The Study Of The Arrangement And Utilization Of Academic Institutions About Archives In Ming And Qing Dynasties During The Republic Of China

Each development stage of things has its meaning and value.The Republic of China,as a period of great turbulence and transformation in Chinese history,had made tremendous changes in all aspects of the society.People started to realize and re-examine the value of archives because of the replacement of old and new systems and the constant collision between old and new thought.As a result,after the occurrence of "The Incident of Eight Thousand Gunnysacks",many aspirational people participated in the activities to save the archives in the Ming and Qing.A lot of academic institutions tried to arrange and utilize the archives in the Ming and Qing Dynasties,which was one of the important archival activities in this period.In addition,the discovery,arrangement and utilization of the archives in the Ming and Qing Dynasties not only revealed the value of archives,but also enriched and promoted the development of archival studies.This paper first focuses on the outflow of archives in the Forbidden City,which not only shows the specific circulation of the archives in the Ming and Qing Dynasties during the Republic of China,but also reflects the main sources of the archives in the Ming and Qing Dynasties collected by academic institutions.Then various academic institutions including the Department of Sinology of Peking University,the Document Library in the Palace Museum,the Institute of Philology and History,the Yugong Society and so on,took positive actions to clean up,classify and catalogue the Ming and Qing archives purchased from all over the country.The academic institutions utilized and preserved the archives in the Ming and Qing Dynasties by setting up special warehouses,carrying out activities such as borrowing and extraction of archives,exhibitions and compilation of historical archives of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Furthermore,these activities used all kind of ways to show the truth of the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the world as far as possible.During the period of the Republic of China,the arrangement and utilization of the archives in the Ming and Qing Dynasties rose from practices to theories,academic institutions promoted the standardization of the archives arrangement and utilization process as well.Forming significant files sorting thought and utilization thought.What's more,as archives and historiography in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was combined together,archives had become an auxiliary discipline in the studies of history.The arrangement and utilization activities of the Ming and Qing Dynasties during this period also laid a talent foundation for the development of archival science.In short,studying the arrangement and utilization of the archives in the Ming and Qing Dynasties by academic institutions during the Republic of China enables us to understand the development and academic researches of this period completely.We can also cherish the results of archival researches and provide guidance and suggestions for the present studies based on the entire practical processes of academic institutions.