Library — Presents the homepage of the Tsinghua UniversityTsinghua UniversityTsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
Library. Includes introduction to the Library, its services, user's guide, feedback, news, online catalogs, web directories, electronic resources within and beyond the Library. Categorizes online libraries in China by province. - Peking University Library — Provides online access to its catalog and allows searching in English, Pinyin, and Chinese characters.
- Zhejiang University Library — A system of 5 libraries that provides comprehensive access to the university's library holdings. ZJU Library is also the host of the China-America Digital Academic Library (CADAL).
- Chinese Collection Asian Reading Room, U.S. Library of Congress