Page 119 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.47, 2021

118 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.13, 2021

stored in a centralized manner according to a certain filing system”.
(2) Establishment of the research object system
In the 1950s, the research object system of archival science in China was established. Archival
science was included in the 1956-1967 Outline of the Plan for Philosophy and Social Sciences
(draft) issued by the Scientific Planning Commission of the State Council, marking that archival
science officially became an independent discipline, and requiring to identify its research objects.
In 1960, the Introduction to Archival Science: Lecture Notes (first draft) proposed a system of
research objects including the basic elements of archival science, such as research content, research
scope and research tasks, which can be summarized into five categories: 1) the scientific definition,
types and classification of archives and their role in the society; 2) the nature of archival work, and
the principles and methods of the collection, arrangement, appraisal, storage, census, utilization,
editing and publication of archives; 3) the principle of centralized and unified management of
archival work and the theories of organization, administrative management, business guidance and
training of leading archival personnel; 4) the Party, scientific, practical and technological nature
of archival science, and the emergence and development of the discipline; and 5) the evolving
history of archival work. At the same time, the research tasks of archival science are confirmed as
understanding, studying and revealing the patterns of the practice on archives, and guiding archival
work with those patterns.
(3) Establishment of the basic principle system
Archival science in China is mainly guided by the leadership of the Party and the Marxist-
Leninist ideology. The centralized and unified management of the Party and government archives,
the management of archives for the Party, and the keeping of highly confidential archives for the
Party and the country have become the fundamental principles in building the basic theoretical
system of archival science in that period. The idea of “taking the principles and policies on
archival work of the Party as reference” became the major difference between the new and the old
archival science. In 1959, with the establishment of the Central Archives, the Central Committee
of the Communist Party of China issued the Notice on the Unified Management of Archives from
the Party and the Government, which proposed the principle and system of centralized and unified
management of archives. They were further established by the Archives Law of the People’s
Republic of China, providing a cornerstone for the basic theoretical system of archival science with
Chinese characteristics.

1.2 The development stage (1978-1996)

The successful convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Communist Party of China
(CPC) Central Committee at the end of 1978 brought about a major turning point in the historical
development of the Party and the country. The development of the basic theories of archival
science in China is closely associated with that social context. The innovation and breakthrough