CAN THE AMERICAN LIBRARY SYSTEM BE ADAPTED TO CHINA？

    To the ear of the West speaks the voice of the East！What future hand is to turn the pages of knowledge that China may read and send forth modernized relics of her arrested science and art？What she speaks for is the crumb from the loaf of educational benefactors；a penny from the world that she may return millions！

    The library in China is the subject of my paper，for what factor could mean more to the advancement and civilization of a country，than these store-houses of stimulating volumes？

    OLD CHINESE LIBRARIES

    Libraries，in the old Chinese conception，are not a novelty，but they are considered such from the Western point of view．In china they meant a store-house where books were kept and hidden away，the main idea being to preserve the“literary treasure”of the country．The existence of libraries can be traced back in the official records of early Chinese history．In the Chow Dynasty，for instance，Lao Tan，the founder of Taoism and the respected teacher of Confucius，served as a librarian and custodian of the archives in 553 B．C．Again，after the downfall of the first Chinese Empire，Liu Pan，the founder of the Han Dynasty，upon his victorious entry into the capital in 206 B．C．，directed his minister，Hsiao Ho，to collect the books and state papers from the library and keep them in a safer place．

    LIBARIES OF THE PRESENT TIME

    Sze Ku，the present of national library，was modeled after that of the Han Dynasty．The contents were collected for the sole use of the state officials and the princes of the royal family，and were more or less looked up to by the public as a precious possession．It is a most regrettable thing to record that，during the Boxer outbreak of 1900，many of the treasures in the national library were taken by the Japanese，British，French，and German troops to their respective countries，and more were burnt by them．

    In addition to the national library there are provincial libraries as well as club and subscription libraries．The latter were established by the various craftsmen in their guilds．The customs officers also have small libraries for the members of their staff．Occasionally，in some of the Buddhist temples，are to be found libraries made up largely of Buddhist books and Sanscrit scriptures．Naturally there are private libraries for individual use．I recall my great surprise，on visiting a very extensive private collection of manuscripts of the Sung Dynasty，to find that it contained early medical and Buddhist books，old Japanese folios and rare editions．

    In connections with the establishment of schools and colleges，there has been a considerable effort to make collections of books for their libraries．These collections have been purely academic，and selected for the sole purpose of meeting of the immediate needs of the schools．

    Though I could mention a number of libraries in my country，there has never been a free circulating library of any sort．The collections in the provincial libraries are too one-sided and also too small to be considered as state libraries；even their existence is very seldom known．The books are not to be drawn by readers，their use having been traditionally regarded as a privilege，not as a right of the people．They have，however，gone so far as to install the one-penny admission plan．Apparently the founders of these institutions have never realized the function of a public library．To my mind the real modern library is not for the literati alone，not for the scientific man entirely，nor yet for the fortunate few who could well afford to have a private collection，but should stand with open door as an institution for self-education to train future Lincolns，Grants，Carnegies and Edisons．It should be a center of light to the whole community，from the smallest child who comes in to look at the pictures to the mature man solving the problems of business life．

    CLASSIFICATION OF BOOKS IN CHINESE LIBRARIES

    As to technique in the Chinese library，there is much to be said．All the books in the state libraries are classified in the same way as those in the national library，under the following headings：Classics，history，philosophy and belles lettres．Under the head of classics are found the books written by or about the great Sages．Confucius and Mencius，either in prone or poetry．Under the history heading are the histories of China．Histories of foreign countries are entirely excluded．The third group includes philosophical works，natural and social sciences，and useful and fine arts．Literature，poetry and miscellanies are entered together，and whatever is difficult to classify is put under the last heading，belles lettres．The inadequacy of the system of classification can be appreciated from this fact that the grouping is too general．Book selection，however，is careful，and in general well made．Books containing radical ideas or critical views of the Imperial government are rejected，not to mention the“trashy”books and most fiction．Should an author once be condemned by the government，his books would not be accepted again under any circumstances，regardless of their value and usefulness．For this reason the works of many talented writers have never been admitted to the library．

    The well-known classified catalog of the Chinese national library，printed with critical notes，is in 500 volumes．The abridged edition intended for the use of the state libraries，as a guide to their collections，is printed in 120 volumes．

    The arrangement of historical books is very difficult．The average Chinese historian treats of important events arranged according to the year of the emperor who ruled．Each new emperor has his own name and his own date．Sometimes a ruler changed his name several times during his reign．I recall an instance where the emperor's name was changed on one occasion because of an earthquake，and then again because of a famine or plague．Whenever the royal name was changed，a new date was adopted．If the historian recorded events in the fifth year of the emperor，it might be recorded as having occurred in the first year of the title“so and so，”though the emperor known by the two different names was one and the same person．This frequent changing of dates and names complicates matters seriously for the student．It is difficult．If not possible，for a Westerner to get an answer to a question like this：What happened in China in 1815？

    The assignment of subject heading is a serious problem to Chinese librarians．Though we have a few tools like Bun Tsao Gong Mu，“Chinese herbal book of nature，”；Dze Woo Min Sze Tu Cow，“named and pictures of vegetables，”；San Tsai Tu Huei，“Pictorial book of nature”；Er Yah，“Ready guide”etc．，we greatly need aids in religious，medical，legal，and scientific subjects．There is no standardization of terms in Chinese．Many simple words，as industry，liberty，girl，etc．，have four or five terms to interpret them，and one term is as much used as another．Which one to adopt is something the librarian must decide．Again many new words have not been translated into Chinese，and the language is so constructed as to make it impossible to attempt to use foreign words without serious confusion．

    VARIOUS AIDS FOR CATALOGING AND FILING

    Though there is no alphabet in our language，our system of pictorial symbolism is not without advantage．Let me illustrate it by a few instances．We have a symbol standing for the word field，and by adding another symbol，representing strength，it becomes a man ready for field-work；by adding field to it，i．e．，double field，it means comparison of fields；by putting the word grass above it，we have the symbol representing grain，and so on．One who sees any of these words，or symbols，providing one knows the sign for field，will have no difficulty in understanding that each has something to do with field．No doubt it was the realization of the difficulty due to the lack of an alphabet that caused our forefathers to devise the following three valuable methods by which Chinese words are grouped together．They might be used for filing in the library．

    1：Natural Method．Words having similar meanings are placed together under distinct heads as：heaven，earth，moulds，hills，waters，plants，trees，insects，animals．The key to this system is the“Ready guide”，which was credited to Chow Kung of the Chow Dynasty about 1100 B．C．The present form was revised about 280 A．D．This method may roughly be compared with the classified catalogs of some of American technical libraries．Anyone unfamiliar with the word belonging to a certain class，would be unable to use it，and its inconvenience and difficulty for the average man prevents its adoption in libraries．

    2：Rhythmic Method．A grouping of words is made according to their similar tones．The number of tones in the Tong Dynasty was 206，and was reduced to 160 in the present form．Pa Wen Yung Fu，“the treasure of good sentences”in 120 volumes，and Ping Tze La Pen，the“classification of disyllables”in 100 volumes，are the two best aids．They have not been adopted in libraries，because of the lack of a standard phonetic system．Only those who have written poetry or understand the technique of poetry may find them of any help．The people from Canton or Sze-Chuan would not be able to use either of these books，for though the written characters are the same in all parts of China，their pronunciation varies so much in different provinces that the natives find it impossible to understand each other．

    3．Analytic Method．In this，the arrangement is made according to the radicals or keys．The number of radicals in Lu Soo Bun Yi，“origin of the six modes of writing”，was decreased from 566 to 360，and was again reduced to 214 in the Emperor Kang Hsi Dictionary．Any word can be formed from 214 groups．While the lack of an alphabet causes very great inconvenience，still we are fortunate in possessing these radicals，for in them we find the solution of the problem of cataloging and filing of Chinese books．For example，the symbols for the words brightness，yesterday，time，warmth，and summer，have the same root or key as the word sun，under which they are to be filed，one after the other according to the number of strokes．

    Occasionally a difficulty arises in selecting the right radical of a word．For example，we have a symbol which means ... -->>
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