A paste-on-paste sculpture in a traditional style, now on display at Tianyige Museum; the artwork was created by the late Hu Shancheng, a celebrated folk artist.

Book collection in China can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn (770-476BC) period in Chinese history. Back then, books were bamboo or wood slips joined together to form whole scrolls. The Qin Dynasty (221-207BC), a unified empire, set up a special library where books seized from all the states through the war were stored.

After the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) succeeded the Qin, an official library system was set up. The empire had three national libraries that housed books from the central and regional government collections of the previous Qin. A government department was set up to administer all the affairs about the libraries and archive government documents for future reference. The department was also in charge of making records as it was manned by historians.

In the early years of the Han Dynasty, books were rare. The central government called for book donations. From 124AD on, books flooded in. A large quantity of bamboo slip books, which had been hidden from the government due to the book-burning policy at the decree of the First Emperor of the Qin, was unearthed and donated.

In the Jin Dynasty (266-420), private book collections emerged. In the Sui (581-617) and the Tang (618-907), over 20 private book collections amounted to more than 10,000 books each. During these centuries, academic and cultural undertakings thrived in China. Confucian classics, history, philosophy and literature as well as Buddhist and Taoist sutras greatly outnumbered their counterparts in the Han Dynasty.

Zhejiang in eastern China was a book publishing powerhouse during the Wuyue Kingdom (907-978) period, as testified by Buddhist sutras unearthed in the 20th century in Ningbo and Hangzhou. In the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), Hangzhou was a national book publishing center. Even the Imperial Academy in the capital used books printed in Hangzhou.

Private libraries thrived in Zhejiang in the dynasties of the Song, the Yuan (1279-1368), the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1911) thanks to the advancement of block printing technology and thanks to widespread education at grassroots level.

History records that the Qing Dynasty had over 3,000 private libraries whose collections amounted to more than 5,000 books. Qu Yong, Yang Shaohe, Lu Xinyuan and Ding Bing were four major book collectors of the Qing Dynasty. Lu and Ding were natives of Zhejiang. Lu Xinyuan (1838-1894) was from Huzhou in northern Zhejiang. His career as a government official lasted decades. His private collection boasted 200 books printed in the Song and he proudly called his private library “200 Song Books”. The books in his collection numbered 150,000. Ding Bing and his older brother Ding Shen owned a private library of 8,000 books. But the two brothers’ most outstanding feat was that they salvaged the books from the Imperial Library housed at Wenlange Library in Hangzhou. The imperial library was looted and ravaged by the rebels when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom seized Hangzhou. Thanks to the Ding brothers, the books from the imperial library were salvaged. Later, the brothers hired scribes to make copies missing from the library. The copying project went on for more than ten years and later it was carried on by other people.

The majority of private libraries in Zhejiang vanished in history largely due to political turmoil and war. Take Donglou Library in Yinzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty for example. It vanished after the dynasty was down and out. Some private libraries didn’t survive history largely because family fortunes ran out and books were sold for cash. In modern times, the number of private libraries dwindled principally because public libraries came along and served the public.

A front view of Tianyige Library

For a long time in history, most private libraries in Zhejiang did not open to readers. These libraries were considered private assets. Yet, some collectors were willing. The first book that was copied from a private library in Zhejiang was Lun Heng by Wang Chong (27-c.97AD), a scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was during the last decades of the Ming and the early decades of the Qing that private libraries in the province began to embrace readers. Tianyige Library in Ningbo chose to allow some prominent scholars to read books and make copies at the library. On the list of the guests were Huang Zongxi, Wan Sitong, and Quan Zuwang, all great scholars of the time. In fact, all private libraries in the province opened their doors to scholars of the East Zhejiang School.

And private libraries in Zhejiang did more than open their doors to scholars. In the Ming Dynasty, almost all private libraries in the province turned out their own editions of old books after a process of edition and annotation. They also reprinted some regional annals. Some libraries worked together with printers and some published books on their own.

Zhang Yuanji (1867-1959), a native of Haiyan in northern Zhejiang, set up Commercial Press, one of the most prestigious book publishers in China. With Zhang, Commercial Press not only published books, but also operated Henfenlou Library. Zhang donated a large part of his private book collection to the library. The rest of the collection went to a public library in Shanghai. The library of Commercial Press was later turned into a public library.

A view of the north repository of Tianyige Library

In the 20th century, Zhejiang led China in building up public libraries. In 1932, Zhejiang Library opened to readers. It is China’s first public library. In April 1936, Zhejiang Association of Libraries came into being.

Data at the end of 2020 indicates that Zhejiang had 103 public libraries, 101 cultural centers at municipal and provincial level, 366 museums, 101 centers of intangible cultural heritage, 1,365 cultural centers at town and urban neighborhood level, 14,341 village cultural centers; the total number of the books at the libraries and other cultural institutions across the province amounted to about 94 million.