The Research Of Subject Catalogues From The End Of Qing Dynasty To The Beginning Of The Republic Of China

The development of the subject catalogue has been in a period of great prosperity since the time from the end of Qing dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China (1862-1937). The type of catalogues at that time appeared with a larger number in quantity and better quality than any other time. The academic has researched the subject catalogue to some extent, but few can have an all-round and systematic understanding on them, especially on the subject catalogues from 1862 to 1937. By seeking out and referring to the periodical and books of that time from the East China Normal University Library, the ShangHai Library and the National Library, a total of 334 types of subject catalogues have been collected. Then combining research results already made for many years by some experts and the characteristics of the Chinese Classical Documents, the paper mainly emphasizes and focuses on traditional subject catalogues. The words in all for the paper are expected to be over 400-500 thousands. Because of the huge quantity in reference books and limited time, the author mainly selects the classics catalogues and literature catalogues as representatives of traditional subject catalogues and use them to represent the whole progress of modernization of the subject catalogue. Also the paper has included the relatively complete and all-round research on the subject catalogue of that time. The paper has four chapters.First chapter: Subject catalogue's character and history. The different schools of the academic have the different definitions of the subject catalogue. First, on the basis of the special sorting principles, the paper makes a definition of the subject catalogue after combining all previous definitions and points out the research object. Second, by analyzing status of development of the subject catalogue macroscopically, the paper divides them to categories and summaries the characteristics of the subject catalogue of the time before the end of Qing dynasty. Finally, by sorting and classing literature of that time and comparing them with previous literature, the paper has concluded the characteristics of the subject catalogue of the time from the end of Qing dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China (1862-1937). On the other hand, the methods of sorting and classing sciences vary from time to time and depend much on the time when they belong to. Adopting the standard of classing modern science system, the paper has the subject catalogue classified in a way of combining modern scientific sorting methods and the inherent science characteristics of that time.Second chapter: classics catalogues .classics is one the main concerns in the research. First, the paper sorts out the source of classics catalogues of pre-Qing dynasty. Second, the development of the classics catalogues came to its peak in Qing dynasty. The paper has discussed 3 types of the classics catalogues in Qing dynasty and also pointed out its historical meaning. Third, the paper mainly discusses the classics catalogues of the time from the end of Qing dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China. A total of 12 types of the classics catalogues are collected and sorted in order according to the publishing time, author, name and version. The paper lists them all by the publish time and then continues dividing them to four categories and analyzes them separately according to the importance in order to explain their special characteristics and importance. Finally, the paper also concludes the common characteristic of the subject catalogue of that time.Third chapter: literature catalogues. The literature catalogues is another main concern in the research.. The research methods used in the literature catalogues are generally same with that in the literature catalogues. First, the paper sorts out the source of the subject catalogue of pre-Qing dynasty and then mainly researches and focuses on the subject catalogues of the time from the end of Qing dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China. A total of 87 types of the literature catalogues are collected in the paper and then with different characteristics and quantities they are divided into 3 categories . The paper sorts them in order according to the publish time, author, name and version and analyzes them separately according to the importance in order to point out the great value of catalogue and the importance in the history of the science development. As the catalogues of the Chinese opera and novels have long been well developed by many researchers, the paper intends to supplement and make them more complete. Only the important catalogues are researched here from the point view of catalogue science and other less important novels and opera are described in brief.Fourth chapter: Discussion and Research of the development of the subject catalogue. First, the paper analyzes subject catalogues of the time from the end of Qing dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China in chart and discusses the relationship between the subject catalogue and the development of sciences. Second, the paper divides subject catalogues of that time into parts according to the time and analyzes the quantities of each part in order to find out the relationship between subject catalogues, the time and the catalogue science. By doing so, the paper can conclude the rules of subject catalogues development and indicate that the background of the social culture at that time, how catalogue science has been developed and the development status of sciences are the main influence factors. Finally, by applying these factors to the development of the subject catalogue at present, the paper forecasts how it will develop in the future.In all, the development of the subject catalogue has reached its peak since the time from the end of Qing dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China. The paper mainly discusses the characteristics and the historic importance of the classics catalogues and the literature catalogues. By analyzing the special cases under the current social culture background and the history of the science, the paper tries to find out reasons that the subject catalogue originates and develops and also the correlation between them before finally indicating the rules of development of the subject catalogue.