The Declaration Of Civilization:A Research On Fujian Official School Libraries And Local Society Of Ming Dynasty

With the popularization of official school in local society during the Ming Dynasty,the school libraries were also developed greatly,which was mostly called Zunjing Ge(The Pavilion for Revering the Classics).As a product of Chinese social culture,Zunjing Ge played a certain role in the cultural and educational construction,as well as book-collection activities in pre-modern China.The Pavilion for Revering the Classics was widely distributed in local society during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.On the one hand,it’s construction and book-collection activities as well as ceremonies,symbols and other contents,present a vivid social picture for us to study school education and the construction of local culture.On the other hand,it also reflecst the conception of revering classics,the order of books and the process of cultural power construction.Fujian was one of the leading region in culture and education during the Ming Dynasty.With the development of school system in Fujian,to build a pavilion for revering the Classics had became an important choice to optimize local cultural and educational resources.The construction of Zunjing Ge was regarded as an important local public project,from its initiative,fund raising,to the commencement of the project and the ceremony,Zunjing Ge had affected the local society from beginning to end.In terms of the number of new libraries,coverage rate,maintenance rate and the volume of books,it shows regional characteristics—higher in the west and north,and lower in the east and south.The development of official school libraries were not simply a positive correlation with local political and imperial status.Disasters,wars and economic and cultural differences of the regions in Fujian had shaped the result together.In Fujian,the project funding of school libraries was mainly from social donation and magistrates’wages.Besides,people often integrate some financial support from local governments,penalty redemption,and the profit of school land to help shoulder the burden,which shaped a variety of financing forms.In general,Social donations gradually exceeded official allocations.In the process of this transformation,the gentry who represents local force gradually separated some cultural and educational affairs which belonged to government before.The synchronic differences and diachronic changes in the division of labor,project operation and fund structure reflect the financial reform of Fujian and the rise of local power during Ming Dynasty.The interest demands and cultural identity shared by officials and gentry were further integrated under the theme of"revering classics" and "worshiping orthodoxy".In addition to the book-collection the cultural implication of Zunjing Ge was also expanded.The concept of revering Confucian Classics was the ideological core throughout the development of the Zunjing Ge during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.By"symbolizing" the building term,architectural specification and spatial image of the pavilion,the gentry not only realized the pursuit of a cultural and artistic reading space,but also hoped to present the abstract cultural expression of "revering classics" directly in the local society.At the beginning,the books-collection of Zunjing Ge was deeply restricted by the ideology of the Ming court in a highly and limited way,which formed a collection order dominated by the power of the imperial court,standardized by the will of the state,and supported by the discourse of "revering classics".With the changes in ideological and cultural field after mid-Ming,both the concept of revering classics and the collection structure were gradually out of order.Besides,the interpretations of the classics and life philosophy by Neo-Confucians and Wang Yangming’s theory of mind also contended and permeated with each other,which impose a more complex and diverse appearences to Zunjing Ge.Although The Pavilion for Revering the Classics still lied in a subordinate and decorative position in the official school during Ming Dynasty,this kind of libraries had a certain public nature,and it had developing towards regulation and regularization.It not only played the practical function of protecting books,encouraging students and giving a place to public reading,but also had social functions such as offering a place to do sacrifices and compile local gazetteers.Due to its profound connotation and magnificent appearance,Zunjing Ge also became a cultural symbol and regional landscape in local society,recognized by both elites and common people.It palyed a wider social significance in a limited office place.Besides,Zunjing Ge also connected the national orthodoxy,local cultural power and the intellectual tendency of literati.Although its construction did not played an obvious effect on the local achievements in imperial examination,it reflected the ways of revitalizing the culture and the construction of the educational symbols in some areas.With the interweaving of education,academia,faith and politics,Zunjing Ge had been no longer a simply place for collecting books,but a symbolic building to proclaim cultural orthodoxy and intellectual authority.By studying the case of Fujian official school libraries,the complicated development history of official school libraries in the Ming Dynasty is revealed,and it shows common factors affected the libraries.Besides,the study not only promotes the regional research and presents issues in the library history that deserve to be detailed,but also it provides a new way of thinking for the development mode of local education during Ming and Qing Dynasties.The enlightenment or solidification of knowledge,the opening or closing of books,the practicality and symbolism,as well as the interweaving of traditional and modern factors,make Zunjing Ge become one of the viewpoints that can reflect the complex and tortuous transformation process of pre-modern China.