Page 5 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 43

A review of the theory of Library Science in China:

1956-2016

〇a *
FAN Bingsi〇
Department of Information Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, East China Normal University, Shanghai
200241, China

Abstract
Contemporary Library Science in China has gone through 60 years’ tough development since 1956.
This paper tries to disclose the journey and achievements of Chinese Library Science in the past 60
years based on the analysis of published journal articles. This paper analyzes contemporary Chinese
Library Science in the context of Chinese Library Science history and the international Library Science
environment. Examining the historical progress of the Library Science in China, this paper divides the
history into 5 phases: late start, wandering phase, tough starting phase, rebuilding phase, breaking phase
and shining phase.

Keywords
Theory of Library Science, Library Science history, Journal of Library Science in China

0 Introduction: Late start

Due to the wars from 1937 to 1949, modern Library Science in China was divided into two
periods with quite different characteristics. The year 1949 when the People’s Republic of China
was founded was generally considered the starting point of the second period. In 1949 the wars
finally ended and people were devoted to rebuilding. The librarianship recovered and developed
rapidly. However, the development of the librarianship did not provoke theoretical development.
In the theoretical domain, there were few achievements except the New Library Handbook by Du
Dingyou.
From 1949 to 1956 the Library Science came to a standstill because of the research environment.
The life of Hong Fanwu (Hong Youfeng) was a portrayal of theorists at that time. Hong Fanwu is
a distinguished library activist and theorist. In 1925 he was one of the first-term members of the
Board of Directors of Chinese Library Association. Among the fifteen members there were twelve
important members of the government or distinguished personages including Liang Qichao. Hong
was one of the three library scientists. In April 1949 the National Central University withdrew,
but Hong chose to stay in Nanjing (at that time he was Director of the Library). Then Hong was
appointed Director of the Library of Nanjing University. He was also member of the Nanjing

* Correspondence should be addressed to FAN Bingsi,Email:bsfan@infor.ecnu.edu.cn,ORCID:0000-0001-8808-8139