Page 16 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

Yongjin HAN / Thoughts on the study of library history in China 015

culture, education and information, has definitely pushed forward the transformation of concepts,
methods and technological applications in libraries. Dating back to the ancient times, those
unprecedented advancements, particularly the invention of paper-making technology and the
ubiquitous application of printing technology, have generated tremendous influence on publication,
circulation, collection of manuscript and book collection. What Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan, renowned
ideologists and politicians in the late-Qing Dynasty, had done was to introduce western library
concepts and systems into China for the purposes of “knowing more about the outside world,
fighting back the invaders by applying western knowledge, and seeking the right track for national
rejuvenation”. Until the late 1980s, the implementation of computer and network technologies
encouraged and facilitated automatization and digitization in libraries. Since the beginning of
the new millennium, libraries in China have experienced further advancement in the networked,
intelligent and globalized courses due to the wide adoption of newly emerged technologies, such
as the Internet and mobile communication technologies. Studies on the evolutionary processes of
Chinese librarianship under different economic, political and technological backgrounds at all ages
will definitely figure out the inherent rules of informative communication, resource sharing, and
competitive development between the library as an open system and its environment, so that the
opportunities and challenges faced currently and to come can be better embraced in the future.
The history of Chinese librarianship, particularly in modern period, is closely interrelated
and interacted with the librarianship in the world. Therefore, different diplomatic relation has
unquestionably resulted in different impacts on Chinese libraries. For example, Chinese libraries
absorbed a lot from European, American and Japanese library systems in the late-Qing Dynasty
and the early Republic period, while it had been influenced more by the Soviet Union after the
establishment of the People’s Republic of China. The development of libraries in these countries,
based on their own national characters, had formed particular features respectively, which has
exerted influences on Chinese libraries all the time. A good case in point is the full absorption
of the library classification system and education system of the Soviet Union after 1949, which
has left a strong impact until nowadays. The History of the Chinese library provides a detailed
and holistic introduction to the influences brought by the foreign countries mentioned above, and
makes an unbiased and systematic analysis and summary on their influences on Chinese libraries,
which not only enriches the academic study, but also perceives and reflects the existing problems
of the development of Chinese libraries and librarianship from the angles of home and abroad
respectively. In this way, a scientific system and characterized research of Chinese libraries can be
fully established.

5 Conclusion

Taking history, a mirror of vicissitudes, as an example, the developing rules of library can be
evidently explored. Understanding the past and the present of Chinese library is for a better