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China Libraries and Archives
Very early in Chinese civilization, scholars had extensive
private libraries, and all of the imperial dynasties constructed
libraries and archives 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 and the other in Shanghai, 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.
The country's main library, the National Library of China,
housed a rich collection of books, periodicals, newspapers, maps,
prints, photographs, manuscripts, microforms, tape recordings, and
inscriptions on bronze, stone, bones, and tortoiseshells. In 1987
a new National Library building, one of the world's largest library
structures, was completed in the western suburbs.
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 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 languages--was one
of the best university libraries in the country.
On the basis of the General Rules for Archives published in
1983, historical archives were being expanded at the provincial and
county levels. Two of the most important archives were the Number
One Historical Archives of China, located in Beijing containing the
archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the Number Two
Historical Archives of China, located in Nanjing containing the
archives of the Guomindang period. A number of foreign scholars
have been granted access to these archives. In 1987 public and
research libraries still faced serious space, management, and
service problems. Even with the special efforts being made to solve
these problems, it was clear that they would not be quickly
resolved.
In the late 1980s, China was experiencing an active educational
and cultural life. Students were staying in school longer,
educational standards were being raised, and facilities were being
improved. Intellectuals were encouraged to develop their expertise,
especially in the scientific and technical spheres, and a wide
variety of traditional and foreign literary and art forms were
allowed to flourish. This situation was likely to continue as long
as it served the interest of economic modernization and posed no
threat to the political establishment.
* * *
Several general works provide a good overview of China's
education and culture. However, because the most important
educational reforms did not evolve or become effective until 1985-
86, and were still changing in 1987, these books generally did not
address many of the latest educational reforms. Some of the most
valuable books available include China Issues and Prospects in
Education, Annex 1, 1985 by the World Bank, which provides an
overview of the system, detailed statistics, and projections; John
Cleverly's The Schooling of China, which has excellent
chapters on the anatomy of the educational system and its problems,
and prospects; and Ruth Hayhoe's Contemporary Chinese
Education, which has valuable chapters on primary, secondary,
and teacher education. Other informative works are the chapter on
"Education" by Stanley Rosen in a book he co-edited with John
Burns, entitled Policy Conflicts in Post-Mao China, and a
brief article by Eli Seifman in the March 1986 issue of Asian
Thought and Society.
Carol Lee Hamrin and Timothy Cheek's China's Establishment
Intellectuals, Merle Goldman's China's Intellectuals,
and Michael S. Duke's Blooming and Contending are
indispensable sources of information on Chinese intellectual policy
past and present. Liu Wu-chi's An Introduction to Chinese
Literature gives an excellent summary of traditional literature
and drama, and C.T. Hsia's A History of Modern Chinese
Fiction gives insight into modern Chinese literature before the
Cultural Revolution. Encyclopedia of China Today, edited by
Fredric M. Kaplan, Julian M. Sobin, and Stephen Andors, contains
valuable information about linguistic reform and gives a good
overview of the arts in the post-Cultural Revolution period.
The Zhongguo Chuban Nianjian (China Publishing
Yearbook), put out by the Commercial Press since 1980, provides
rare data on that industry. Chi Wang's "An Overview of Libraries in
the People's Republic of China" in the September 1984 issue of
China Exchange News is an excellent source on Chinese
libraries in the 1980s.
Other useful articles providing information on the changes and
directions of China's education and cultural policy can be found in
various issues of Beijing Review, China News
Analysis, China Exchange News, China
Reconstructs, and the Foreign Broadcast Information Service
Daily Report: China, and the Joint Publications Research
Service China Report: Political, Sociological, and Military
Affairs. People's Republic of China Year-book also
provides useful information and statistics. (For further
information and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of July 1987
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