The Academic Value of Reading Records of County Zhai
The 20-volume Zhai County Records has many academic values. First of all, the book income reached 1492, which basically included all kinds of important classics before the Song Dynasty, especially the collection of classics in the Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty. Many of these classics have been lost and incomplete so far, and future generations can have a glimpse of them according to the bibliography summary. Secondly, the style is strictly arranged. The whole project is divided into four parts: classics, history, poems and collections, and the subordinates are divided into 45 subcategories. Books have big orders, some have big orders, and most small classes have small orders before them; Every book has problem solving, thus forming a rigorous and complete system. In the big preface and small preface of the book, the academic origins and changes of each department are emphasized, and the fine tradition of "distinguishing chapters and examining mirror origins" in ancient bibliography is brought into play. In particular, he is famous for his Confucian classics, so he has unique views on the evolution and abuses of Confucian classics in the pre-Qin, Han, Wei and Jin dynasties and the middle Tang Dynasty. Thirdly, because the recorded books are collected by the Chao family, the introduction of ancient books in the abstract is salty and has evidence, which is incomparable to other bibliographies that copy old records. The abstract written by Chao Shi is not only informative and well-founded, but also focuses on textual research, with detailed and appropriate content. For example, in the summary of other episodes in Cai Yong Collection, it is said: "Anyone who collects the official history of his people must stop talking about his words and narrate his hometown, and attach his final title ... If history is an anecdote, it will be a miscellaneous book, and there will be a test after the ordinary." The introduction of the author's life, reasons for his book, academic origin, relevant laws and regulations, anecdotes and other aspects can be cited in the records of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the national history of the Song Dynasty, the history of Deng Keji and the biographies of relevant historical figures for detailed textual research. Many of these materials have been lost today, so many abstracts written by Chao Shi have high historical value. Fourthly, Reading Records of County Zhai is the earliest private bibliography in China, which has a great influence on later bibliography. Chen, a bibliographer later than Chao, said, "What he invented is enough for the viewer." Chen's Jie Zhi Zhai is written with Reading Records as an example, and many of its contents refer to Chao's bibliography summary. At the end of Song Dynasty, scholars also quoted a large number of records of studying in county houses. As for Ma Duanlin's textual research on Yuan Dynasty classics, it is mainly based on Chao and Chen Ershu. Until the Qing dynasty, there were still more than 300 articles in the catalogue of Siku Quanshu. This shows the important position of Reading Records of Zhai Jun in the history of China Bibliography.