International forum calls for preservation of ancient Chinese books

An international forum on preserving, studying and republishing of ancient Chinese books in East Asia was held recently in the cities of Beijing, Guilin and Wenzhou, both online and offline.

The forum, now into its second year, was held for the first time on November, 2019. More than 70 scholars from related areas attended the meeting this year.

In April, the Chinese government released its first national-level guideline for the protection of ancient books. This unprecedented measure calls for a broad range and more scientific system to preserve, study, edit and republish ancient books.

An Pingqiu, professor at Center for Ancient Chinese Classics and Archives of Peking University and also deputy director to the national planning group of editing and publishing of ancient books, said that the guideline would provide a good reference for related works and academic development.

The theme for this year's forum was still "preserving, studying and republishing of ancient books" as it was in 2019, but the focus was shifted to doing so in East Asia.

More than 70 scholars from China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam attended the forum in which over 40 scholars delivered keynote reports and speeches, covering various aspects of preserving, editing, studying and publishing of ancient Chinese books in East Asia.

Liao Kebin, director at Center for Ancient Chinese Classics and Archives of Peking University, said that judging from the keynote reports and speeches, it was obvious that the studies on ancient Chinese books in East Asia had created a new trend. More studies looked at the spreading of ancient Chinese books in East Asia. Others were comparative studies and those done with holistic approaches. Research approaches had also changed, Liao added.

Another change was about the study subjects, which covered not only ancient Chinese books preserved in East Asian countries and regions, but also on books written in Chinese by authors in East Asian countries and regions, such as Japan, Vietnam and South Korea.

As one of the organizers of the forum, in the last more than 30 years, Guangxi Normal University Press Group has published over 600 titles of ancient books, including influential ancient classics and rare literature, totaling more than 400,000 volumes.

"We would like to continue our cooperation with experts to work on preserving, studying, editing and publishing of ancient Chinese books from home and abroad," said Huang Xuanzhuang, president of Guangxi Normal University Press Group.

The forum is co-organized by Center for Ancient Chinese Classics and Archives of Peking University, Guangxi Normal University Press Group and School of Humanities of Wenzhou University.