On Qi Chengye's Collection And His Thought Of Literature Science

Qi Chengye was "a famous collector, an excellent bibliographer and a prominent pioneer for the library cause" in middle and later period of the Ming Dynasty. What he thought and what he did were not only the manifestation of social features of the Ming Dynasty but also the reflection of the times and history. With the common characters of private collectors in the Ming Dynasty, Qi Chengye also had his own personality. His collection thought, originated in the Han and Song Dynasties and developed in the Qing Dynasty, greatly enlightens today's collection, organization and utilization of literature. Activities of Qi Chengye, the Qi family, book collectors in late Ming Dynasty and even intellectuals in the whole Ming Dynasty all reflected strong personality characteristics of the Ming Dynasty in traditional Chinese society.Qi Chengye lived in the times when printing was mature and popular publication became advocation for literacy, and lived in the region where book engraving was prosperous. The Qi family inherited traditions of private collection in the South, and consequently had origin of collecting books. Affected by his grandfather and father who also collected a great number of books, Qi Chengye loved reading since he was young, and was lost in reading since he was ten years old. With growing up, Qi begun to actively search for and collect books.With ability of thinking maturely and independently in acquisition, Qi Chengye formed systematic theory and methods, which consequently ensured quality of his collection. Qi Chengye adopted many means of acquisition, such as decentralized purchasing, centralized purchasing, exchanging and presentation. Different from ancient collectors who focused on versions, Qi's rich and well-targeted collection reflected his own definitive acquisition policy, targeting historic and realistic significance without simple pursuit of increase of collection quantity.In bibliographic description, Qi Chengye adopted "analytical description" and "cross description" according to the nature of literature, which made "Dan sheng tang cang shu mu" not simply a register book but a catalogue work indicating his cataloging thought. In 1602, Qi Chengye arranged all his collection, and edited "Geng-Shen zheng shu lue li" for standardizing arrangement of collection, in which he put forward four description rules of "Yin", "Yi", "Tong", "Hu" that occupy an important position in traditional cataloging history. Qi advocated that content of literature should be deliberately described in the way of analytical description and cross description.In classification, Qi Chengye revised and improved four methods of classification, and put forward a classification including four sections, forty-six classes and two hundred forty-four categories. With great significance in the history of classification, one of his innovative points in the four sections is the establishment of the independent position of "series".In literature management, Qi Chengye studied all aspects related to collection in order to manage his collection of about 100000 volumes. He clarified problems of utilization, reading and loaning to his children, and put forward his own views in preservation, arrangement and protection of ancient books. Additionally, he even paid special attention to design and construction of the collection tower that was characterized by elaborate design, fire and damp-proof features, and intellectual feelings.In inheritance of Qi Chengye's collection, his children showed their commitment to the rules, trying their best to protect Qi's collection in the turbulent age and also making achievements in bibliography theory. History of Qi Chengye and his collection reflect the tendency of academic development and social changes.In conclusion, Qi Chengye put forward personal opinions, insightful views, novel methods and feasible rules in the problems of collecting, reading, identifying, purchasing as well as classifying, cataloging, reserving and loaning. He inherited and developed fine traditions on library work and bibliography science, and created much valuable experience through practice. It should be emphasized that his all activities and achievements were of historic, realistic and practical significance, and were useful to today's study.From the view of modern librarianship, Qi Chengye's understanding of nature of literature and multi-level study of book industry had established an integral system of private libraries, including acquisition, cataloging, reservation and preservation, which accordingly consolidated his historical position. Additionally, in the view of literature science, he put forward breakthrough points of view in the sciences of bibliography, detection of forgeries and compilation, and applied these theories into practice.