Ancient books and books appeared almost simultaneously. According to the records in Historical Records and other books, as early as the Zhou Dynasty, there were book collection institutions such as Cang Shi and officials in charge of books collection such as Shi Shi and Tai Shi. For thousands of years, with the development of culture, the progress of printing technology and the richness of ancient books, the number of book collection institutions in past dynasties has been increasing and improving day by day. After the Song Dynasty, private collections became a common practice, even surpassing the official collections.

Let's talk about "official collection" first.

The so-called "official collection" is the national collection of the feudal dynasty. Before the Spring and Autumn Period, books could only be kept in the hands of the government, and private individuals could not collect them. The "history" or "Taishi" of the Zhou royal family and the vassal States are officials responsible for "recording words" and "recording notes" and collecting books and documents. There was a "Tibetan room" in the Zhou Dynasty, which is equivalent to the current National Library. According to historical records, Laozi, the founder of Taoism, was once "the history of Zhou Shou's Tibetan room".

The establishment of the royal book collection system in China feudal society was in the Han Dynasty. As early as the early days of the People's Republic of China, Guo Xiang Xiao He built three libraries in the north of the main hall of Weiyang Palace in Chang 'an (now Xi 'an), namely Shiqu Pavilion, Tianlu Pavilion and Qilin Pavilion. It is the beginning of the specialized royal library in China. Shiqu and Tianlu later became nicknames for the royal collection. The royal library has always been called a secret house or a secret pavilion; Its collection is called "China Book" or "Secretary China". In order to prevent fire and moisture, the library in the palace of the Han Dynasty has a "stone room" made of stone, while the bookcase has a "golden room" wrapped in copper. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there were six collections: Yan Pavilion, Guangnei and Secret Room in the palace, and Taichang, Taishi and Doctor (that is, Taixue) in the official offices of foreign dynasties. According to Liu Xin's Seven Outlooks, there are 33,690 royal books in the Western Han Dynasty, which is the first time in the history of China that the number of royal books is clearly recorded. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, in addition to Dongguan, Lantai, Shishi and Renshou Pavilion, the Royal Library also contained books such as Xuan Ming Hall, Biyong and Hongdu School.

Since the Han Dynasty, officials in feudal dynasties have been in charge of collecting books. During the Western Han Dynasty, Yu (deputy prime minister)' s assistant, Yu, was in charge of supervision and was also the main official in charge of books. Lantai, where the official office of unloading history is located, is also an important library of the imperial court. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up a Taishi order, he was in charge of books all over the world. Sima Qian, a famous historian, succeeded his father Tai Shigong and had the opportunity to browse the royal library and wrote the immortal historical masterpiece Historical Records. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the officials in charge of books and documents were the school secretary Lang and the historian of Lantai. During the reign of Emperor Huan, a post of secretary supervisor was set up. Since then, from Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, the court has been in charge of books together with the posts of doctor and secretary supervisor. In the early Ming Dynasty, the post of secretary supervisor was abolished, and imperial academy's books were in the charge of the imperial palace. In Qing Dynasty, Wen Yuan Pavilion was in charge of government books, and its subordinate institutions included cabinet affairs and proofreading.

There was chaos in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the war never broke out. The national library has been lost. The third museum of the secretary province collects books of Wei Dynasty. During the Liang and Qi Dynasties in the Southern Dynasties, besides the collection of books in the palace, Hualin Garden was set up to collect Buddhist scriptures. Xun Xu, the secretary of the Western Jin Dynasty, and Li Chong, the author of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, initiated the four-part classification of classics, history, books and collections, which had a great influence on the collation and collection of books in previous dynasties.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the world was unified, the economy was prosperous and the culture was developed. The organization of the National Library is more perfect, and the number of books has increased dramatically. In the early years of Sui Dynasty, the imperial court collected more than 30,000 books, which reached 370,000 in Yang Di period. Yang Di used to collect books in the Guanwen Temple in Luoyang, the eastern capital. There are exquisite and gorgeous libraries on both sides of Guanwen Temple. There are two books (Jing He Shi) in the East Room and two books (books and books) in the West Room. There are also a large number of books in the Jiabian Temple of Chang 'an Palace. Unfortunately, these books were destroyed by the peasant war at the end of Sui Dynasty. By the early Tang Dynasty, there were only14,400 volumes and 89,000 volumes.

In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong ordered a wide purchase of books from all over the world, and selected officials' children with more than five products to copy and collect them. During the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, he ordered the "home of officials and scholars" to provide all the different books written by the state. In order to show the importance of book collection, the state changed the history museum and book collection office from the secretary province (changed its name to Lantai when Emperor Gaozong and Lintai when Wu Zetian was renamed) to the province of Zhongzhi and Zhongzhi. The royal collections are mainly collected in Hong Wen Museum, History Museum and Jixian Academy. During Xuanzong's reign, he began to sort out books, copied the original books, and collected four subsets of classics and history in East, West and Beijing, which were stored in four stacks. The name of "Siku Shu" came from this. According to historical records, when the collection of court books in the Tang Dynasty reached its peak in Kaiyuan, there were 125960 books in the eastern and western parts of Beijing. In addition, there are 28,469 works of the Tang Dynasty, more than 2,500 Buddhist and Taoist classics and 9,500 volumes.

During the Five Dynasties, block printing began to spread, which promoted the development of book collection industry. However, due to frequent wars, the imperial books were lost as in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Although there were collections of Zhao Wen Museum, History Museum and Jixian Academy in the imperial courts of past dynasties, it was far from the heyday of the Tang Dynasty. After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Taizong ordered the rebuilding of the three pavilions and named them "Chongwen Academy". Chongwen Courtyard, the East Gallery is Zhaowen Library, the South Gallery is Jixian Library, and the West Gallery is the Library of History Museum. The three halls of Tang Dynasty are divided into three places, the collection of books is mainly in Jixian Academy, while the collection of books in Song San is mainly in the First Hospital, and the collection of books is mainly in the History Museum. Later, a "Secret Pavilion" was set up in Chongwen College, and since then, there has been a "Four Treasures Museum". There are also books in the palace, such as Longtuge, Xuanhe Hall, Chen Yu Hall, Simen Hall and Taiqing Building in Hou Yuan. Although the Southern Song Dynasty was partial to the south of the Yangtze River, the imperial court extensively searched for books all over the south and set up a "supplementary writing office" to copy books in the secretary province. So the collection of books at that time was also considerable.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the collection of books was mainly concentrated in Wen Yuan Pavilion and Qing Library built during Jiajing period. It is the most complete archive of ancient national books in China, where important books and records of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as Records, Hadith, and Death, are hidden. The most famous royal library in Qing Dynasty is the so-called "Four Treasures and Seven Pavilions". That is, Wenyuan Pavilion in Beijing Palace, Wenshui Pavilion in Shengjing (Shenyang) Palace, Wenyuan Pavilion in Yuanmingyuan, and Jinwen Pavilion in Rehe Summer Resort, all of which are the North Fourth Pavilion; Also known as the Fourth Palace Museum. Wen Hui Pavilion in Yangzhou, Wenzong Pavilion in Zhenjiang and Wen Lan Pavilion in Hangzhou are all the South Umbrella Pavilions. The Sikuquanshu compiled during the Qianlong period was hidden in these seven pavilions. In addition, Zhaoren Hall, Jason Wu Extraction Room, Nanxun Hall, Ziguangge and Map Room are also important collections in the Qing court.

Although private books in ancient China originated earlier and existed as early as the Warring States Period, they became popular after the Song Dynasty. Especially in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. According to Mr. Wu Han's A Brief History of Book Collectors in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there are as many as 889 famous book collectors in the past dynasties in the two places. Amin scholar Hu Yinglin divided bibliophiles into doers and connoisseurs. Hong regarded the bibliophile as a scholar of textual research, collection and plunder (Beijiang Poetry). With different purposes, these bibliophiles collected rare books extensively, built rooms for storage, and made contributions to the preservation of China cultural classics.

Scholar-officials in the Song Dynasty had a rich collection of books, and there appeared famous bibliophiles such as Wang Shu, Song, Sima Guang, Father and Son, Ye Mengde, Chao, You Mao, Chen and Zhou Mi. In particular, Chao and Chen carefully collated their own books and wrote the earliest private bibliographic works in China, such as Reading Records of County Zhai and Bibliography of Zhi Zhai. In addition, there were many private lectures and folk collections in the Song Dynasty, such as four famous academies in the Northern Song Dynasty: Bailudong Academy in Lushan, Jiangxi, Yuelu Academy in Changsha, Hunan, Songyang Academy in Dengfeng, Henan, Yingtianfu Academy in Shangqiu, and Heshan Academy in Sichuan in the Southern Song Dynasty.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, private books in Jiangnan were very rich. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were three major bibliophiles in Changshu, Jiangsu Province: Zhao's Pulse Museum, Qian's Building and his Museum. Jiangyun Building has a very rich collection of books. During the reign of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, a fire accident happened and most books were destroyed. Qian Zeng gave the remnant scrolls to the grandsons of the clansmen. Qian Ceng Library has a "book valley hall" in its early years and a "garden" in its later years. He compiled the Book Collection Catalogue of Shugutang and the Garden Bibliography, and recorded more than 6,000 kinds of books. Jin Mao's "Jiguge" has a wide collection of Song and Yuan engravings, copied rare books and cheats, and collected more than 84,000 books, making it the largest private collection in all previous dynasties. Tianyi Pavilion, founded by Fan Qin, Ningbo, Zhejiang, is the oldest existing private library in China. The pavilion was built in Jiajing forty to forty-five years (A.D.1561-1566). Fan Qin loved books, and all of them were bought and hidden in the pavilion, totaling 70,000 copies. Fan Qin and his descendants established the family precepts of "Books are inseparable", "Books cannot be divided into generations" and "Books cannot be published". And made very strict regulations on the storage and reading of books in Tianyi Pavilion. Among them, the local chronicles of the Ming Dynasty and the list of Jinshi titles are the most precious. According to statistics, there are 435 kinds of records about provinces, prefectures, prefectures and counties in Tianyi Pavilion, which are more than those recorded in the History of Ming Dynasty, and now there are 268 kinds.

There are still many bibliophiles in Jiangnan in Qing Dynasty, especially ancient books in Song and Yuan Dynasties. For example, Huang Bulie, a room dedicated to storing Song editions, is called "Hundred Song Yi" and has collected nearly 200 Song editions. Famous bibliophiles and libraries in the south of the Yangtze River include Hangzhou Library in Zhejiang, Wang's Building, Bao Tingbo's Ignorant, Lu's Embracing Classics Building, and Xu's Building in Kunshan, Jiangsu. The famous bibliophiles in the north include the "30,000-Volume Building" by Weng Fanggang in Beijing, the "Qian Yi Hall" in the Changling of Manchu Dynasty, and the "Wumen Bookstore" by the graceful Mongols. There are four libraries in the late Qing Dynasty: Haiyuan Pavilion in Yang Yizeng, Liaocheng, Shandong, Bronze Sword Building in Qu, Changshu, Jiangsu, Lu Xinyuan Building in Gui 'an, Zhejiang, and Eight Thousand Volumes Building in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Haiyuan Pavilion collected more than 208,300 books in its heyday. Bibliography was compiled in the late Qing Dynasty, including 469 rare books, with more than 1 1000 volumes. Song Li Lou has twice as many books as Tianyi Pavilion, including 600 versions of Song and Yuan Dynasties. Unfortunately, all the books were bought by the Japanese on 1907 and kept in Jingjiatang Library in Tokyo, Japan.

(People's Education Electronic Audio-visual Publishing House)