A view of Yuhailou Library in Ruian, Wenzhou

 Book-collecting is a very Chinese thing, and Zhejiang Province, one of the most culturally distinctive regions in China, has long been reputed as “bibliophiles’ home”. The culture of book-collecting takes different forms in different venues, and varies with different dynasties, with the mainstream being private collection. In Zhejiang, the history dates back in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), starting from the handwritten copies of Wang Chong’s atheism classic, Lun Heng. Wang was a native of Yuyao in eastern part of the province and the copies were made in the region.

Two of the huge fans of the materialist’s masterpiece were scholar Cai Yong (133-192) of the Han Dynasty and Wang Lang (?-228), prefecture chief of present-day Shaoxing in the Three Kingdoms (220-280) period of China. A man of deep learning, Wang Lang attributed his scholarly attainments to Lun Heng.

The story of Kan Ze, a Shaoxing native, is also beautiful illustration of reading and indicates that book-collecting makes a man shine. Before achieving success and fame, Kan Ze made a living by copying and selling books.

Fan Ping and Chu Tao, both living in present-day Hangzhou, were two important figures in the book-collecting scene in the Jin times (266-420) of China. According to Book of Jin, Fan’s family had a collection of more than 7,000 volumes and borrowers were welcomed. Chu Tao’s huge book collection was described by Chen Wenshu, a scholar from Hangzhou, as “second to none in southern China”.

Present-day Huzhou boasts a glamorous history of book-collecting and a host of bibliophiles represented by Shen Linshi (419-503), who made his private collection of thousands of volumes by a writing brush, and Shen Yue (441-513). According to Book of Liang, Shen had a collection of more than 20,000 volumes.

Book-collecting in Zhejiang reached its peak in the Song (960-1279), thanks to the cultural prosperity and the prevailing of woodblock printing in the epoch. The province’s long-time economic vitality also played a vital role.

This period saw the rise of a galaxy of bibliophiles in Hangzhou, such as Yao Xuan, Qian Xie and his brother, Li Qingzhao, Zhou Hui, and Chen Qi, and in Huzhou in northern Zhejiang, represented by He Zhu, Shen Si and his son, and Ye Mengde. Shuzhongtang and Zhiyatang, created by Zhou Mi and enriched by his son and grandson, are considered one of the most distinguished labels in China’s private libraries. The cultural rich of Huzhou also fostered Chen Zhensun, a master bibliophile and bibliographer. Jiaxing also hosts several prestigious private libraries such as Nanhu Caotang owned by Wen Renci, Jintuofang owned by Yue Ke, and Wintersweet House, created by Xu Pei.

Southern Song poet Lu You was a special figure behind the book-collecting scene in present-day Shaoxing. A lesser-known fact is that the Lu family made a significant contribution to the book-collection of the Song government.

In Ningbo, the rise of private libraries foretold the birth of Tianyige, whose fame needs no elaboration. Bibliophiles in many other places in Zhejiang, such as Taizhou, Wenzhou and present-day Lishui, also left their marks in the province’s cultural map.

The height of splendor came in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911), when bibliophiles’ activities reached almost all corners in Zhejiang. The period saw the rise of Tianyige in Ningbo, created by Fan Qin and recognized as one of the world’s three oldest private libraries, and a good many eminent labels such as Fan Dache’s library, Huang Zongxi’s Xuchaotang, Wan Sitong’s Hansongzhai, Zheng Xing’s Erlaoge, and the libraries of Quan Zuwang, Lu Zhi and Xu Shidong.

In eastern Zhejiang, the rival of Tianyige is the library created by Shaoxing-based Qi Chenghan in the Ming Dynasty.

When Emperor Qianlong called for public contribution to the compilation of Siku Quanshu, four private libraries including one in Jiangsu Province became the biggest donors. The other three were Tianyige from Ningbo, Kaiwanlou owned by Wang Qisu and Bao Tingbo’s private library in Hangzhou. In the late Qing times, Hangzhou shot to fame because Ding Bing’s library he named as “Eight Thousand Volumes” was ranked among the country’s “top 4”.

In the Ming Dynasty, the biggest private library in Jiaxing was Tianlaige, owned by Xiang Yuanbian, whose collection boasted a large number of Song books. Many of his books found their way into the private collection of Emperor Qianlong.

In the late Qing Dynasty, Huzhou in northern Zhejiang boasted one of the country’s four most prestigious private libraries. Jiayetang, created by Liu Chenggan in the Republican times, is rated a paragon of ancient Chinese private libraries.

The Contributions of Zhejiang Bibliophiles

Zhejiang Province is the proud host of many heavyweight private libraries that rank among the firsts in terms of the number of volumes and have far-reaching impact on the conservation and sharing of the Chinese cultural glory.

Firstly, the devotion of Zhejiang’s bibliophiles contributed greatly to the conservation and broadcasting of the Tang poetry. Human life was not the only victim of natural disasters, political intrigues and wars. Books were as fragile. When Xiaozong, the second emperor of Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), felt he was in the mood of reading some fine Tang poems, the only thing he could find was several crappy volumes full of text typos. Fortunately, a man came to the emperor’s rescue. Chen Qi, a bibliophile and book-maker living in Hangzhou in the Southern Song times, did his best to seal the beauty of Tang poetry in hand-made books using woodblock printing techniques. According to Wang Guowei (1877-1927), a master of Chinese culture, Chen’s effort in putting together the jigsaw puzzle “can’t be overestimated”.

The contribution of Ming Dynasty bibliophile Hu Zhenheng, born in Haiyan in Haining, to the compilation of Complete Poetry of the Tang, put together by Peng Dingqiu (1645-1717), is worth-mentioning too. It is Hu Zhenheng’s Tang Yin Tong Jian that provided most of the source materials needed for the making of Peng’s book, which is also clarified by Siku Quanshu (Complete Library in the Four Branches of Literature).

Secondly, many bibliophiles were the guarding angels of some of the most magnificent cultural treasures of China such as the “qu” verses of the Yuan Dynasty (characteristic of tonal patterns modeled on tunes drawn from folk music). Zang Maoxun, a Ming Dynasty bibliophile from Changxing in present-day Huzhou, saved the lost art by collecting materials bit by bit and putting together Selected Works of Yuan Verses.

Thirdly, Zhejiang’s bibliophiles contributed uniquely also to bibliography and the conservation of ancient books and records, the proof of which is plentiful. Two good examples are Gao Lian, living in Hangzhou in the Ming times, and Qi Chenghan, a Shaoxing native. In Zunsheng Bajian, Gao Lian presented his penetrating judgments on the purpose of book-collecting and the methodology involved, such as version identification.

Last but not the least, book-collecting is of fundamental importance to the conservation of culture and private libraries have been playing an equally important role in terms of enhancing learning by providing an all-inclusive database. According to Cai Shangsi (1905-2008), a famous historian, “Book-collecting in the long history of China is represented by a good many bibliophiles living in the Ming and Qing times in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces; and it is more than fair to say that Fan Yaoqing’s Tianyige and the Jiguge created by Mao Zijin and his son are crucial in the making of such well-read masters as naturalist and philosopher Huang Zongxi (1610-1695), whose Mingru Xue’an was lauded by Liang Qichao as a new kind of historiography.”

A rubbing of a verse from The Book of Songs in the handwriting of Emperor Gongzong of the Song Dynasty