Page 123 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.47, 2021

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

With the development of technologies, the principle of provenance was raised again in the
theoretical community of archives in China after the emergence of electronic records, and the
record continuum theory and new concept on provenance appeared. The establishment of the
new concept on provenance increased the adaptability of the concept on provenance in the era of
electronic records. In the 1990s, with the continuous development and application of electronic
records, the provenance was “rediscovered”. Compared with the practice of foreign countries,
where the principle of provenance was rediscovered to solve the problems with the management
of electronic records, the Chinese archival community reinterpreted the principle according to the
practice of archive management, expanding the connotation of the principle. In the meantime, the
western archival community, represented by Canadian archivist Terry Cook, suggested that the
management of records and archives had entered the “post-custodial era”, and proposed the “post-
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custodial paradigm”. FENG Huiling , HE Jiasun and other scholars in China have interpreted
and developed the “post-custodial paradigm” and its theoretical basis—the theory of record
elements, proposing that the “post-custodial paradigm” is “provenance-centered management”,
which is differentiated from the entity centered “custodial paradigm”, thus expanding the
theoretical scope of the principle of provenance.
(4) Further development of the theoretical system of archival science with Chinese characteristics
First, the meta theory of archives has taken shape. It discusses the basic issues of archives and
archival science, including the provenance, connotation, concepts and categories of archives,
the formation, nature, characteristics, research methods, research objects of archival science, the
relationship between archival science and similar disciplines, the connection of archival science
with culture and history, the laws and principles of archival work, as well as archival laws,
management systems and standards, etc. Studying the meta theory enables the discipline to face up
to and reflect on the roots of itself. In 2019, PAN Liangen proposed twelve basic components of the
meta theoretical system of archival science, including the logical starting point, research objects,
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nature of the discipline, methodology, and paradigm of archival science , further improving the
research level of the basic theoretical system of archival science.
Second, the theory of archival terminology is improved. Terminology lays the foundation of
the basic theories of archival science. On the one hand, terms of archival science focus on the
connotation of archives, and reveals the most essential attribute of it—original recording. With
the development of archive management from the management of entity to the management of
information, data and knowledge, the latter are now pouring into the scope of archival terminology.
On the other hand, terms of archival laws and regulations focus on the denotation of archives and
highlight the scope of application, so as to ensure the stability of application. In the formation
stage, the development of the basic theories of archival science further enriched the theories of
academic terms and legal terms of archival science, and made it clear that the theories of archival
terminology reflect the definition, nature, scope, relationship and difference between archival
science and other disciplines.