On The Four-Branch Classification

Summing up a lot of bibliographical works from Han to Wei, Jin and Southern &. Northern dynasties, Suishu . Jingjizhi eventually gives form to the Four-Branch Classification, inherits and develops the achievements in bibliography during the two historical periods. From being affiliated to the four-branch system just as an appendix to being included into the part of Zi-branch of this system, the bibliographies of Buddhism and Taoism are a mirror of the cultural conflict and integration in this field. From Tang Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, The field of classification in traditional Chinese bibliography has been dominated by the way of four-branch system for more than one thousand years. The minor changes or alterations inside and outside each branch of such a system, including Jing, Shi, Zi and Ji, have not undermined its foundation and frame. Though being viewed as the complete destruction to the four-branch system, the 12-branch classification adopted in Tongzhi . Yiwenzhi embodies potentially the structural conception of the four-branch system. Hence, it is not so much destruction as restoration, i.e., restoring the classifications of Liu Xiang, Liu Xin and Ruan Xiaoxu's. The Four-Branch Classification implies the thought of feudal hierarchies and mainly reflects the academic features of the feudal times. The disintegration of this system results from the common influence of the 'heretical' ideas inside the traditional feudal learning and the late and modern western bibliographical thoughts introduced to China.